Topical Authority
The degree to which a website is recognised as a comprehensive, credible source on a specific subject.
Full definition
Topical authority is Google's assessment of how well a website covers a particular subject area — not just individual keywords, but the full ecosystem of related queries and sub-topics. A site with topical authority on 'personal injury law' would have comprehensive content covering accident types, claims processes, legal timelines, compensation calculations, and jurisdiction-specific variations. Google rewards topical depth with improved rankings across all related queries, not just the ones with specific on-page optimisation. Building topical authority requires a systematic content strategy: creating pillar pages, supporting cluster content, and ensuring internal links connect related content together.
Real-world example
A physiotherapy clinic that publishes 30 in-depth articles covering every aspect of sports injury treatment and recovery becomes Google's go-to source for physiotherapy queries in their region.
Related terms
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — Google's quality framework for evaluating content.
Read definitionA comprehensive page covering a broad topic in depth, linking to related cluster content as part of a topic cluster strategy.
Read definitionA content strategy grouping a pillar page with multiple related cluster pages to build topical authority.
Read definitionA link from one website pointing to another, used by search engines as a vote of authority and relevance.
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