When you have a heart problem, do you go to a cardiologist or a general practitioner? Your answer is definitely a cardiologist, because he has expertise and can examine your problem more accurately and better. This also applies to websites. Google and users trust specialized websites with high-quality content more. Topical Authority refers to this expertise and credibility of websites in a specific subject, meaning how well-known and reputable you are in your field.
If you can increase your website’s Topic Authority, you can reach top rankings in many key phrases without the need for link building or reporting. In this article, we intend to examine what Topical Authority is and what effect it has on your website’s SEO and branding. Join us to see how we can build our website’s Topic Authority.
What is Topical Authority?
Topical Authority, also known as topical validity or authority, authority, is a criterion in SEO and content marketing that measures the level of expertise and authority of a website in a particular field. In other words, it shows how much your website specializes in a particular topic and how well-known and authoritative it is in that field.
Google uses semantic search to understand the content of websites, so it should be able to identify websites based on related topics and rank them as authoritative sources for relevant keywords.
By building Topical Authority for your website, you can be recognized as an authoritative source in Google’s eyes and have a better chance of ranking higher in search results. Let’s comprehend this concept better with a simple example.
Concept of Topical Authority in simple language
This concept, in simple language, means that a website intends to become the main authority on one or more specific topics. Building Topical Authority helps search engines better understand topics, and also makes the website have more potential to rank for keywords related to that topic.
Imagine that you want to write articles about “What is SEO?” Writing just one article targeting the keyword “What is SEO?” probably will not be enough to compete in this field. Why? Because this topic is so vast and you cannot cover all its dimensions in one article.
To build Topical Authority, you need to cover all aspects related to hosting, for example:
- What is SEO?
- What is On-page SEO?
- What is Off-page SEO?
- What is Technical SEO?
- What is the difference between On-page SEO and Off-page SEO?
Topic Authority is created when a website covers all aspects of a topic, rather than just focusing on specific keywords. As you can see in the example above, a website that covers all aspects of a topic comprehensively has more credibility, expertise, and comprehensiveness than a website that only deals with one aspect of it. Therefore, both search engines and users will trust it more. This makes the website a reliable reference in the eyes of users. For example, when it comes to reputable training courses in the field of SEO and digital marketing, the first websites that probably come to mind are “Coursera”, “Udemy”, or “Hubspot”. These websites are reliable and well-known not only in the eyes of users, but also in the eyes of search engines. Because they provide comprehensive, useful, and high-quality content that is specialized in their field.
An example of the impact of Topical Authority on a website’s SEO
When we talk about the Topical Authority of a website, there are many examples on the Persian and foreign web that have been able to implement this concept well on their website.
For example, Amazon and Shopify websites are quite renowned in the field of online commerce, both from the perspective of users and search engines. So, when you search for topics related to online commerce (Ecommerce), you will mostly see these websites in the top results.
Be careful that Topic Authority is only one of the ranking factors. Even if you observe this on your website, you may still not reach the top rankings. Consequently, to strengthen the SEO of the website, you should consider it along with other ranking factors.
Why is Topical Authority important in SEO?
Topical Authority is crucial for SEO because it helps websites gain the trust of search engines and users by providing high-quality, specialized content. Search engines like Google prioritize content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
When a website covers a topic comprehensively and provides a wide range of content related to its subtopics, search engines are more likely to recognize it as a trusted source. This can lead to better rankings in search results, increased organic traffic, and greater visibility for relevant keywords.
Additionally, Topical Authority of articles aligns with user needs. When visitors are presented with comprehensive, well-organized content that answers their questions, they are more likely to stay on the website, interact with it, and return for more information. This improves the user experience, reduces bounce rates, and shows search engines that the content is valuable; as a result, the website’s SEO performance is boosted.
The importance of Topical Authority in SEO and website’s user experience
If you produce a lot of content on a specific topic, you will have more opportunities to build relevant internal links. These links help Google and users find your content more easily, and as a result, the likelihood of receiving natural backlinks increases. If there is only one point to remember about the concept of “Topical Authority”, it is this:
“The more content you produce in a given area and link to it intelligently, the more Google will recognize you as an authoritative source in that field. This means that you are a trusted authority in the eyes of Google.”
