Topical Authority

Why topically relevant links are better than other links

Background In this post, I explain why topically relevant links within the main content of a webpage are the most valuable links. Once upon a time, Google was all about links, and

The picture shows David McWilliams giving a TED talk during TED during April of 2023.

Topical Authority

July 24, 20240Comments

Topical Authority: What does this mean?

Image credit: The Power of Unconventional Thinking, David McWilliams Topical authority has become a very popular topic in the world of SEO, but it seems there isn’t a common meaning to

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a cartoon version of the word "Google" in the usual colors with a cartoon character sitting on the 2nd letter "o" holding a sign that says "domain authority". It was created for a blog post titled "Does Google use domain authority?".

Topical Authority

April 2, 20240Comments

Does Google use domain authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Google does not use domain authority as a direct ranking signal, no. So why does everyone

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a document with the title "Magna Carta" (although mis-spelled) at the top of the page. It was created for a blog post whose title is "Is Page Authority important for SEO?".

Topical Authority

April 1, 20240Comments

Is Page Authority important for SEO?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. At the risk of giving a vague answer, page authority is kind of important to

by Kevin Carney

The AI generated image shows a graph where the Y axis goes from 0 to 100 and the X axis is over time. The graph trends up and to the right. The image was created for a blog posts titled "What Domain Authority is good?".

Topical Authority

March 29, 20240Comments

What Domain Authority is good?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. If you're reading the posts in this series sequentially, I again apologize for being a

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a bar graph, increasing in value over time, from 0 to 42. It was created to accompany a blog post titled "How do I find my Domain Authority?".

Topical Authority

March 28, 20240Comments

How do I find my Domain Authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. In this blog post, I'm doing to document two ways you can find your domain

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a human pyramid with three people wearing blue shirts on the bottom layer and three people wearing red shirts making up the 2nd and the top layer. It was created for a blog post titled "What are the 4 pillars of SEO?".

Topical Authority

March 25, 20240Comments

What are the 4 pillars of SEO?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. How did a post about the 4 pillars of SEO wind up in a series

by Kevin Carney

The AI generated image shows a professor giving a lecture in an auditorium on the topic of SEO Authority. We know this because the phrase SEO Authority appears on the display. The image was created for a blog post whose title is "What is a good SEO Authority score?".

Topical Authority

March 24, 20240Comments

What is a good SEO Authority score?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. For the record, there is no SEO authority score. For some reason, that statement reminds me

by Kevin Carney

The AI generated image shows a professor giving a lecture on the concept of Search Engine Optimization. We know this because of what's on the whiteboard behind him. This image was created to accompany a blog post titled "What does SEO authority mean?".

Topical Authority

March 23, 20240Comments

What does SEO authority mean?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. SEO authority is an aggregate idea Within the world of SEO (search engine optimization) the idea

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a woman wearing a "Sherlock Holmes" style hat examining a book with a magnifying glass. It was created for a blog post titled "How do you determine content authority?".

Topical Authority

March 22, 20240Comments

How do you determine content authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. What does "content authority" even mean? It means whoever created the content did a good job

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows someone looking closely at a whiteboard filled with symbols while other people look on. It was created to accompany a blog post whose title is "How do you create a topical cluster?".

Topical Authority

March 21, 20240Comments

How do you create a topical cluster?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Introduction: Topical clusters A topical cluster is a collection of blog posts about various aspects or

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a man operating an 18th century printing machine, in a print shop with freshly printed documents hanging overhead to dry. This image was created to accompany a blog post titled "How do you build authority with content?".

Topical Authority

March 20, 20240Comments

How do you build authority with content?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. If you're reading the posts in this series sequentially, I apologize (again) for the repetition

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a man receiving a Nobel Prize. It was created to accompany a blog post titled "How do I make myself an authority?", which is about topical authority as it related to SEO (search engine optimization).

Topical Authority

March 19, 20240Comments

How do I make myself an authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Introduction The short answer is learn your topic. Become an authority. If you already are, great. If

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a kitten typing on a computer and on the wall in the background is a post containing the words "style guide". It was created for a blog post whose title is "How does topical authority work?".

Topical Authority

March 18, 20240Comments

How does topical authority work?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. If you're reading these posts sequentially, I apologize for some of them sounding repetitive. In

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a group of beavers carry8ng stick up to and into a dam they've built out of stone. It was created to accompany a blog post whose title is 'How do you increase topical authority?".

Topical Authority

March 17, 20240Comments

How do you increase topical authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Introduction While some may feel that what I specify as step one goes without saying, not

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a scale with "domain authority" on one side and "authority score" on the other and was created to accompany a blog post whose title is "Are domain authority and authority score the same?".

