Glossary · Measurement and evidence
topicality
How closely a page's entities and vocabulary match the subject an engine believes it is about, as distinct from whether the page is well-formed.
What topicality means
How closely a page's entities and vocabulary match the subject an engine believes it is about, as distinct from whether the page is well-formed. A page can pass every technical check and still not be about what its title claims; topicality is the check that reads the words rather than the markup.
What topicality can and cannot support
| It can support | It cannot support |
|---|---|
| How closely a page's entities and vocabulary match the subject an engine believes it is about, as distinct from whether the page is well-formed. | A page can pass every technical check and still not be about what its title claims; topicality is the check that reads the words rather than the markup. |
Where topicality comes up on this site
Terms this definition uses
Related terms in Measurement and evidence
The vocabulary for saying how strongly something is known.
evidence level · false positive · denominator note · percentile rank · population baseline · cohort asymmetry · self-audit invariant · unscored measurement · dated series · change receipt · regression · finding age · graded through a wall · self-audit · placeholder in record · fetcher disagreement · own-host loop · score version · row review · double-counted defect · cosmetic row · gated row · log file analysis · AI referral attribution · finding fingerprint · finding state · headroom · fix list · render gap · lab data · Lighthouse · RUM · LCP · CLS · INP · intent coverage · canary · citation rate · presence rate · answer stability
Questions about topicality
What is topicality?
How closely a page's entities and vocabulary match the subject an engine believes it is about, as distinct from whether the page is well-formed.
What does topicality not show or guarantee?
A page can pass every technical check and still not be about what its title claims; topicality is the check that reads the words rather than the markup.
Which area of the glossary does topicality belong to?
Measurement and evidence: The vocabulary for saying how strongly something is known.
← INP · intent coverage →
See it in the full glossary · 668 terms across 19 areas.