John Muller – “No Ranking Factor Compensates Missing Relevance Or Missing User Interest.”  

If you are someone from this SEO landscape, you know John Mueller.  

Before we delve into the analysis part, let’s quote him:

“@simoncox @nbwpuk It’s a fine line – people often take the ‘it helps Google’ angle as a reason to hyper-fixate on it and assume all of these add up to #1 rankings. And with that, it’s easy to forget that a site doesn’t just ‘rank’ on its own, it ranks for what it’s relevant for. No ranking factor compensates missing relevance, or missing user interest.”

This comment arises from a video John shared about “Does semantic HTML help Search identify and evaluate content?”

He explained that semantic HTML helps Google understand your content. However, it’s important to note that it doesn’t directly affect your ranking or help you rank higher. In simpler terms, it means that using semantic HTML makes your content easier for Google to understand, but it doesn’t boost your position in search results.

Takeaway

Regardless of what challenges you face, relevance and search intent are crucial for success. This means that your content needs to be valuable and satisfy the search intent of users.

Your unique voice, perspective, and originality play a significant role in determining your rankings. As a result, they will contribute to E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Content that aligns with user intent, showcases your expertise and builds trust is key to improving your rankings.