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Topical authority

topic authority · entity authority

Definition

Topical authority is a site’s earned reputation for covering a subject in depth, not a single viral URL. Rankers infer it from the set of pages, their internal links, and the off-site references to that set. A glossary of 80 real definitions in one frame is a topical-authority play. One 4,000-word mega-post is a page.

You do not get a dashboard called topical authority. You see it as a cluster of queries moving together.

How it works

Build the set: one honest page per question, linked, dated, consistent names. Then earn links to the set, not only to the homepage. Digital PR studies should point at the methods page inside the cluster.

Worked example

A benefits broker publishes 12 COBRA and layoff guides that interlink. After eight trade links to three of them, eight related queries move into the top ten together. A competitor with one “ultimate guide” and no cluster does not.

How it differs

E-E-A-T is rater quality. Domain authority is a vendor score for a hostname. Topical authority is about the subject, and a small site can hold it in a niche.

Common errors

Publishing 200 thin pages. Interlinking unrelated posts. Calling a guest-post blast “authority building.”

Sources