In today’s society, a business’s success is becoming increasingly based on their ability to sustain an online presence. While creating an online presence may not seem like a particularly difficult task, it is more complicated than simply writing blog posts on your company website every day. While maintaining a consistent presence on the internet is certainly necessary, the quality and topic of your content matters just as much. Today’s blog will explore the importance of topical authority and why businesses and content creators must incorporate search engine optimization (SEO) best practices in order to remain relevant and grow their company or brand.
Why is Topical Authority Important To SEO Best Practices?
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Before entering into a discussion regarding reasons that topical authority is important for search engine optimization, we should first have a clear understanding about the definition of topical authority. It can be defined as “a measure of the authority you earn through quality content.”
Now that we have a clear understanding of how to define topical authority, we can now begin to explore the reasons why it is valuable for SEO best practices. The simple truth is that content with more topical authority has a higher probability of being recognized by an organic search. For example, let’s say that you are at a family gathering or a graduation party and everyone decides to play a game of basketball and a game of cornhole. There are certain features that usually make an individual good at basketball. For instance, there is a much higher chance that someone who is tall and lean will get picked to play on the team. It is the same way in SEO content creation. The more suitable a piece of content is for the search engine, the more likely it is that the content or webpage will get recognized by those searching for similar content.
Gaining The Trust of Your Audience
Another reason why topical authority is important is because greater topical authority can create a greater trust from your viewers. If you are able to consistently create content that is high quality, your website will get more viewership. It is kind of like a contractor that has positive reviews and testimonials regarding their high quality work. That contractor will likely have people ringing his phone off the hook wanting to get an estimate for whatever project they need done. Just like the contractor, if your website is full of high quality content, more people will want to view your work. Topical authority also involves the quality of the information that is on the website. Creating links that lead to high quality content can, therefore, help to boost topical authority.
Difference Between Topical Authority And Domain Authority
As we have already discussed in some detail, topical authority refers to the way that a search engine ranks content based on the quality and credibility of that content. It ranks a website’s content based on certain topics and keywords. Domain authority can be defined as “a metric that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages.”
Some of the key ingredients for improving topical authority include:
- Topical relevance
- Content quality
- Comprehensive coverage
- Adding value to existing knowledge
- Regular updates to content
Key ingredients for improving domain authority include:
- Backlink quality
- High-quality content
- Well-structured websites
- Engagement on social media
- Optimization of content for mobile devices
Topical Relevance And Content Quality Matter
Topical relevance refers to how closely your content aligns with the topics and themes of your target audience. For instance, if you are a new freelance writer who is interested in developing a niche that helps small companies learn how to grow their business, you would want to create a portfolio that showcases your expertise in topics such as: technology, marketing, finance, time management, and public relations. In short, if you are not creating content that your target audience wants to see, your website will receive less traffic.
Content Quality refers to how useful and valuable your content is to the viewer. While topical relevance pertains to the topic of the content, content quality focuses on how credible your information is in the mind of the viewer. For example, an uneducated meteorologist could write a blog that outlines a weather forecast for the Fourth ofJuly. In the blog, the writer states that he believes that there will be an Arctic front coming in from the north, and those planning to celebrate the holiday should plan on travel delays due to treacherous roads.
That might sound ridiculous, but it helps explain the difference between topical relevance and content quality. Since the target audience is those that are interested in the Fourth of July forecast, the blog has a high degree of topical relevance. On the other hand, the forecast is certainly not credible or accurate so the content lacks content quality.
Why Topical Authority is important to Google
When preparing content for a website, it is important to know what matrix a platform or search engine is using to rank your content. You would never want to study for an exam without knowing what material the exam covers or how the teacher is planning to weigh your grade. This concept applies to online content as well.
One of the factors that weighs into Google's determination of topical authority of its content is the amount of expertise the content expresses pertaining to a particular topic. While this is particularly true when pertaining to sensitive or complex fields such as health, finance, and law, it broadly applies to other industries that involve the trust of the audience. In order to improve the trust of your audience, it is important to emphasize the reasons why you are qualified to speak about the topic.
Including the author’s credentials and the amount of experience they have working in a specific field can add credibility to the content, and improve the trust of your audience. This can be accomplished by including a bio section, “reviewed by” section, and a link to the author’s profile or previous work in the field that they are writing about.
Another important aspect of Google’s search algorithm is the aspect of off-site trust. Links to other platforms such as Linkedin and YouTube can help improve your trust with Google since these platforms have more authority visibility. One of the best ways to help improve the trust of Google and your audience is by creating long form blog posts on Linkedin. This gives your audience a place to see your expertise on display, and it will increase the likelihood that they will continue to engage with your content.
The Importance of Using Topical Authority To Prepare For A Future Driven By Artificial Intelligence.
As AI continues to become more entrenched into our everyday lives, it is of essence that we understand how it will impact our ability to grow our brand, website, or business. AI uses topical authority as a way to determine what sources to cite to the user. It chooses to seek answers from websites that have a reputation for delivering thorough information that has been fact-checked.
Similar to other search engines, AI search engines also use SEO to determine whether a website has authority on a particular topic. As the number of people using AI search engines increases, it is more important than ever that business owners, content creators, and freelancers take the time to research SEO best practices and implement them into their online content.
How To Build Topical Authority And See Audience Growth
Building topical authority is not something that you can accomplish overnight. It may take an extended period of time before you gain the trust of search engines and the people that use them to find answers and solutions.
Now that it has been established that topical authority is important for online viewership, we will now explore what business owners and content creators can build topical authority to achieve brand and business growth online. One of the ways to build and improve topical authority is to identify core topics in which you have expertise. This will allow you to create content that has more authority. Another way that you can improve your website’s topical authority is to conduct research on related search queries.
Woodside Ventures Offers SEO Support To Help You Grow Your Business
As we have discussed in today’s blog, topical authority and SEO play a crucial role in the success of a brand or business in our computer algorithm driven society. We hope that this blog will give you the information that you need to get your business idea off to a great start. Woodside can help you create engaging and SEO-friendly content, and find the right SEO keywords to help your company stand out. If you need a little bit of help or guidance along the way, please feel free to reach out to the Woodside team, and ask any question that you may have about improving your online presence.
