SEO, or search engine optimization is tough as it is, but Backlinking is tougher! Why? Because one can always modify their end, manifesting links from someone else is difficult. SEO experts are always overburdened by tracking their previous work and updating it to get top rankings.
Instead with the Topical Authority in SEO, one can focus on keyword research and planning to create content worth reading & sharing and ranking in one shot!
Summary
Google, the world’s top search engine, ensures that,
- Even with a low DR or domain rating, a page can rank in the top 3 search results.
- No eminent backlinking is required.
They do this so that the content that reaches their users is best and top-notch, which guarantees great UX or user experience, i.e., the users use Google only! This was made possible by the introduction of Topical Authority in SEO since 2011.
For example,
Keyword: Mountain Bike
Amazon, with 96 DR, is ranking 7th, while a website with 23 DR is ranking 2nd because this website is dedicated to bikes.
A few facts: Google’s Semantic SEO
- Structured Search Engine was launched in 2011 to structure the information on the web
- Knowledge Graph was launched to understand real-world information
- Hummingbird Update was launched in 2013 to create value from internal linking and keywords while ranking
- Medic Update in 2018 + YMYL or your money your life in 2018 + EEAT or experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness in 2022 resulted in a proper credibility evaluation
- Medic Update in 2018 + YMYL or your money your life in 2018 + EEAT or experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness in 2022 resulted in a proper credibility evaluation
What is topical authority in SEO?
If you knew that there was a way to get ranked at the top even with low DR and little or no backlinking, you would not waste time on backlinking efforts and instead strengthen the internal linking!
This is possible via Topical Authority wherein one website or page gets ranked along with all their keywords if they have covered all aspects of a topic in depth. It is a win-win-win situation with users getting great UX, Google getting loyalty, and the website getting ranking!
For example,
Keyword: mobile phones
You can,
- Write a detailed blog on mobile phones, but it still wouldn’t cover all aspects of it!
- Or, you can write on mobile phones in a 1000-word piece and also write on related topics like:
- How to learn and use mobile phones?
- Why are mobile phones important?
- What are the various types of mobile phones?
- Which mobile phone is the best and worst?
- Latest mobile phones
- How to choose the best mobile phone for you?
- How to care for your mobile phone?
As you can see, with the second option, all users will get something informative and will cover all searches related to mobile phones. The above examples help you in understanding the topical content meaning and topical posts meaning.
In short, you will have topical content, topical posts, or topical authority on mobile phones!
Why is topical authority in SEO relevant?
Google uses semantic intent and associations to target Semantic SEO and evaluate a search query accordingly. What does this mean? This means that Google wants to understand the search query holistically and give search results accordingly.
The UX that will be felt by the visitors when they visit a page or website, value addition, and finally the need to check out another website for the same information determine the topical authority of a website.
Google, from Hummingbird to EEAT, is focused on understanding and decoding the search intent, UX, and topical authorizing such websites.
Measuring Topical Relevance
Topical relevance or authority can be measured by checking the traffic share of a domain. The higher the traffic share, the higher the topical relevance.
KPIs to look into when measuring Topical Relevance are traffic engagement and rankings. Many companies are helping you calculate your topical authority using the;
- Semrush’s Position Tracking
- Semrush’s Backlinks Analytics Report
- Google Analytics (GA4)
- Afrefs’ Keyword Explorer
For example,
Keyword: ecommerce
In the below image from Ahrefs, we can easily see that Shopify has more traffic share and thus has topical authority in the keyword ‘ecommerce’.
You can also calculate the Topical Authority Ratio by following the method:
Topical Authority Ratio = Total topical associations in Google Index / Total number of pages of the website in Google Index
How to build your Topical Authority in SEO?
There are four steps with which anyone can build their topical authority, and they are:
1) Topic specific keywords
It all depends on finding the right keywords, and thus this step is the most important step in building topical authority in SEO.
- Find good seed keywords.
- Use Knowledge Graph and Google Images to understand the real-world entities linked to your topic.
- Figure out domains that have a higher ranking but a low DR for that topic.
- Using the Content Gap tool, find keywords that have low KD and volume.
2) Topic Clusters
Now that we have the keywords from the above step, we need to decide on Pillar page and supporting Pages. The pillar page will be dedicated to your main topic, and the supporting pages will cater to all aspects of the topic.
3) Authoritative Content
Make sure that you fill these pages with value-added content, insights, quotes, graphics, and more while keeping the tone light. Also use the main keyword for the pillar page and long-tail keywords for supporting pages.
Interlink the pages properly to ensure a seamless flow from one topical post to another!
4) Building Backlinks
Having some backlinks won’t hurt. And now that you don’t have to rely on backlinks specifically, you can choose quality backlinks from reliable players or brands in your domain and more.
This way, you will be able to build your topical authority!
To be honest, it feels great to share with you all about topical authority, specifically the underdogs! With topical authority, anyone and everyone has a chance to have their voices heard, their content read & shared and cater their offerings (services and products) to the world!
We at Wildnet Technologies understand this through and through! With our 17+ years of experience and 350+ expert marketing resources, we have helped brands generate USD 200K organic revenue by getting 25K #1 ranking keywords optimised for them.
If you would like to learn more,
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Contact us at info@wildnettechnologies.com and build your Topical Authority in SEO!
