Relevancy, Authority, and How The Algorithm Ranks You - Episode 126

Summary

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Grumpy SEO Guy – Episode 126

Relevancy, Authority, and How The Algorithm Ranks You

Host: Grumpy SEO Guy
Date: September 17, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode tackles the often-confused concepts of "relevancy" and "authority" in SEO and explains, based on 14 years of agency experience, how these two factors fundamentally determine your website’s ranking in search results. Grumpy SEO Guy strips away common misconceptions, emphasizes practical realities, and provides both a logical breakdown and memorable analogies for listeners who want real, actionable SEO understanding.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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The Four Requirements for Ranking

[02:22]

• No Penalties: “A penalty is when you do something that you shouldn’t do. ...if it has a penalty, it will not rank.” [02:25]
• Content: “Content does two things. One, it places content on your site... Two, it creates relevancy.” [03:16]
• Relevancy: The topic of your content and backlinks.
• Authority: The strength and trustworthiness of your site via backlinks.

“If you listen to this podcast, you will know more about SEO than 99% of people on the planet.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy [00:43]

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Why Quality Content Is Not a Ranking Factor

[03:30]

• The host reiterates that quality alone doesn’t rank you higher: “Quality is not a ranking factor... If somebody is telling you, ‘just write really good content and you will rank,’ that person does not comprehend how SEO works.” [03:42]
• Many high-quality sites do not rank, and their lack of visibility has little to do with content quality.

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Relevancy: What Are You About, and How is it Established?

[04:52]

• Definition: “Relevancy... means what is the topic of your website?”
• Two ways to earn relevancy:
  • Backlink Anchor Text: “If somebody links to you... and they use the words ‘blue widgets’ in the backlink, then you are gaining relevancy for the term ‘blue widgets’.” [05:07]
  • On-Site Content: “If your content talks about blue widgets, then you have relevancy for blue widgets. That’s how you get relevancy.” [05:24]
• Relevancy is a filter: “Why would you rank for something that you are not relevant for?” [04:54]

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Authority: What is "Power" Online?

[06:29]

• Definition: “Authority is trustworthiness. Authority is strength. It is power. It is clout. It is popularity. Authority just means how does your website compare in terms of trustworthiness to the other websites on the internet?”
• How to Earn Authority:
  • “Authority comes from backlinks. ...The only way to get authority is by getting backlinks from another site to your website.” [06:49]
  • Not all backlinks are equal—some help a little, some a lot, some not at all.

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How the Algorithm Ranks Websites

[08:08]

• The search engine first sorts sites by relevancy (does the content and/or its backlinks align with the searcher’s keyword?).
• Search engines then rank relevant sites by authority (more trustworthy/popular/linked sites rise higher).
  • “Of all the websites that are relevant for your keyword that you searched for, the one with the most authority will be number one, the one with the second most authority will be number two, and so on.” [09:44]

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Tools and Authority Estimation

[09:56]

• Popular tools (like Ahrefs with their “Domain Rating” metric) can only estimate website authority: “DR is an approximation. It is a guess of authority. It is not actual authority. ...The real value of authority, which by the way is referred to as PageRank, is hidden by Google.” [10:19]
• Rely on these numbers as directional, not definitive.

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The “Record Store Analogy”

[11:37]

• The host uses a memorable analogy to explain how ranking works:
  • If someone enters a record store wanting jazz, you first filter to the jazz section (relevancy).
  • Then, you recommend a popular jazz album (authority).
  • “You take them to the jazz area... and then you recommend to them a popular jazz album. ...That’s basically how the results work when you search for something.” [13:19]

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Memorable Quotes

“If somebody is telling you, ‘just write really good content and you will rank,’ that person does not comprehend how SEO works.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy [03:42]

“Authority comes from backlinks... The only way to get authority is by getting backlinks from another site to your website, okay? That’s how it works.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy [06:49]

“Of all the websites that are relevant for your keyword that you searched for, the one with the most authority will be number one, the one with the second most authority will be number two, and so on.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy [09:44]

