Irrelevant Keywords: What They Are & How to Avoid Them

What Are Irrelevant Keywords?

Irrelevant keywords are search engine queries that it doesn’t make sense for your website or webpage to appear for. Because they don’t align with your business goals or the content’s purpose.

You can rank for irrelevant keywords unintentionally.

For example, fashion brand Coach’s contact page ranks for “email coaching”:

Or you can rank for irrelevant keywords intentionally.

For example, a fashion brand might create a blog post to try to appear for a popular term like “cat pictures.” 

How Ranking for Irrelevant Keywords Can Harm Your Business

1. It Won’t Drive Business Results

Irrelevant keyword rankings are unlikely to drive business results.

For example:

• Someone who searches “email coaching” is unlikely to click through to Coach’s contact page
• Someone who visits a fashion brand’s “cat pictures” blog post is unlikely to then buy some clothes

Don’t waste time creating search-optimized content around these keywords.

And don’t target irrelevant keywords through pay-per-click advertising (PPC). Because you’ll pay every time someone clicks your ad.

Plus, poor-performing ads can indirectly harm your other ads’ performance.

2. It May Indicate an Issue with Your Content

If your page ranks higher for irrelevant keywords than it does for relevant keywords, your page could fail to satisfy search intent. In other words, it doesn’t help the target user achieve their goal.

Irrelevant keyword rankings can also indicate that your page is poorly optimized. Google and users may not understand what it’s about.

If your page ranks for some irrelevant keywords but ranks higher for relevant keywords, you likely don’t need to worry.

For example, Coach’s contact page ranks in position 48 for “email coaching.” But ranks in much higher positions for relevant keywords like “coach email,” according to Semrush’s Organic Research tool:

This indicates that Google understands the main purpose of the page. And Coach doesn’t need to take action. 

3. It Can Dilute Your Topical Authority

Topical authority refers to your perceived expertise in a particular area.

Ranking for keywords outside of your niche can dilute your topical authority. Because it makes your site seem less specialized.

Search engines may favor sites with topical authority. And so do users. 

Consider this: 

Would you rather get health advice from Website A or Website B?

Website B, right?

The site has more topical authority because all of its keywords relate to health. Its health-related content appears more focused. And therefore more credible.

The site likely ranks higher for health-related keywords and gets better engagement from users.

How to Check for Irrelevant Keyword Rankings

Here’s how to check if your website ranks for irrelevant keywords in Google.

Organic Rankings

Organic rankings are search engine rankings you don’t pay for.

To check them, enter your domain into the Organic Research tool. Then, choose your target country and click “Search.”

The “Positions” report lists the keywords you rank for, according to our keyword database.

For each keyword, see which URL on your site ranks highest.

Scroll through to look for irrelevant keywords.

If you’re not sure whether a keyword is relevant, click the icon in the “SERP” column. This lets you view the search engine results page (SERP) for yourself.

View the top-ranking results to see the search intent behind the keyword. And whether it matches the purpose of your page.

For example, the SERP for “email coaching” is all about coaching clients via email:

It wouldn’t make sense to target this keyword on Coach’s contact page.

If you find irrelevant keyword rankings worth addressing, you’ll need to remove or update your content. We’ll explain how later.

Google Ads Rankings

If you use Google Ads, make sure your ads don’t appear for irrelevant keywords. To avoid wasting your PPC budget.

To start, sign into Google Ads.

Then, click “Campaigns” > “Insights and reports” > “Search terms.”

You’ll see a list of search terms that have triggered your ads.

Those with the lowest clicks and conversions are most likely irrelevant keywords.

If you find irrelevant keywords, update your ad campaign.

By considering the following:

• Keyword match types: How closely the user’s query must match your chosen keyword. Increase the specificity of the match type to reduce the risk of irrelevant keywords triggering your ads. But it may also lead to useful keywords being excluded.
• Negative keywords: Terms that prevent your ads from showing. Again, there are different match types that affect the scope of excluded keywords.

We’ll talk more about these later.

How to Avoid Irrelevant Keyword Rankings

Understand the Buyer’s Journey

The buyer’s journey refers to the steps someone goes through before making a purchase.

Understanding it helps you identify relevant keywords for your business.

