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 of the section titles below takes you to a sub post devoted to that topic (or sub-topic) and these posts are linked together into a topic cluster.
The purpose of this structure is to allow you to absorb the information one bit at a time, and to easily proceed to the next, or to review the previous, section.
Jump ahead to:
Overview of what the guide will cover
Topical authority is sometimes referred to as “depth of expertise,” and has become an important concept in the always changing never static dynamics of search engine optimization (SEO).
Unlike the more traditional focus on link building, topical authority is obtained by consistent creation of original, high-quality, and comprehensive content covering a topic in great detail.
Having said that, there IS a relationship between topical authority and link building, or more correctly, link earning, in order to earn links, you must first produce link worthy content.
In the realm of SEO, authority has been thought of as being related to the acquisition of backlinks. This led to proactive link building being a thing people did, and a thing people outsourced to link building agencies.
However, this type of link building has gotten harder, as webmasters all over the Internet are now somewhat inundated with backlink request pitches.
It’s not the case that this more traditional approach of link building became less effective over time, but it definitely became much harder to do it effectively.
This has led to a very appropriate focus on establishing authority through better, actual link worthy content, and the creation of “topic clusters” on websites, which is nothing more than a series of posts or articles that covers some topic in great depth.
When you successfully demonstrate topical authority through publishing in depth quality content, it not only strengthens your site ranking for existing keywords, but increases the range of keywords your site ranks for.
And while this approach also takes work, it builds a very strong base on which you EARN links as compared to build links.
And anyone who puts in the effort to learn a topic in depth, then explain those ideas through content, can do this.
This guide goes into great detail about how YOU obtain and build authority for your topics.
While Google Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller says, “you’ve got to be awesome” to establish topical authority, that’s not strictly true, as you can see in some search results. However, you’ve got to be thorough.
Using this series of posts as your guide, you will learn what topical authority is, why it matters, how you obtain it, and how you grow it.
Introduction
What is Topical Authority?
- Definition of topical authority
- Importance of topical authority in search engine rankings
- How Google uses topical authority to determine expertise
Building Topical Authority
- Strategies for building topical authority
- Creating comprehensive and in-depth content
- The role of backlinks and external validation
Differentiating Topical Authority from Domain Authority
- Explanation of the difference between topical authority and domain authority
- Why topical authority is crucial for ranking on specific topics
Leveraging Topical Authority for SEO Success
- How to leverage topical authority to improve search rankings
- Best practices for integrating topical authority into your SEO strategy
Case Studies
- Examples of successful implementation of topical authority
- Analysis of the impact of topical authority on search rankings
Conclusion
- Recap of the key points covered in the guide
- Final thoughts on the significance of mastering topical authority for SEO success
Further reading
- What is the difference between backlinks and topical authority?
- As regards SEO, what is topical relevance?
- How do you create topical authority in SEO?
- What is the topical authority ratio?
- Why is it important to build authority?
- What is a topical map for SEO?
- What is the difference between domain authority and topical authority?
- What is an example of a domain authority?
- What should my domain authority be?
- What is a topical website?
- What is the highest domain authority?
- What is another name for Domain Authority?
- Is Page authority more important than Domain Authority?
- Is domain authority important?
- Are domain authority and authority score the same?
- How do you increase topical authority?
- How does topical authority work?
- How do I make myself an authority?
- How do you build authority with content?
- How do you create a topical cluster?
- How do you determine content authority?
- What does SEO authority mean?
- What is a good SEO Authority score?
- What are the 4 pillars of SEO?
- How do I find my Domain Authority?
- What Domain Authority is good?
- Is Page Authority important for SEO?
- Does Google use domain authority?