Topical Authority

March 15, 20240Comments

Are domain authority and authority score the same?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Introduction The short answer is no, they're not, but they're related, sort of. But for that answer

by Kevin Carney

The AI generated image shows a man standing in front of a whiteboard at a beach, with an audience of people sitting on the beach. He appears to be giving a lecture on surfing as we see people suring into short in the background of the image.

Topical Authority

March 11, 20240Comments

Is domain authority important?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Why yes, it is Perhaps a better question is "How is domain authority important?". Domain authority is

by Kevin Carney

The image shows a graphic of various factors (specifically eight factors) that have an effect on the domain authority score of a website.

March 11, 20240Comments

Domain Authority

Domain authority is a numerical score, between 1 and 100, that is assigned to websites as a measure of how authoritative they are. This metric was created by Moz, back when

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a cat wearing glasses and a lab coat, sending in front of a classroom and giving a lecture to an audience of other cats about "domain authority" and "page authority" whose ideas are abbreviated on the whiteboard as "DA" and "PA".

Topical Authority

March 10, 20240Comments

Is Page authority more important than Domain Authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Page authority vs domain authority: Introduction While these two key SEO metrics are similar, they focus

by Kevin Carney

March 10, 20240Comments

Topic cluster

What is a topic cluster? A topic cluster is a set of posts on various aspects or nuances of a topic, where the more nuanced posts are subtopics of the main

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image accompanies a blog post titled "What is another name for Domain Authority?" which provides brief descriptions of domain authority (Moz), domain rating (Ahrefs), authority score (SEMrush), and trust flow (Majestic).

Topical Authority

March 9, 20240Comments

What is another name for Domain Authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Domain Authority alternatives: Introduction This is going to be another short article within this series. As

by Kevin Carney

Topical Authority

March 7, 20240Comments

What is the highest domain authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Introduction I wish to be clear that again I'm writing a blog post based on a

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image was created to accompany a blog post whose title is "What is a topical website?" and shows a "clutter" of ways to show/display/share content. The desk, the screen, and the general space of the image is filled with images of articles, infographics, pie charts, etc, etc,.

Topical Authority

March 6, 20240Comments

What is a topical website?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Introduction: Topical website? In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm writing this post, with this title,

by Kevin Carney

Topical Authority

March 5, 20240Comments

What should my domain authority be?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Introduction Once again, I'm writing a post about domain authority based on AlsoAsked identifying that I'm

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a parade of penguins, some of whom are holding signs which contain a number on. In every case the number has two digits and they range from 11 to 97. This image was created for a blog post whose title is "What is an example of a domain authority?".

Topical Authority

March 4, 20240Comments

What is an example of a domain authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. For reasons stated below, this post became a "What is domain authority?" post almost immediately

by Kevin Carney

Topical Authority

March 3, 20240Comments

What is the difference between domain authority and topical authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Domain authority vs topical authority While both are important to the SEO rankings of websites, they're

by Kevin Carney

The AI generated image shows a bunch of animals (bears mostly) dressed in Khaki's, wearing backpacks, and consulting a map that is hanging on the wall. It was created for a blog post whose title is "What is a topical map for SEO?".

Topical Authority

March 2, 20240Comments

What is a topical map for SEO?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. The very terse answer is that topical maps are content planning tools. They are visual representations

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a walrus setting on a stool in front of an audience of seals having a "great thought" represented by a light bulb in a thought bubble. It accompanies a blog post titled "Why is it important to build topical authority?" and represents both topical authority and thought leadership.

Topical Authority

February 29, 20240Comments

Why is it important to build topical authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. The short answer: building topical authority increases the search rankings of your website. But there's more

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image of a purple octopus standing in front of a whiteboard using a pointer to point at a pie chart accompanies a blog post titled "What is the topical authority ratio?".

Topical Authority

February 28, 20240Comments

What is the topical authority ratio?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. The topical authority ratio is a suspect metric, at least in my humble opinion. For a

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated show someone showing off the three layer cake they created. It accompanies a blog post with the title of "How do you create topical authority in SEO?".

Topical Authority

February 27, 20240Comments

How do you create topical authority in SEO?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Topical authority requires publishing, A LOT of publishing It can feel like obtaining and growing topical

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated picture of a sloth having turned itself green (which they can do) to be harder to see in the rainforest canopy, was created to accompany a blog post titled "As regards SEO, what is topical relevance?".

Topical Authority

February 26, 20240Comments

As regards SEO, what is topical relevance?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. As topical authority is an increasingly important aspect of obtaining high SEO rankings for your

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image of a llama standing in front of a whiteboard with a pointer giving a lecture on the topic of backlinks to an audience of other animals accompanies a blog post whose title is "What is the difference between backlinks and topical authority?"

Topical Authority

February 25, 20240Comments

What is the difference between backlinks and topical authority?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Considering how the use of and the significance of backlinks has changed in this era

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image of a panda bear meditation in a mountainous setting is meant to represent "final thoughts" for a blog post whose title is Final thoughts on the significance of mastering topical authority for SEO success.

Topical Authority

February 24, 20240Comments

Final thoughts on the significance of mastering topical authority for SEO success

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Topical authority is now a cornerstone of SEO and brand marketing Considering the Google algorithm updates

by Kevin Carney

The AI generated image shows a cat, looking unhappy, having had a fez just placed on his head. It's to represent the concept of "recap" (yes it's a bad pun) for a blog post titled: Recap of the key points covered in the guide. The guide bing about the concept of topical authority, an increasingly important topic in the world of SEO.

Topical Authority

February 22, 20240Comments

Recap of the key points covered in the guide

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. This post is a terse summary of the main concepts from every prior post in

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image of a baseball bat flexing and braking as it makes contact with a baseball represents the concept of "image" which in the context of the blog post this image accompanies is about the impact of topical authority on search rankings.

Topical Authority

February 21, 20240Comments

Analysis of the impact of topical authority on search rankings

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. No evidence based research? I use AI engines for research and for the generation of ideas

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a picture of nine smaller pictures, each one of which contains an animal. The concept being conveyed Is "examples" as this image accompanies a blog post titled: Examples of successful implementation of topical authority.

Topical Authority

February 20, 20240Comments

Examples of successful implementation of topical authority

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. I wish I could loudly proclaim that we're a topical authority success story, but we're

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a herd of buffalo running across the prairie and is to illustrate the idea of how best practices for obtaining and growing topical authority is "doing the work".

Topical Authority

February 19, 20240Comments

Best practices for integrating topical authority into your SEO strategy

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Topical authority strategy: Step 1 is mindset You have to turn not just the generation

by Kevin Carney

Topical Authority

February 18, 20240Comments

How to leverage topical authority to improve search rankings

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Leveraging topical authority to improve search rankings mostly comes down to three things; research,

by Kevin Carney

Topical Authority

February 16, 20240Comments

Why topical authority is crucial for ranking on specific topics

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. What topical authority is As this post is part of a series on topical authority

by Kevin Carney

The image shows a hierarchy of concepts to illustrate the idea of topical authority. Pets chunks down to Dogs, Cats, Rabbits, and Snakes. Dogs further chunks down to Dachschund, German Shepard, and Pit Bull.

Topical Authority

February 15, 20240Comments

Explanation of the difference between topical authority and domain authority

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Topical authority and domain authority not the same, but they're related. Domain authority is

by Kevin Carney

This AI generated image shows a hand holding a smart phone in which someone is providing a rating of something, which represents the idea of "external validation:". This is relevant to the idea of "topical authority".

Topical Authority

February 14, 20240Comments

The role of attribution links as external validation

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. The importance of external validation The story about the importance of external validation to topical

by Kevin Carney

The image shows a comparison of two different versions of section 11.0 (Page Quality Rating FAQs) of the Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.

February 14, 20240Comments

Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines

The Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines is the instruction document used by the human quality raters who help Google figure out what the "digital fingerprint" of websites and webpages looks

by Kevin Carney

Topical Authority

February 13, 20240Comments

Topical authority requires comprehensive and in-depth content

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. In a world where content is king and where brands publish in pursuit of

by Kevin Carney

The AI generated image shows a number of factors, represented as small circles around the perimeter of a larger circle being relevant to the building of topical authority, which is represented by the larger circle in the center.

Topical Authority

February 12, 20240Comments

Strategies for building topical authority

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. These are test links that will be removed once the testing is done: link1,

by Kevin Carney

AI generated image of a dog standing in front of a whiteboard giving a lecture to an audience of other dogs on the topic of cats.

Topical Authority

February 11, 20240Comments

How Google uses topical authority to determine expertise

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. At it's core, the Google search engine is a very sophisticated and complex pattern

by Kevin Carney

Topical Authority

February 10, 20240Comments

Importance of topical authority in search engine rankings

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. Topical authority has emerged as a critical factor in SEO rankings, not because it

by Kevin Carney

AI generated image showing a penguin giving a lecture about fish.

Topical Authority

February 9, 20240Comments

Definition of topical authority

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. The phrase "topical authority" has kind of an overarching meaning as it is used

by Kevin Carney

Topical Authority

February 8, 20240Comments

Why is topical authority important for SEO?

The lead post in this series is Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO. In short, topical authority is important for SEO because Google is taking us there,

by Kevin Carney

Topical Authority

February 7, 20240Comments

Mastering Topical Authority: A Comprehensive Guide to Boost Your SEO

This post is the lead post in a series on the topic of topical authority. What it is, why it matters, how you establish it, and how you grow it. Each

by Kevin Carney

The image shows the property designation screen for creating a Google Search Console property.

August 17, 20230Comments

Verifying site ownership via Google Search Console

This feature is no longer something that is in the future. After the development was completed, we had to apply to Google for them to verify our API setup (specifically

by Kevin Carney

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