“DR is an approximation. It is a guess of authority. It is not actual authority. ...The real value of authority... is hidden by Google.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy [10:19]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:22] – The four things you need to rank
• [03:30] – “Quality” is not a direct ranking factor
• [04:54] – Two ways to get relevancy (content & backlinks)
• [06:29] – Only way to get authority is through backlinks
• [08:08] – How search engines filter by relevancy, rank by authority
• [09:56] – Why SEO tools estimate authority but don’t know it
• [11:37] – Record store analogy for ranking process

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Final Takeaways

• Focus on building both relevancy (content + relevant backlinks) and authority (strong, quality backlinks) and don’t get distracted by myths about content “quality” or manipulate metrics.
• Use SEO tools as guides, not gospel–real PageRank is a secret.
• Always think about SEO as a process of filtering for relevance, then sorting by authority—just like picking the most popular jazz album from the jazz section.

For questions or episode suggestions:

• Reddit: r/GrumpySEOGuy
• Email: [e-mail]

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“You’re listening to Grumpy SEO Guy, the SEO podcast that doesn’t waste your time with nonsense that doesn’t work.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy

Transcript

[A]

This is Grumpy SEO Guy, episode 126, relevancy authority and the Way the Algorithm Works. You're listening to Grumpy SEO Guy, the SEO podcast that doesn't waste your time with nonsense that doesn't work. I'm the grumpy SEO Guy and I'm sharing with you the strategies that have helped me successfully run my SEO agency for the last 14 years. In this podcast, I'll be sharing my knowledge and experience, discussing tips and strategies, and trying to help you cut through the confusion that permeates this industry. If you listen to this podcast, you will know more about SEO than 99% of people on the planet. Ready? Let's get started. I'm the Grumpy SEO Guy. Let me tell you why I'm grumpy today. I'm grumpy today because some people are getting confused about relevancy and authority and if there's a difference. So in this episode, we're going to talk about relevancy, authority and the way they work as part of the algorithm to determine where your website will rank. But before we do that, my lawyer tells me that I have to say this right now. A quick disclaimer before we get started. Everything I say here is based on my experience and opinion from 14 years in the industry. I don't officially know how Google or any other search engines work. Everything I say here is hypothetical and based on my experience, this podcast does not constitute advice or services. What worked for me may or may not work for you. Okay, back to the show. But before we do that, announcements. New episodes come out on Wednesday, 9am Central Standard Time. That's when you're listening to the podcast. If you're listening on YouTube, it's gonna be a little bit after that. For those of you who le a comment on YouTube, I try to reply on Wednesday, but sometimes it's not until Thursday. If you like the podcast, please subscribe. It would really help the show out. If you have a question, you can email [e-mail] if you like the show and want to support it, you can do [e-mail] Grumpy Seoguy if you have a question that you would like to ask to multiple people, you can post it on the Grumpy SEO Guy subreddit, which is Reddit.com r grumpyseoguy and if you have a difficult question and you want to set up a zoom advisory call to talk about something specific, you can email me at hello grumpy SEO guy.com and we can converse about setting that up, continuing the episode. So many people get confused about relevancy and authority, and we're going to clarify them. So before we do so, as you know, there are four things you need to rank.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

There are four things you need to rank, okay? So first, no penalties. Second, content. Third, relevancy. Fourth, authority. Those are the four things that you need to rank. Let's define them really quickly. And then we're gonna focus on relevancy and authority before we talk about how it works in the algorithm. And then we're gonna give you maybe an example or two. Okay? So number one, don't get a penalty. Pretty straightforward. So a penalty is when you do something that you shouldn't do. And when you get a penalty, you basically get knocked out of the search results. So even if a website has the best SEO ever, if it has a penalty, it will not rank. So do not get a penalty. We have an episode that talks about penalties. It's episode two. I will put a link in the notes for this episode if you want to listen to that one.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Next thing you need is content. Now, content does two things. One, it places content on your site so there is something for a viewer to see and something for a search engine to find.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

The second thing content does is it creates relevancy, which we're gonna talk about in a minute. But I just wanna mention here very quickly, and I know most of you know what I'm gonna say already. When it comes to content, quality is not a ranking factor.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

