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How Topical Authority is Changing the SEO Game

In 2012, Google made the switch from strings to things. Before the switch, Google’s algorithm did not recognize that the search phrase ‘titanic’ could refer to the ship or the film. Instead, the algorithm ranked pages according to how often and where the keyword ‘titanic’ appeared. Today, if you look at the search results for the phrase ‘titanic,’ you can see that the algorithm does recognize the difference.

Well, what changed between 2012 and now?

The most significant change is that Google’s algorithm no longer relies on keywords to build the search engine results page (SERP). Today, the algorithm builds the SERP based on its knowledge graph, which is basically a mega mind map.

Through this mind map, the algorithm knows that ‘titanic’ could refer to an ocean liner, a television miniseries, a 1997 film, a musical, a maritime disaster, or a video game. Among these possible references, Google knows, through testing, that ‘titanic – the film’ and ‘titanic – the maritime disaster’ is most likely to be what the searcher is looking for.

Additionally, the algorithm recognizes that ‘titanic’ (the film) relates to people such as Leonardo Di Caprio, Kate Winslet, and Celine Dion. And Celine Dion relates to ‘titanic’ (the film) in the context of a song she sang called, “My Heart Will Go On”.

If you look at the SERP for the phrase ‘titanic,’ you can see the page filled with these additional bits of information.

Now thing about this:

Given that Google’s algorithm no longer relies on keywords, does it make any sense to use a keyword-based approach to SEO? The answer is – “Hell no!”

Making the Switch from the Keyword-Based Approach

At this point, we know that Google’s algorithm builds the SERP based on its knowledge graph. Additionally, the algorithm also uses the knowledge graph to recognize the contents of a URL. In other words, the knowledge graph plays a key role in processing, indexing, and ranking your posts. Let me explain each aspect briefly.

• Processing: When Google’s crawler discover a new URL on your site, the algorithm processes the content of the URL. Google uses natural language processing techniques to identify the key elements within the content.
• Indexing: Once the algorithm processes the content, it uses the knowledge graph to index the URL. An index is a reference system that helps the algorithm find the content quickly when required.
• Ranking: After the algorithm indexes your content, it uses the knowledge graph to see which search phrases match the content of the URL. If the algorithm detects enough relevance, it will rank your URL on the SERP for the search phrase. The algorithm tests engagement metrics to see whether your URL improves the quality of the SERP. If it does, then the URL will find a higher place in the search results.

Since Google uses its knowledge graph in every aspect of its working, we come to this conclusion:

Therefore, search engine optimization is no longer about identifying keywords. Instead, search engine optimization is about aligning your content with what is already in Google’s knowledge graph and then helping Google expand its knowledge graph. In other words, SEO in this decade is about helping Google become an authority on a topic by feeding it well-structured, thorough, and accurate posts that cover a topic extensively.

Therefore, domains that help the algorithm learn the most are the ones that are trusted the most and ranked the highest. These are domains that have developed high topical authority.

How to Build Topical Authority

Here’s a systematic way you to build topical authority:

• Collect people also ask questions related to a topic
• Identify questions that are closely related and organize them into groups
• For each group, write the title and the subheadings for the blog post addressing all the questions in a group
• Expand the titles and subheadings to fulfill the need that triggered the search
• Format the content so that both visitors and crawlers find the content easy to read
• Present information in the form of lists, tables, and schema
• After writing all the blog posts related to a topic, publish the posts as an independent category
• Create internal links between posts to reinforce the network
• Add external links to build context

Now, this process is easy to follow if you’re working on a small topic. But if you’re working on a large topic that requires hundreds of questions to cover, you can’t do the process manually. That’s where I can help you.

Get Your Topical Authority Based Content Plans

I’ve spent hundreds of hours developing algorithms and writing code to build a set of proprietary SEO tools that help me build topical authority based content plans. With the help of these tools, I can build content plans for topics that require tens, hundreds, or even thousands of questions to cover.

And here’s the best part:

You’ll need less than 10 minutes to get started. Just fill this form and I’ll get back to you with a quote on how much the content plan for the topic costs.

Need some time to think about it?

If you need some time to think about working with me to boost your site’s topical authority, here are some points you can consider: