How to Build Topical Authority for Your Website in 2023
What’s in this article
This article explains the concept of topical authority and its importance for SEO in 2023. It defines topical authority as a website’s expertise in a specific topic and details how it helps improve search engine rankings. The article covers methods to build topical authority, including topic-based keyword research, creating topic clusters, writing authoritative content, and building relevant links.
One of the most common answers you’ll hear to the age-old question, “How do I rank higher in search engines?”, is simply, “Search Engine Optimisation”. You know; do some keyword research, create pages targeting those keywords, establish internal links and backlinks to those pages and so on. All these measures are productive, but people still need to be aware of topical authority.
The importance of topical authority is something that has been spoken about, only relatively recently in SEO circles and it is understood that topical authority can help websites to rank higher in Google search. Topical authority indicates to Google, that a website is knowledgeable on a particular niche and provides competent and valuable information. As search engines such as Google aim to provide relevant and quality information about niches to their users, websites with topical authority are seen as trustworthy, and thus more deserving of higher rankings.
This article will outline what topical authority is, how and why topical authority is essential, and how to build topical authority.
What is topical authority?
Topical authority is the measure of a website’s expertise in a particular topic. It is derived from the words “topic” and “authority”; thus, when combined, it means being an authority in chosen topics.
Topical authority requires websites to demonstrate authority in a particular field, through a number of different ways. When users search for things that are made about topics that a website has topical authority in, those websites are more likely to rank higher than those that have less or no topical authority.
An example will better illustrate what topical authority is about. This example involves the most used search engine on the internet, Google, and a website focused on car engines. Car engines are a broad niche with various topics and subtopics. When the website provides detailed and individual content on all the information that can be sourced about car engines or provides valuable information that meets users’ (searchers) intent, then Google views the website as an authority on car engines. As a result, Google ranks the website higher for searches related to car engines.
YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)
There are exceptions where extensive content alone, still won’t make a website an authority on a given subject. This concerns topics that fall within what Google classifies as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life). This essentially refers to any information relating to the medical and financial sectors. Advice pertaining to each of these areas, can only be trusted if it has been written by someone who has the relevant professional qualifications.
If you were to read an article on the ‘ways to reduce high blood pressure’, then the article must be written by a doctor, in for it to be trustworthy. Following the advice on a medical topic from somebody who doesn’t have medical qualifications, could be dangerous to your health. Similarly, taking financial advice from an article, from somebody who doesn’t have formal qualifications, could be harmful to your personal finances.
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If you do wish to build links for your business site, get in touch with a trusted Gold Coast SEO company such as SEO Web Logistics, who provide eCommerce SEO services, Google Ads services and much more.
How and why is topical authority important in 2023?
At the beginning of the article, it was mentioned how websites use internal links, backlinks, keywords and more, to boost their rankings on search engines. Topical authority provides website owners with yet another opportunity to improve their rankings.
Since 2013, Google has used semantic relationships searcher intent behind queries. Since then, Google’s search algorithm has been constantly improved and updated to recognise sophisticated relationships. Semantic relations in this context means Google associates websites with topics when ranking as a valuable resource of keywords concerning such topics.
Because topical authority clarifies a website’s focus, Google easily recognises the website and ranks it higher. Plus, topical authority allows for more internal links and backlinks because the website provides more information and content about a topic.
How does topical authority work?
There is no definitive answer to this question, seeing as though topical authority is a concept rather than a tangible metric such as using keywords, backlinks, and so on. However, some attributes or focus of Google’s algorithm help us better understand the concept. This includes what is known as E-E-A-T, which is an abbreviation for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. This allows Google to recognise and rank websites that prove to be reputable and have expertise in a topic highly.
Websites looking to gain higher rankings and more visitors should focus on building a reputation as a subject expert because it will strengthen how search engines like Google view their sites. Furthermore, “building a reputation as a subject expert” is what topical authority is about, as explained earlier, and this brings us to the next question, “how to build topical authority?”
Building Topical Authority – How is It Done?
The fact that topical authority does not have a defined structure on how it works does not mean there are no guides on how to achieve topical authority for your website because there are, and they are outlined below:
1) Do topic-based keyword research: Keywords are an effective measure to increase ranking on search engines, and topical authority makes it easier to use keywords. There should be no surprise that keyword research is the first step. You want to start by finding keywords relevant to your niche or topic, which should not be any. You want keywords relevant to what users search for concerning a topic and check vital information about the keywords before you decide on the keywords to use on your website.
Some of the information you want to look at when choosing keywords is the statistics, like the result for top-ranking keywords in a topic, keyword ideas and questions in a topic, keyword traffic across domains, and more. There are many keyword research tools available to help your research.
2) Create topic clusters: A topic cluster is the name given to the grouping of topically-related pages through the use of internal links. Topic clusters consist of interlinked pages with content focused on a subject. After sorting and choosing your preferred keywords from your keyword research, you pick topics for your website, which will be outlined on your pillar page.
The topics picked should have depth such that you can provide enough information to give the impression of a topic expert and be traffic worthy because you want a topic with the potential to attract traffic when the website ranks high. A pro tip when creating topic clusters is having a defined format of how you want your website content. Do you want content that serves as a guide, tutorial, or encyclopedia?
3) Write authority content: You should now have an understanding of what topical authority is. Authority means being knowledgeable on a given topic. Your site’s authority can be improved by writing pieces of quality content that address the various questions and concerns that users have on a given topic. To understand what these questions are, use the keyword tools that are found within SEO software such as SEMrush, Ahrefs etc. Beyond this, consider using Reddit, Quora and message forums dedicated to the topic you wish to become an authority on.
4) Build relevant links: Building relevant links to your content is a topic for another day, but backlinks will further help your website pages to improve their topical authority and rank higher in Google search results.
Conclusion
Building topical authority is a form of search engine optimisation, and is a great way to improve your rankings for a particular niche in 2023.
Frequently asked questions
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Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO for short, are the steps taken to appear highly on Google search results, or other search engines. For example, if you are based on the Gold Coast and have a power outage, you will need an electrician. In 2022, the first thing most people will do is an online search for “Gold Coast electrician” and then contact one of the highest-ranking businesses in the search results.
For the electricians that appear high in the search results, their ranking can be incredibly valuable and a steady source of new business. For those who do not rank highly, and appear beyond page one of the search results, they often rely solely on word of mouth and / or referrals to attract new business. For most businesses, limiting new business to a network of contacts can make growth almost impossible.
A good SEO agency can help get your business to the top of the Google rankings and turbocharge business growth.
A well-designed website is only half the battle. Afterall, a stylish website is of no value if no-one ever visits it. Most businesses need a steady flow of visitors to ensure their website is front and centre for customers when they search for a specific product or service…and on Google there is more than enough traffic to go round – every second (on average) there are 63,000 Google searches!
Beyond attracting traffic, there are many other SEO benefits:
- SEO offers much higher close rates (about 15 per cent) for new leads when compared with other forms of marketing (often less than two per cent).
- SEO brings quality traffic to your website. When you begin an SEO campaign, your website is updated to incorporate specific keywords relevant to the traffic you need to attract. This ensures that you zero in on your preferred audience that are most interested in your business’ product or service.
- SEO is very measurable, making it easy to understand results and return on investment.
- SEO, particularly for e-commerce businesses, ensures your business is open 24/7. This means that potential customers can engage with your business, leave enquiries and even make transactions when your business is not ‘open’.
- SEO can level the playing field among businesses sizes. We’ve helped small retailers outrank conglomerates like Myer and a family construction business dominate multi-nationals, among countless other examples. None have the budget of the bigger companies, but with a well-executed SEO campaign, they can thrive online.
- SEO is very sustainable. For a relatively small budget, SEO can be an ongoing strategy that can be more effective than traditional marketing and thereby reduce spend in these areas.
- SEO need not be tied to geographical boundaries. You can expand your SEO campaign as your business grows, with minimal additional expanse. For example, if you are a Gold Coast business looking for customers in Brisbane, or vice versa, increasing this reach is possible via an SEO campaign.
- Utilising SEO techniques ensures you have a better website. At the heart of effective SEO, is an ongoing obsession to improve the user (visitor) experience. When Google sees this, they improve rankings, but it also means that websites that do SEO properly are generally more functional and easier-to-use.
A do-it-yourself approach is always a possibility. However, it is worth considering that the learning curve is incredibly steep (and the goal posts move regularly!). Those taking on an SEO campaign themselves will need to consider page optimisation, conversion rate optimisation, keyword research, Google My Business, link building, content creation, use of metrics ….the list goes on. The reality is that there are many moving parts in any successful SEO campaign.
Given these challenges, we think it makes sense to work with a reputable SEO agency. And our experience over the years has told us that the agency approach will always prove more successful, cheaper and faster than keeping SEO in-house.
Working with a team that lives and breathes SEO each day will represent your best chance of SEO having a material impact on your business’ growth.
With more than a billion websites in 2022, SEO campaigns can take a few months to gain traction. This is most relevant in competitive industries and/or major metropolitan locations. For more niche businesses and / or smaller geographic locations, we’ve often seen a surge in rankings within weeks.
SEO is not a short-term fix though – it does require an ongoing commitment from clients. Along with hard work, patience and expertise from your chosen SEO agency.
Brace yourself for a frustrating answer (sorry!) – it depends. The cost of SEO is determined by several factors including:
- Industry competitiveness – some industries are far more competitive than others. Playing SEO catch up against businesses with well-established online presences, takes time and costs money.
- Geographic locations – to state the obvious, Brisbane is going to be harder market to crack for SEO compared to Southport on the Gold Coast. That is definitely not to say it is impossible to see great results in Brisbane, it just can take more time and resources (which drives up the price).
- Your website – is it SEO ready, or are you going to need major changes before you can launch an effective SEO campaign? Potentially this can add some cost to the start of your SEO campaign.
We’ve have to have a look at your website, as there could be a number of reasons why you’ve seen a drop in traffic.
If your drop in traffic is fairly sudden, we’d encourage you to have a read of our Google Penalty Recovery Services page.
If the drop in traffic has happened over a long period of time, the reasons are likely to be less sinister. One reason could be that your competitors are now focused on SEO and have got the jump on your business. Or it could be time for your business to revisit its own SEO and find out the reason for the deterioration.
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