To better understand Topic Authority, we need to see exactly how it works. Let’s examine how Topic Authority works.
How does Topical Authority work?
No one knows exactly how Topical Authority works yet. Hence, if someone explains you about it, know that they are talking based on their own assumptions and experiences.
Since the introduction of the “Panda algorithm”, the task of websites with low-quality content has become clear and Google has shown that it is very serious about providing high-quality content. Just like a chef who is going to serve the best food to his customers, Google also tries to provide the best and highest quality content to users by updating its algorithms.
In 2013, with the addition of the “Hummingbird algorithm” to the core of Google, a new concept called “Semantic Search” was introduced. From then on, the ranking of websites was not limited to keywords and links alone. Google’s crawling algorithms now seek to understand the meaning behind searches and their connection to users’ needs.
Over time, Google continued its commitment to providing users with the best results, and in 2022, it introduced the “Helpful Content” update, changing Google’s guidelines for “Expertise”, “Authoritativeness”, and “Trustworthiness” or E-A-T to E-E-A-T and adding the element of “Experience”. This way, content creators who shared their expertise or brand in their content received higher scores.
Google’s algorithm updates continue, and with the 2023 Helpful Content update, websites with duplicate, unhelpful, or AI-generated content were dealt a final blow, and these websites experienced a sharp drop. Finally, in 2024, the two systems, “Helpful Content Ranking” and “Google’s Core Ranking,” merged to more accurately assess the quality of content.
This is why Topical Authority is more important in SEO these days. Because all content is under the microscope of search engines, and to achieve top rankings, you need to demonstrate subject-specific comprehensiveness and specialization in your website’s content.
Now, an important question remains, how do we build Topical Authority for our website? It’s simple, but it takes time. Let’s explore the important points of this task.
How to create Topical Authority for your website?
First of all, you should know that without following the basic principles of SEO, building Topical Authority is useless. Of course, it is not ineffective, but if you do not lay the foundations of the website correctly, you should not expect the rest of the parts to be formed correctly. When you put all the components together correctly, you will eventually achieve the desired result.
If you have executed your website’s SEO correctly, building Topical Authority is a very simple process. In short, you should do these things:
- Do keyword research to find all the important points related to a topic.
- Categorize the data obtained in the form of topic clusters.
- Produce content that is consistent with the purpose of users searching for those keywords.
- Add relevant internal and external links to your content.
Of course, these are just some of the things you need to do, let’s take a closer look at how to build Topic Authority for SEO.
Choosing a crucial topic or categories
The first step in implementing Topical Authority on your website is to choose a topic. Most websites have a variety of categories on which they can focus. Based on your business strategy, you ought to choose the most important topics from among these categories. We recommend starting with categories that have more subject diversity and the possibility of producing different content for them.
For example, if your educational website includes various topics, choosing the digital marketing category can give you the opportunity to work on a variety of topics in this field. However, choosing the AI content production category has more limited options and your hands are more limited in terms of content production and topic authority.
In general, when creating Topical Authority for your website, pay attention to the following points:
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Have your own strategy
We are always looking to understand how our competitors are attracting the attention of their audience. For this reason, we may gradually develop the habit of thinking that every action taken by our competitors is right and necessary and that we should follow the same path. But why not be bolder and move in the opposite direction of our competitors? Sometimes new strategies have much better results than copying our competitors.
Topic Authority not only covers the hidden needs of users, but also satisfies search engines and ultimately, customers’ trust and interest.
Also, choose a topic that will maintain its value over time and do not just follow fleeting trends. Now, if you have chosen a topic that suits your business field, it is time to do keyword research.
Keyword research for the selected topic
Now you need to do keyword research for the topic you are considering. Start with a general topic and then move on to more specific topics. At this point, you will see that the broader your chosen topic is, the more content you can produce for it.
To do basic keyword research, consider these points:
- Use tools like KeywordFinder or KeywordTools for research.
- Choose a main topic and examine its details.
- Analyze your competitors and see what keywords they are using.
- Review Google’s suggestions and the questions that users are asking on websites and social networks and choose the important topics.
- Do not just focus on the numbers; keywords with low search volume or high difficulty are not always a bad option, especially if they are highly relevant to your main suggestions.
- Trust your feeling and understanding of your audience’s needs.
- Get help from AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini and Cloud for idea generation.
