SEO

What Is Topical Authority & How Does It Work

Published

7 months ago

August 21, 2022

What Is Topical Authority & How Does It Work

You’ve probably heard the term “authority” thrown around a lot when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).

But what does it mean exactly? And if you already know what it is, then you may be thinking, how can I add more authoritative content throughout my site?

Well, first, authority refers to the power or influence a particular piece of content has over other information on the internet.

In SEO, the higher the perceived authority a page has, the better the chance of ranking well in organic searches.

If you want your content to rank high on Google, you need to create authoritative content. By creating quality content, you’re building trust with both visitors and Google.

Quality content helps your reputation and increases your chances of being found on search engine results pages (SERPs).

This post will dig into everything you need to know about topical authority. So, let’s start by breaking down the SEO definition of topical authority.

What Is Topical Authority?

Authority is a measure of trustworthiness or credibility.

For search engines, it describes the level of importance given to a particular webpage or site. For example, Google uses authority signals to determine how vital certain pages are for user searches.

Topical authority is a measure of authority you earn through quality content. More high-quality, informative articles mean more people will trust your website as an authoritative resource on a specific subject matter.

For example, a blog post about SEO written by a well-known expert in their industry would carry more weight than a post from a beginner or someone who hasn’t established themselves as an authoritative expert on a topic.

On the other hand, a post from a brand-new company wouldn’t carry as much weight because no one knows or trusts them yet.

Topical authority is significant because it shows how well you understand your audience and what they’re looking for on the internet.

Topical authority is also a metric that ranks websites according to the quality of information they offer. You can gain topical authority through high-quality content, authoritative links pointing to your website, and social media shares.

When we talk about SEO and authority, it’s essential to differentiate between two terms: topical authority and domain authority.

While topical authority comes from the quality and uniqueness of a content piece and its on-page SEO superiority, domain authority supports more technical SEO, such as link building.

Why Should Content Creators Care About It?

Well, as we mentioned, topical authority helps with SEO and ranking higher for top search engines.

Therefore, content creators must add topical authority to their content creation and marketing strategy.

If you care about ranking on top search engines, like Google, then you need to care about topical authority.

Suppose you focus on integrating more topical authority in your pieces. In that case, they will get more clicks and views from people who are searching for information about those topics.

And the best thing about topical authority is that you can control it as long as you know how.

So now, let’s discuss how topical authority works before we offer some strategies you can use to maximize your topical authority on your site.

How Does Topical Authority Work?

Topical authority gained prominence with Google’s Hummingbird algorithm in 2013, transforming how Google analyzed content and creating a better strategy to assist users searching for information from their mobile devices.

It changed how content was ranked, which was now rated based on relevance to a user’s query.

In addition, Google could now analyze user content from more thought processes based on conversational searches, and it could accomplish this much faster.

Before Hummingbird, Google’s algorithms focused on keywords. Keywords were vital because they helped Google understand what users wanted to see when searching.

Google couldn’t understand or process the context behind user queries. For example, if someone searched for [how to bake a pie], Google might assume they meant a recipe.

But if you asked, [what is the difference between baking and cooking?], you might expect a different answer.

Google relied heavily on inbound links and other factors to determine whether a page should rank higher. These factors included link popularity, the number of pages the content linked out to, and the age of the domain or website.

Additionally, links from authoritative domains impacted SEO ranking, and it was crucial to focus on keyword research.

With topical authority, it is also essential to produce unique quality and thorough content with an authentic understanding of the topics discussed in a content piece.

In addition, topical authority leans into on-page SEO to effectively and organically build a brand’s website authority, which can help improve click-through rates.

Topical authority hits keyword optimization and numerous major on-page SEO factors.

If the piece has topical authority, the writer will likely include more keywords that relate to that topic, both intentionally and unintentionally.

And it’ll have better readability as content pieces written by influential writers who have a deeper understanding of a topic should be able to enhance readability.

Content will also be well-targeted. A brand with authority in its domain or industry will be able to determine the types of content that will resonate with its customers and provide the answers to their questions.

Now that we know how topical authority works, let’s talk more about how to create topical authority in content.

4 Strategies For Building Topical Authority

When trying to understand and build topical authority, Julia McCoy from The Content Hacker said it best, “‘Authority’ is a buzzword in SEO and content marketing. Everybody wants it, but not everyone knows how to get it and keep it.”

So, how do you create and maintain topical authority on a brand’s site?

Well, unfortunately, there are no overnight successes when it comes to topical authority. It takes a content strategist ready to take a diligent research journey and writing to build proper topical authority for a brand’s website.

