Topical authority: What is it and why it is a must have in your seo strategy

As an expert in a specific field, you want to get the attention of your target group. After all, your knowledge and experience can help others. Google therefore allows experts to score higher in the search results, which is called topical authority.

If your website obtains more topical authority, your website will appear higher in the search results and you will achieve more traffic to your website. Topical authority is therefore part of many SEO strategies. In this blog I will therefore explain how topical authority goes hand in hand with SEO and what opportunities it can offer you.

What is topical authority?

If a person or website has topical authority, this means that Google sees this person or website as a reliable source. For example, the relevance of the source for a specific subject or location is taken into account, but also authentic reporting and the reputation of the person. For example, someone who is often quoted by others obtains topical authority. You are then an authority on a specific subject and are assigned a higher position in the search results by Google. That said, there is a lot of confusion about the measurability of topical authority and the isolated influence of topical authority with regard to other SEO activities.

Topical authority and EAT

Topical authority is closely related to the EAT principle. EAT stands for expertise, authority and trustworthiness; three pillars that are used by Google to rank websites in the search results. If your website scores high on EAT, then there is a good chance that your website will appear high in the Google search results. Topical authority is closely related to this, because you gain topical authority if you are an expert in a certain field, subject or topic. As a reliable source with knowledge of a specific subject, Google sees your knowledge and information as relevant to others and you score higher in the search results. With the introduction of topical authority, it is no longer self-evident that large retail chains always appear at the top of the search results, because companies with more specialist knowledge and authenticity gain in topical authority.

The importance of quality content for your topical authority

If you want to become a topical authority on a certain topic, writing quality content is your number one priority. For example, one article about politics is not enough to score high on political topics as a political journalist. In order to gain topical authority, you will have to write multiple blogs that cover different aspects of a topic. In addition, it is important that relevant keywords are included in the blogs that you write about (in this case) politics. Add internal links and ensure that your website has a clear information architecture. This way, you will make the most of your SEO opportunities and you will score higher in Google’s search results.

The impact of topical authority on SEO

Topical authority is an important part of SEO and may well become indispensable in the future. Nevertheless, it is important to have your other SEO activities, such as link building and technical SEO, in order anyway. Just like for other SEO activities, building topical authority starts with a keyword analysis. Based on these keywords, you can create topic clusters and create content that falls within these clusters. Of course, internal and external links must be added to the content, so that a strong information architecture is created and the domain authority can also increase.

Don’ts for writing authoritative content

Now that you know what to do, namely analyze keywords, create topic clusters and add links, we will zoom in on what you should definitely not do. Since topical authority relates to writing relevant content, you will have to eliminate irrelevant information and keywords. Blogs that you think are not interesting for your audience will most likely not rank high in the search results. In addition, the EAT principle is not only interwoven in the fact that writing quality content contributes to more authority. You must also apply the EAT principles in your text. This means that you must use reliable information, add quality backlinks and present location-specific news as such. Incorrect information or wrong backlinks can damage your authority, which will have a counterproductive effect on your SEO strategy.

A good SEO strategy for topical authority

Do you want to get started with topical authority? Then it is important to pursue a holistic strategy, of which topical authority is a part. Without a good domain authority, an SEO-technically correct website and a clear information architecture, your website will not score high in the search results. Therefore, set clear goals and work carefully when performing keyword analyses. After all, specialist knowledge and experience are necessary to be able to pursue a sustainable SEO strategy and obtain topical authority in search engines such as Google.

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