Here’s an example of a buying journey for a mattress retailer:

1. The person experiences poor-quality sleep and looks for help online
2. They read a guide and discover that a new mattress could benefit them
3. They read mattress reviews and ultimately purchase a mattress

This means keywords like “why can’t I sleep” and “mattress reviews” are relevant to a mattress retailer.

But someone who searches for “quotes about sleep” is unlikely to be on a journey toward a mattress purchase. So, this is a largely irrelevant keyword for a mattress retailer.

Conduct Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of finding keywords that can drive meaningful results for your business.

It provides crucial direction to your search engine optimization (SEO) and PPC efforts.

To start, enter a relevant term into Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Then, enter your domain, choose your target country, and click “Search.”

You’ll see a list of “Broad Match” keywords that contain your starting keyword or a close variation.

The “Intent” column tells you the type(s) of search intent behind each keyword:

To better understand the search intent, click through to the SERP to view the top-ranking results.

To help you avoid irrelevant keywords.

Also pay attention to these keyword metrics:

• Volume: The average number of monthly searches for the keyword. The higher the number, the higher your result’s potential reach.
• PKD %: Your personal keyword difficulty score, expressed as a percentage. This measures how hard it’ll be for your domain to rank in the top 10 organic results.
• Com.: The competitive density score, which measures how hard it’ll be to secure an advertising space on the results page. It’s scored from 0.00 to 1.00.
• CPC (USD): The estimated cost per click (in U.S. dollars) on this results page. This is the amount advertisers pay each time someone clicks their ad.

Save relevant keywords by using the checkboxes and “+ Add to keyword list” button.

Now you’re ready to optimize content or ad campaigns around your chosen keywords.

Focus on Content Quality

The higher your content quality, the less likely Google is to misunderstand and misrank it.

Quality content is generally:

• Created with a specific audience need in mind
• Well written (i.e., easy to read and free of errors)
• Comprehensive
• Accurate and trustworthy
• Structured with paragraphs and subheadings
• Enhanced with images, videos, etc.

For example, there are many signals that the page below is about sunflower seeds for planting—not eating:

• The site has topical authority on the subject of gardening
• Written content refers to the process of planting seeds and growing sunflowers
• Multiple photos of sunflowers (rather than seeds)
• Filters for “Flower color,” “Plant life cycle," “Blooming season,” etc.

All these factors help ensure that the page ranks prominently for relevant keywords like “sunflower seeds for planting.” And lower for irrelevant keywords like “edible sunflower seeds.”

Use Keyword Optimization Tactics

Keyword optimization is tactfully using keywords to help Google understand what your content is about.

Generally, every page should have a primary keyword that represents its overall topic. Use this keyword in the following locations:

• Title tag: The page title that can appear in the search results page
• Meta description: The page summary that can appear in the search results page
• H1 tag: The main heading that appears on the page
• URL slug: The unique part of the webpage’s address

You can also use the primary keyword (and any other relevant keywords, known as secondary keywords) in:

• Paragraphs
• Subheadings
• Alt text (image descriptions used for accessibility purposes)

Use relevant keywords when linking to a page.

In other words, if you’re linking to your men’s jeans product line, attach the link to anchor text like “men’s jeans” rather than “click here.”

This helps users and Google understand what the linked page is about.

Just make sure not to overdo it. Using keywords unnaturally can do more harm than good.

Set Up Your Ad Campaigns Carefully

When setting up a paid search campaign, choose your keyword(s) to target.

And decide the keyword match type:

• Broad match means search queries relating to your keyword could trigger your ad
• Phrase match means search queries including your keyword’s meaning could trigger your ad
• Exact match means search queries must match your keyword’s meaning to trigger your ad

The more specific the match type, the lower the chance of an irrelevant keyword triggering your ad.

But it could also exclude some relevant keywords.

Gain control of your campaign by using negative keywords. These are keywords that prevent your ads being triggered. And there are three match types:

• Negative broad match means your ad won’t trigger if the query contains your negative keyword in any order
• Negative phrase match means your ad won’t trigger if the query contains your negative keyword in the specified order
• Negative exact match means your ad won’t trigger if the query is exactly the same as your negative keyword

Improve Your Rankings for Relevant Keywords

Before you create new content or ad campaigns, improve your existing content.

It’s a cost-effective approach. And gives you a strong foundation to build on.

With Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker, you can see which pages need the most attention. And get specific advice to improve your rankings for relevant keywords.

Create your free Semrush account to get started.