Three layers of relevance
- Site: the publication regularly covers the broader subject.
- Article: the guest contribution naturally addresses a topic inside that subject.
- Destination: the linked page genuinely helps a reader who wants to go deeper.
Relevance is not exact matching
A cybersecurity publication can naturally discuss SaaS operations, data privacy or IT procurement. The test is conceptual coherence, not whether every page on the site uses the same keyword.
Watch for forced adjacency
A publication can make almost any topic sound adjacent if the only goal is inserting a commercial link. Read enough of the site to understand what its audience actually expects.
Use relevance before metrics
When two candidate publishers are otherwise credible, the one with stronger audience/topic fit may be the more coherent editorial opportunity even if a proprietary authority score is lower.