We've talked about this many, many times before. I just wanna be very clear. If somebody is telling you, oh, just write really good content and you will rank, that person does not comprehend how SEO works. That person writing better quality content is not going to get you to the top of the search engines.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

There's plenty of websites that have supreme quality content, okay? But they don't rank and it has nothing to do with their content. So let's just be very clear, quality of content is not a ranking factor. Okay, onto the next topic. So. Well, almost. So I said content does two things. I said one of the things it does is establish relevancy. If you're writing about blue widgets, then you are relevant for blue widgets. Pretty straightforward. But we're gonna talk about this more later. Okay, so now let's talk about relevancy. Okay, Relevancy again, we just talked about this means what is the topic of your website? If your website has content about blue Widgets, then you're relevant for blue widgets, okay? If your website has content for washing machines, then you're relevant for washing machines, okay? You have to be relevant in order to rank for a keyword, okay? And it makes sense. Okay, let's really, really po for a moment.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Why would you rank for something that you are not relevant for? Think about it. Think. If somebody searches for washing machines, why would your website show up if you're not relevant for washing machines? I mean, it could, but then the search engines wouldn't be doing a great job and people would stop using them, okay? So if you're searching for something, you're going to see websites that are relevant for that keyword. Now, there's two ways to get relevancy, by the way, let's talk about relevancy. So there's two ways to get relevancy, okay? One way is with backlinks. So the anchor text from a backlink, meaning the words that are in the backlink, create relevancy. So if somebody links to you, okay, and they use the words blue widgets in the backlink, then you are gaining relevancy for the term blue widgets, okay? So one way to get relevancy is with backlinks, or more specifically, with the anchor text of the backlink. So whatever the backlink says, that is the anchor text, and whatever those words are that is providing you relevancy. By the way, we have an entire episode on anchor text and why it's important. And I will put that link in the description. So that's one way to get relevancy. The other way to get relevancy is with your content, okay? If your content talks about blue widgets, then you have relevancy for blue widgets. That's how you get relevancy. We're gonna talk about why this is important in a minute. But before we do that, we're gonna talk about the last thing that you need, authority. Authority is trustworthiness. Authority is strength. It is power. It is clout. It is popularity.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Authority just means how does your website compare in terms of trustworthiness to the other websites on the Internet?

[B]

Okay?

[A]

That's all it means. You need authority to rank. Authority comes from backlinks. So all backlink. Well, most backlinks provide authority. Okay, some authority. Now, they provide a different amount of authority.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

But the way. And we have episodes on this. I'll put a link in the description to at least one of these episodes. But the way to get authority is from backlinks, okay? The way to get authority is from backlinks, okay? By the way, that is the only way to get authority. The only way to get authority is by getting backlinks from another site to your website, okay? That's how it works. It's the only way to get authority. So let me be clear about this, okay? No, we'll just leave it like that. So that's the only way to get authority. All right? So. And I'm trying to keep this episode a little bit shorter, but it's not just about the number of backlinks that you get. Backlinks can be good or bad, okay? Some backlinks help you. Some backlinks do not help you. Some backlinks help you a lot. Some backlinks only help you a little bit, okay? The point is, most backlinks will probably help you, but you want to try to make sure that you're doing it correctly, okay? Anyways, so relevancy and authority, right? So let's just guess for the rest of this conversation that you do not have a penalty. So you're fine with number one, and you have content, so you're fine with number two. So what we're talking about now is relevancy and authority. Now, let's talk about how these work with the algorithm to determine where you rank.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

So this might not be exactly how the search engines work. I don't work for a search engine.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But this is pretty much how they probably work.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Just to be clear on this, okay, so let's talk about relevancy and authority. When you search for something, the first thing the search engine does is it makes two lists of websites, okay? It makes a list of websites that are relevant for that keyword, and it makes a list of websites that are not relevant for that keyword.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

So if you search for. So if you search for dishwashers, the search engine will create two lists. One list is a list of websites that are relevant for dishwashers, and the other list is a list of websites that are not relevant for dishwashers, okay? Now, it's only going to use the list of websites that are relevant for dishwashers because you're searching for dishwashers, okay? It is understandable that you would get websites that are relevant for dishwashers or whatever you search for, right? So of all of those websites that are relevant for whatever you searched for, those are the websites that are going to appear in the search results.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

