In this article I will tell you what is topical authority and how to build a topical authority map.
Getting to the top of search engines can be daunting, especially when understanding the complex algorithms and optimizing your website accordingly. The lack of expertise in SEO can cost you dearly and make it almost impossible to break through search engine rankings. However, with the right tools, your website will stay strong in the SERPs and reach its potential.
Contents
Building topical authority is the key to ranking higher on search engines and getting more visibility for your website. You can easily create topical authority by writing powerful content with relevant topics and keywords that help you rank better and increase conversions. Topical authority as a Google strategy will move from a secret method that just a few pros use to a requirement to compete on Google. For example, if you add a single article on a topic to your website, don’t expect Google even notice it. But once you cover every single theme on a topic, Google now thinks you are a topical authority, and your traffic growth will be explosive.
What is topical authority?
A topical authority is an SEO concept where a website aims to become the go-to authority on one or more topics. How become a topical authority, read in my article.
There are two reasons topical authority will become a 2023 requirement. First is because AI will allow people to flood the internet with fast and cheap content. And second, the concepts are gaining popularity due to folks like Matt Diggy, Koray Tugberk, and myself, who live and die by it.
How do you build a topical authority map?
The problem is that many people think they are doing it right, but in actuality, they are not creating a proper topical map that covers all the topics in the niche. I consulted someone who was trying to rank for self-service kiosks. And just by running a site colon command on their competition, I was immediately able to see they were missing dozens of articles on the topic.
Where to gather topics for your topical authority map?
Here are all the places you should be gathering topics for your topical authority map:
- Answerthepublic.com,
- Google auto-suggests in the search bar,
- the People Also Ask section,
- Related Searches,
- HREFs questions report,
- Google’s NL API,
- and, most importantly, your competitors’ site maps.
Then you want to use a tool like Keyword Cupid to group your topics into a single article or separate articles.
After you start producing content, the next step in the topical authority process is smart interlinking. As a general rule, link relevant content together. All your articles on the topic should link to each other. And link more to pages that have a higher traffic priority.
After you finish here, check out my article on how to get SEO traffic without link building for a more in-depth topical authority walkthrough.
How can topical authority help with SEO?
Building topical authority is a critical part of SEO. It helps search engines understand what your website is about so that it has better potential to rank for topically related keywords. By optimizing your website with topic-focused content, you can build brand recognition, trust, and authority and become an expert in your field.
Start building your topical authority today and become the go-to expert in your niche!