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Topical Authority

Last updated: Apr 10, 2023

https://cmlabs.co/en-nl/seo-terms/topical-authority

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What is Topical Authority?

Topical authority is an optimization concept where the main goal is for a website to become an authority on one or more topics.

In other words, "topical authority" is the quality of a website to be considered a trusted source and expert in a particular field or niche by search engines.

Websites that have authority on certain topics tend to rank higher on the SERPs and are more trusted by users.

To gain authority on a topic, you need to create consistent, high-quality content.

Not only that, but content production also needs to pay attention to how relevant the keywords used are to the niche website itself.

In addition, the website must also create quality link building and be recognized as an important reference on the topic.

For example, you manage a website that is engaged in health services. One of the hottest topics discussed in a season is the prevention of dengue fever.

To build website topic authority, the first step is to create articles with general keywords related to dengue fever.

So that all search queries regarding dengue fever can be covered, you need to create an article with the following headings:

What is dengue fever
Symptoms of dengue fever
How to prevent dengue fever
How to treat dengue fever

The Importance of Topical Authority for SEO

Topical authority has a very important role for SEO because search engines, like Google, always try to provide the most relevant and informative search results to users.

Therefore, websites that have high authority on certain topics will appear more often in the top positions in search results.

In practice, to build topic authority, a website needs to provide high-quality, in-depth, and informative content.

As for strengthening its authority, high-quality backlinks are needed from websites with higher authority in the same niche.

By building the authority for a certain topic in a measurable way, a website can increase its visibility in the SERPs and allow it to get more organic traffic from users who are interested in that topic.

This will help strengthen the reputation of the brand, which increases the chances of conversions and sales.

Therefore, it is important to include this technique in your digital marketing activities that use SEO strategies.

How Topical Authority Works

Since the introduction of the Google Hummingbird algorithm in 2013, Google's way of analyzing content has become even better.

Here, the authority in certain topics plays an important role in helping Google evaluate content based on conversation-based searches.

For example, users enter a search query such as "how to optimize websites," and Google presents search results containing tutorials for website optimization through SEO strategies.

Google's assumption is the result of an analysis based on several factors, such as inbound links, which are considered when determining whether a website page can occupy a high position in the SERP or not.

Apart from link factors from other high-authority websites, Google also pays attention to the quality of the website pages themselves.

Therefore, the on-page SEO strategy needs to be implemented effectively and organically so that the website brand becomes positive in the eyes of Google and other search engines.

Strategy to Build Topical Authority

As the owner of a website, you need to implement the following strategies to gain authority on a certain topic:

Planning Content

Given the importance of building content to gain topic authority, the most important thing is to plan content strategically.

At this stage, keyword research needs to be done in a measurable way so that the content created doesn't come out of the niche of the business website.

Grouping Topics

When choosing a topic, choose some that can become the content pillars of your website. The selection of content based on this topic can help group topics later.

Topic clusters or topic groupings will direct search engines to informative content that is relevant to search queries.