How To Build Topical Authority For Your Website & Get More Business

In 2024 and beyond, Google relies more on AI-generated content to respond to online queries. Now, the question is: is your website a trusted source with quality information to satisfy these questions? If so, the chances of your site being picked up and displayed in the search results will increase if your on-page content is on topic.

 What Is Topical Authority? A quick outline

Topical authority refers to your website content and its credibility and effectiveness regarding a specific topic. The more ‘on-topic’ your page is, the higher it will rank when a user enters a question into Google. Google now demands that quality content be present throughout each page of your site, which will, in turn, establish your business as a credible, go-to site for information related to a certain topic. It’s not rocket science and hard to implement, but you must know the intent of a user’s search and satisfy that query through great content. For example, if I have a plumbing business and I want to rank for the keywords ‘hot water Sydney repairs’, then the services page related to these keywords should be on topic about ‘hot water repairs in Sydney’. You can’t deviate from this topic; it must be as informative and easy to digest as possible for consumers to find out what they’re looking for without endless scrolling.

 What are the Benefits Of High Topical Authority

It’s simple: the benefits are enormous, as your website will rank above others on Google for your core money-generating keywords.

More people visiting your site: If Google ranks you organically, more people will likely find your website, resulting in more organic visits, traffic and ultimately more revenue.

 Your Website May Be Selected to Answer User Queries: Near the top of the searches, Google has a set of questions and answers related to the search term you’ve typed in, and if your website is on topic and answers some key questions posed by consumers, there’s a high probability your website might be displayed here. There’s a great website called Answer the Public, which will throw up a whole bunch of questions related to keywords, which is very handy.

 Your Business Becomes More Trustworthy: When your content is informative, and your website is consistently seen on page one within your niche, you become a more trustworthy and reliable source of information.

 Other Websites Will Link to Your Website: If your content is valuable and authoritative, other well-known websites within your specific niche will link to it. These inbound links are the best type of links to get and will have an incredibly good impact on your SEO rankings.

Make Money: If your website ranks consistently, organic traffic will naturally flow, meaning you will get more clicks, sign-ups, inquiries, and revenue, which is the end game regarding SEO.

So, how do we build topical authority?

The benefits of topical authority are tangible, measurable and immediate, and as a business owner, you want to make this happen ASAP. So, let’s explore how we go about building topical authority.

 Content

Google wants content; the better quality content you can publish, the better your topical authority.

Invest in Quality Content: Everything you post or publish on your website has to be authoritative and trustworthy and have references to other well-known sites. You can either do this yourself, but as a business owner, you’ve got better things to do, so ideally, you will need to outsource your content. Copywriting should now be part of your marketing budget as Google’s emphasis on copy now outweighs link building.

 Update Your Website: Google is always looking for fresh content, so you must conduct a website audit and refresh old, outdated pages with new information, statistics, graphs, etc. Leaving stale, old content that serves no purpose or is now misleading will be punished by Google. 

Base Content on Keywords Your Customers are Searching: Knowing what your customers are searching for online is a great start to thinking about what to write. Aligning copy with users’ search expectations is the best way to push your rankings by building topical authority. For example, if you are a cosmetic surgeon and want to, your service pages must be on topic and relevant for keywords like fat reduction, liposuction, facelifts, etc. The more information you can make on each page and the more it can answer users’ questions, the better your topical authority.

Publish industry updates or whitepapers: Any emerging trends in your industry must be published and referenced online. Staying relevant is a great way to establish and maintain your authority as an industry leader and show Google that your business is on top of all current news, and you’ll soon see rankings rise.

Match Website Content with User Search Intent: Do you want people to click a button or make a phone call, or are you simply happy for them to browse the site for information? Remember, you control your site’s content, and what you want people to do on the site is up to you, so craft content based on your outcomes and expectations. If, for example, you are a not-for-profit that relies on donations online, your web page copy should be geared towards driving people via information to donate. Alternatively, if you rely on your website to generate sales leads, your page’s intent should be about the product or service you offer and direct people to call up or inquire online.

Topic

The next crucial aspect for better topical authority is obviously choosing the topic you will write about. The content you write about must be closely related to the topic. There is no point in writing about red tennis shoes if your topic is about women’s clothing. Being off-topic is going to hammer your Google rankings as Google specifically wants content that’s related to the topic, and they even tell us this here.

Backlinks

Outbound links in your content signals to Google that the page you are publishing is referencing another valuable, reliable and trustworthy website to substantiate your copy. For example, if you have a law practice specialising in divorce law and you are publishing an article about the latest changes in the law, you will need to reference this with other sites that can prove what you are saying is correct; perhaps a link to the Law Society of NSW.

Author Pages

According to Search Engine Journal’s article: Google Explains How Author Pages May Help, creating author pages is a great way to build trust. At the end of every blog or post, there should be a photo of the author (although this is not 100% required) and a brief bio. Plus, if they have a LinkedIn profile, this should also be displayed. The logic is simple: you want to know who wrote the blog and a bit of an idea if you can trust what they’re saying.

 Learn More With SEO Sydney Experts

For additional guidance on crafting, writing and publishing content that will radically boost your topical authority such content, explore our other blog articles. If you want to learn more about how we can get your business more customers, web traffic and sales, please contact us anytime. I will be able to immediately tell you if your website lacks topical authority and look at a strategy to realign your website with your customer’s search queries and expectations.