Building Actionable SEO Topical Authority (The Right Way)

SEO Topical Authority has been a trend for a while now since there have been legitimate case studies proving that most search engines like Google a semantic search engines, but what’s that?

Topical Authority is one of the main core concepts of Semantic SEO, and it essentially provides the strategy behind the large brands and well-ranking sites in Google. It’s understanding the meanings behind search keywords and providing the best-fit SERP (Search engine results page) for this query.

It goes beyond and understands the user intent based on the user search journey, for instance, if the user searches for phrases like:

• What type of creatine powder is best for vegetarians/vegans?
• Are there any creatine powders that are sugar-free or low-calorie?
• What is the best creatine powder for people with sensitive stomachs?

In the next search for this product, it would consider ranking the search results that present Creatine for vegetarians and low-calorie. If there are no such results, it would try to find the most relevant.

How to Understand Topical Authority?

Start by building sites and understand the nature of the niche competition in the SERP. You at least have to analyze 50 SERPs before considering building a site in this niche.

Even if you are a subject-matter expert, you have to do:

• Detailed Topical Maps for medium to large niche competitors
• Understand the site architecture of at least 2-3 large niche brand
• Audit the internal links of 5–8 sites
• Check the backlinks strategies of search competitors (ideally 4–9 sites)

After all this, you would write down your analysis and your opinion on how and what you should do to rank for at least 150 target keywords.

Ranking for 150 keywords simply means ranking for more than 150 queries, if your pages are relevant enough they will rank for the most user questions related to each keyword in the list.

For instance, if you have a good article on “Are there any creatine powders that are sugar-free or low-calorie?”, this article would rank for queries like:

• What creatine powders have no added sugar?
• Are there sugar-free creatine supplements?
• Can I find creatine powder without carbs?
• Does creatine powder have calories?

So you’ll end up with a ranking for an average of 20 queries for each target keyword, and if you do the math: 150 * 20 = 3000 keywords.

What you should do and what you shouldn’t to become a Semantic SEO expert?

Seek experience and don’t be afraid of having failures or non-ranking sites. Experience only comes with real experience, not just reading about other SEOs experiences.

Don’t just follow theories, especially complex ones that don’t provide any actionable steps on how to do it and why you should do it in the first place.

It has become a trend now as some people claim to be “inventors” of such a concept and only talk in complex terms just to look smart and make other people feel unaware or have less expertise.

How to Conduct a Semantic SEO Audit

Start by building a detailed Topical Map for at least 5–7 competitors, and make sure it provides actionable steps on what you should do and what you should avoid.

How to build a Meaningful Topical Map (that provides Value)

Topical maps are not keyword research sheets nor random graphs that tell little to nothing. To make it easier to understand, here’s a map example by ContentMaps AI:

First, start by categorizing the website entities into 5 categories:

1. High-level Topics: The main topics that each website is talking about. It should be the pillars of your website architecture.
2. Sub-topics: The clustered sub-topics of each high-level topic that represents every section on the website.
3. Sub-topic entities/keywords: The main entities of each subsection/sub-topic in each website in the list.
4. Missing Topics: The missing topics that should add more value to the users by adding a different POV to the context of the website.
5. Related Entities: The main related entities that should appear more on the website.

When you do an SEO audit, Ideally you’ll build your map to have:

• 1-2 High-level topics.
• 3-4 Sub-topics for each high-level topic.
• 5-6 Sub-topic entities for each sub-topic in each high-level topic.
• 1-2 missing topics for the whole site.
• 20-30 related entities for each high-level topic.

These numbers should be an excellent start to build a well-structured site. Sure, these numbers are not static, they change based on the website size and covered topics, so there is no static formula to calculate it.

It’s the formula we use here at ContentMaps AI to build Topical maps. You can build up to 500 maps using our app with a detailed analysis of a website's semantic SEO on each map in addition to Topical map sheet.

You can build:

• Domain Map: a Topical map based on a single domain data. It’s ideal for advanced competitive analysis to build a comprehensive report.
• SERP Map: a Topical map based on the search engine results page data. It’s ideal when conducting SERP analysis.

You can download every single part of your Topical map project and get back to it anytime, as we store the data in the cloud for you.

How to conduct an Internal links analysis

You can build a sophisticated internal links strategy using a simple formula:

• Links from related topic entities to their respective high-level topics and subtopics
• Links from missing topics to their respective high-level topics
• Links from subtopics keywords/entities to their respective subtopics
• Links from subtopics to their respective high-level topics

Although it could be more complex, this should be the main idea that you can experiment with and build more ideas using it.

So, you've got your topical map laid out, you see the connections between your content, and you're ready to weave those internal links into your website. But where do you even begin?

Let's break down how to put those links into action:

1. Start with the Big Picture: Look at your high-level topics. These are the broad themes your website covers. Make sure there are clear, logical links between them. For example, if you have a blog about cooking, you might have high-level topics like "Recipes," "Kitchen Tips," and "Food Reviews." Link these together naturally, like having a recipe post link to a relevant kitchen tip or a food review linking back to a recipe for the dish.
2. Dive into the Subtopics: Now zoom in on your subtopics. These are the more specific areas within each high-level topic. Think about how these subtopics relate to each other and to the broader themes. For example, under "Recipes," you might have subtopics like "Appetizers," "Main Courses," and "Desserts." Link recipes within these subtopics to each other, and also link them back to the main "Recipes" page.
3. Missing Links? Fill the Gaps: As you're mapping out your links, you might notice some gaps. Are there any subtopics that could benefit from links to other related content? Don't be afraid to create new links to fill these gaps and create a more interconnected website.
4. Don't Overdo It: While internal linking is important, it's also crucial to avoid keyword stuffing or creating unnatural links.
5. Test and Refine: Internal linking is an ongoing process. Regularly review your website's structure and link patterns to ensure they are still effective. Use tools like GSC (Google Search Console) to track which pages are getting the most traffic and adjust your linking strategy accordingly.

Remember, your internal linking strategy is a living, breathing thing. It should evolve and adapt as your website grows and changes.

The Future of Topical Authority and Semantic SEO

I spent almost the last 3–4 years creating Topical Maps for big B2B brands and I can tell that the following list should be the best possible ideas that could happen in the near future:

1. Micro-Niches: With greater competition, likely comes an escalation of ultra-specific topical authorities. "Fitness experts" will likely be seen as "left-handed-vegan-marathon-runner fitness experts."
2. Multi-modal Authority: Topical authority will no longer depend on content that is purely written, with the advent of podcasts, videos, and interactive content on a topic.
3. AI Collaboration: Instead of fearing AI, savvy authorities will learn to collaborate with it, using AI tools to enhance their content creation and research processes.
4. Real-Time Expertise: In a fast-paced information world, the competence to dispense timely expert opinion on a breaking development cannot be overemphasized.

Would Topical Authority help you rank for highly-competitive keywords?

Yes, but not necessarily, there is no site ranking in a competitive SERP that writes about every single topic out there with no plan or strategy. I mean Forbes and some publishers are exceptions.

Ranking for low-competition keywords should be a better strategy for most websites that looking to generate revenue from the search channel. The more you rank for high-intent keywords with low search competition, the more revenue you generate from SEO.

Also, As search algorithms evolve, the goalposts surrounding "authority" may move as well. What works today may not work tomorrow. So sometimes there might be a chance to rank for such keywords with semantic SEO alone.