Topical authority – why is it worth taking care of it?

What is topical authority?

According to estimates, 3.5 billion search operations are performed on Google every day. This does not mean, of course, that each of them leads to another website. The answers to the most questions related to a given issue can be found on several portals at the same time quite often – they present a comprehensive cross-section of a specific topic. Such websites are characterized by high thematic authority.

What creates thematic authority?

Let’s base topical authority on two situations:

Why is this happening? The reason is simple: the website dedicated to car parts has much more thematic content that the user could refer to for further reading. If we are reading the article on catalysts and you want to broaden your knowledge or look for an specific definition, then there is a major chance that you will find it on the same website, which is quite useful.

You will gain authority on a given topic if your website is devoted entirely to a topic niche.

How to build topical authority?

Writing a single text, no matter how cross-sectional it is, will not help you much. To answer the question related to catalyst, readers will go to a mechanic rather than a person who has memorized all the entries in the encyclopedia beginning with the „K”. Why? Mostly because a mechanic, as a specialist in his industry, has general knowledge on a given topic, not just a part of it.

So, if you want the search engine to notice you (using the same metaphor) as a mechanic and not a self-taught encyclopedic technician, you must prove your knowledge on a given topic. How? By appropriately expanding the content published on your website.

Below, we present a few stages that will help you obtain desired results.

Identify topic niche

First and foremost, if you want to create a website entirely devoted to a given issue or branch of industry, you need to get to know it thoroughly. Find the most popular keywords and long-tail phrases that suit them. Try to learn about the frequently asked questions and popular searches that are thematically related to this topic. Thanks to this, you will get a representative cross-section and have a number of ideas for articles.

Start creating thematic content

If you have a solid and substantial set of keywords, you can start proving that you are a specialist in a given issue. Every phrase deserves its own website. They must be professionally prepared, of course, in accordance with all the standards and SEO rules of reliable articles. Subpages of 1500 characters with spaces that are stuffed with keywords will sooner or later be considered as thin content, and these cannot be trusted.

You do not have to limit yourself only to one type of content – you can create lists, reviews, guides, and much more. By using the formats that are used to create evergreen content, you can additionally attract long-term, yet stable website traffic.

Fill the text with words from related semantic fields – this is another solution that will help the search engine understand the content published on your website.

Create links

We are talking here about internal and external linking.

The first mentioned let us organize the website internally – the reader can easily gain more information, as soon as the algorithms see that you are presenting a cross-thematic overview.

The second one, however, is one of the important factors influencing positioning. Find websites that rank high for related keywords and try to have them contain link to your website (e.g. with the sponsored content). A rich link profile is a powerful argument for the credibility of the website, so it is definitely worth paying attention to it.