But wait, we're not done yet. How does the search engine know what website to put in the first position, how does it know what website to put? In the second position, we have all these websites that are relevant, but how do we arrange them in the results? Authority. We arrange them in the results with authority.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

So of all the websites that are relevant for your keyword that you searched for, the one with the most authority will be number one, the one with the second most authority will be number two, and so on.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense. People are going to have all sorts of questions. But what about. But what about. But that's how it works, okay? To the best of my knowledge, that's how it works. Now I want to be very clear about something. People are going to use different SEO software that estimates the value of authority of a website. For example, Ahrefs is a good tool and it estimates authority with something called Dr. Domain rating. Okay, but I want to be very clear doctor and we use Ahrefs normally. It's a very, it's a great tool. I'm actually recommending it. It's a very good tool. But listen, doctor is an approximation. It is a guess of authority. It is not actual authority. So why I'm telling you this is sometimes people see a website, for example, that has higher Dr. But it's ranking under a website with less Dr. And they're like, this is wrong. You've got more Dr. But it's not ranking as high. You're wrong, grumpy SEO guy. Okay, but Dr. Is not actual authority. It is an approximation. It is a guess of authority. The real value of authority, which by the way is referred to as page rank, is hidden by Google. So nobody other than Google knows how much authority a page actually has, okay? So that's why these tools like Ahrefs estimate the authority, because nobody knows the real authority. So anyways, look, that's how it works. So you have a list of websites that are relevant for your keywords, okay? And then that website gets ordered. That's how it works. Let me give you another example that is completely distinct from SEO, okay? Cause if that didn't make sense, I hope this next example does make sense.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Let's say that you work in a store. Let's say you work in a record store and you're selling records and you know a lot about music, alright? So somebody comes in and they say, hey, I want a jazz album. I don't know anything about jazz. Somebody told me that jazz is pretty good. I would like to listen to a jazz album. Can you recommend a jazz album? Now you Work at a music store. So this is what your process is going to be like. The first thing that you're gonna do is you're gonna take them over to the jazz section.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Why? Because the albums in the jazz section are relevant for jazz, and each other section in the music store is not relevant for jazz. So why would you take them there? This person wants a jazz album. You're gonna take them to the jazz section. So now you've got all of these albums that are relevant for jazz.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Do you see how that is near what was happening with search engines? Okay, but now this person wants a jazz album, but they don't know anything about jazz. So what are you probably likely to recommend to this person? A popular jazz album.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Not some weird jazz album that only, you know, serious jazz fans listen to. Right? This person who doesn't know anything about jazz probably wouldn't like that album. Album. They probably would like a popular jazz album, right? Which is like, what? It's like a popular website that has good authority.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

It's like a website that is likely to be in the first position. So this person who doesn't know anything all about jazz, Hey, I would like a jazz album. You take them to the jazz area.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And then you recommend to them a popular jazz album.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

It's a good starting place. Hey, here's a trendy jazz album. This is what I recommend based on the things that you said you were looking for. That's basically how the results work when you search for something. Okay, I hope this makes sense. Let me know what questions you have. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to subscribe, and if you enjoy this podcast, please leave a review. It would really help the show out. I hope this episode was helpful. If you have any questions or want to suggest a subject for a future episode, you can contact me on Reddit. My username is Grumpy SEO Guy. You can visit the Grumpy SEO Guy subreddit or you can email [e-mail] if you email me, please either whitelist my email address or check your junk folders, because I've been told that my replies are going into the junk folder, and it's probably because we're talking about things like SEO and backlinks, and I think those words will classify an email as spam. And if you want to support the podcast, because it's the best source of SEO information on the planet and it's free, you can do [e-mail] Grumpy SEO Guy and I will talk to you later. You're listening to Grumpy SEO Guy, the SEO podcast that doesn't waste your time with nonsense that doesn't work. Join us next Wednesday for another episode.

[B]

Sam.