Choosing the relevant topics you are interested in
The extensiveness of topics you choose will depend on your content strategy. There is no set number of topics to build Topical Authority, but we recommend covering between 10 and 30 topics in a cluster. Of course, SEO experts have different opinions on this. You can use AI tools like ChatGPT or Cloud to help you with this, asking them to categorize your topics and give you new content ideas.
Creating topic clusters for topics
A “Topic Cluster” or “Content Cluster Model” is a content strategy in which a main page is dedicated to a specific topic and acts as the main pillar of the cluster. Then, other pages that relate to different aspects of the same topic are created and link to the main page. These pieces of content are linked together, creating a network of information that shows search engines that your website is a trusted authority on the subject.
The first step in creating a topic cluster is to identify the topic that is relevant to your business. For example, if your website is in the field of digital marketing, you could create a cluster page titled “Digital Marketing” that covers different aspects of this field, such as SEO, content marketing, social media strategies, email marketing, and paid advertising.
Once you have determined your content structure, you need to produce high-quality and advantageous content for your chosen topics.
Producing quality and useful content
Once you have created your topic cluster strategy, it is time to produce content. Writing ordinary content is nothing but a waste of time. Since AI chatbots can also answer users’ questions, only quality, quality, and more quality will make both search engines and users trust you.
Let’s examine some important factors for producing quality content:
- Write content that is aligned with your main topic, accurately understands the user’s need and problem, and provides a tailored answer.
- Your content should include comprehensive, accurate, and engaging information, and use visual features such as infographics, tables, images, and diagrams.
- In the content production process, pay attention to the E-E-A-T principles (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) and provide relevant research results and examples to clarify the topic.
- If you have sufficient experience in the subject matter, use your personal experiences or brand to engage your users’ emotions.
- Structure the article based on a content pyramid, so that important content is at the beginning of the content and eliminate repetitive content.
- Identify the users’ purpose for searching and present the concept accurately and completely, so that the user quickly reaches the answer they want.
- Maintain readability and use subheadings to avoid presenting long contents.
- Choose the tone and persona of the content according to the needs of the users and present the content in a way that is simple and understandable.
- Take internal linking seriously and do not leave it alone after writing and publishing the content.
- Do not overuse keywords and use them naturally in the text.
- Update your content regularly to always remain fresh and relevant.
In general, your content should be both useful and entertaining and answer users’ questions. Mass content production without regard to quality will only lead to the creation of numerous pages without positive results.
Do internal linking carefully
After creating your content, you need to do internal linking carefully. Without it, your pages will be like isolated islands that Google cannot understand the connections between them. Internal linking connects the website’s content and shows search engines on what subject you have authority. This not only helps improve SEO, but it also helps users navigate to relevant content more easily and increases website traffic.
Content clusters are connected to one another like a spider’s web. Internal linking establishes connections between topics and clusters and connects pages together, just like building a strong fortress for your website’s SEO. Google loves this structure as it shows that you are a trusted authority in your field.
Updating contents
Have you ever visited website a website whose information is so old that you feel like you are reading historical documents? For example, a website that still talks about Alexa rank and its impact on SEO! Can you trust such a website and accept it as a reliable source?
Thus, if you want to maintain the subject matter authority of your website, you should take updating content seriously and provide fresh information to users and search engines. Google also cares so much about the freshness of content that it has designed the “Freshness Algorithm” to measure it. According to Search Engine Journal, the freshness of content is one of the important factors in Google’s ranking. Therefore, you should get to work and update your old content. To do this, you can pursue the following steps through Google Search Console:
- Log in to Google Search Console and go to the Performance part, then Search Results.
- Set the time range to the last 6 months (or whatever time period you want) and enable Compare for comparing.
- Select important criteria like clicks, impressions, and positions.
- On the Pages tab, sort pages by position difference to see which pages have dropped in rank.
- Identify pages with high impressions but low click-through rates, as their content is likely to be declining.
- This way, you can identify top and declining pages and update their content to both improve the quality of the content and show users and search engines that your website cares about freshness of the content.
Conclusion
Topical Authority is a concept that helps you become a trusted authority in your field. It focuses more on the quality of topics and their relevance, and aims to delve deeply into various aspects of a business-related topic.