But luckily, we’ve put some strategies together to help build topical authority.

1. Content Strategy

Creating a robust and detailed content strategy is crucial for building topical authority. This strategy should include a plan for a consistent stream of authority-building content pieces that incorporate keywords and topics you know your reader wants to learn.

Focus on helping your reading and sharing your knowledge. Assess what others are talking about in your industry and get involved, sharing your thoughts on topics you are confident in writing about for your site.

Use those initial topics as a jumping point to create more or further the discussion on leading topics within your industry.

You can also research what questions users are asking regarding certain topics and use that as inspiration for content pieces.

Then, plan out the best time to release each content piece so that it takes your followers and customers on a journey to more content or purchasing points on your brand’s site.

Finally, think about how you’ll share that content on your site, listings, and social media.

2. Topic Cluster

When choosing topics, you should focus intensely on a couple of topics, make them the pillar for your site, and become the leading educator on those topics.

Compiling content for a topic helps create topic clusters necessary for SEO.

Topic clusters show search engines that there is valuable content for searchers on specific topics and that your content is more authoritative than competitors.

Remember, Google looks for synonyms, subtopics, and answers to common questions from industry, not just keywords.

Topic clusters are groups of content assets on a website centered on the same broad topic. A topic cluster can help you answer all your audience’s questions about a subject matter.

Each topic cluster consists of a pillar page and cluster content. A pillar page is a top-level page that focuses on a broader subject area and targets more generic keywords.

Cluster content explores the subtopics or common questions within the topic cluster and targets less competitive keywords that connect with the main topic.

When it comes to topic clusters, focus on these three components:

Determine the focus topic.
Create a pillar page.
Leverage backlinks.

3. User Intent

Many content marketers use a relevant topical authority strategy focusing on user intent.

Google and other search engines have intelligent algorithms that focus on a user’s intent.

When a user is looking for information based on keywords or when they enter information about a subject, search engine algorithms attempt to figure out the user’s intent behind a particular query.

The algorithms can hone in on standard and minor interpretations of a user’s question. To better explain this, we can discuss the “Do, Know, Go” theory when it comes to how a user asks a question on a search engine:

A “do” question means they want an answer to a specific question that would result in an action. For example, the user wants to buy a product or book a service.
A “know” question means they want to know something about a topic. The user wants to gain information, whether it’s a simple or complex question.
And finally, a “go” question would be a navigational question, where the user wants to find a particular website or location by searching on the internet.

4. Site Structure

Another topical authority strategy involves the structure for a site’s metadata which helps a site to rank better.

A site structure should incorporate SEO indicators, such as using keywords that describe your content. It’s important to research which keywords will work best for different topic clusters and specific pieces of content.

Content marketers should include keywords in titles and meta descriptions of each piece of content on the brand’s site.

Adding relevant links to other pages on your site is another way for a brand to build authority.

Finally, for site structure, brands should create a sitemap so that the landing pages and content make sense for the customer’s journey.

Takeaway: Establish Topical Authority

As you now see, topical authority is paramount to a site’s ranking. And as we discussed, creating a genuinely effective topical authority strategy can take some time.

Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Nevertheless, link building and unique, well-written content are excellent ways to help build organic site authority.

In conclusion, I hope this guide has been helpful to you.

Topical authority is a powerful tool for ranking any page on Google; knowing when to use it will help you rank higher than your competitors.

To find out more, check out our other resources on building SEO strategies and creating site authority.

More Resources:

Featuerd Image: oatawa/Shutterstock

Source link

Related Topics:authority seo Topical Work

Up Next

6 Steps To Prioritize Natural & Paid Search In A Holistic Search Strategy

Don't Miss

8 Types Of Remarketing To Consider

Click to comment

SEO

TikTok CEO To Testify In Hearing On Data Privacy And Online Harm Reduction

Published

4 hours ago

March 22, 2023

EntirewebNewsBot

TikTok CEO To Testify In Hearing On Data Privacy And Online Harm Reduction

TikTok CEO Shou Chew will testify in a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce this Thursday, March 23, at 10:00 a.m. ET.

As CEO, Chew is responsible for TikTok’s business operations and strategic decisions.

The “TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy and Protect Children from Online Harms” hearing will be streamed live on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s website.

According to written testimony submitted by Chew, the hearing will focus on TikTok’s alleged commitment to transparency, teen safety, consumer privacy, and data security.

It also appears to broach the topic of misconceptions about the platform, such as its connection to the Chinese government through its parent company, ByteDance.

Chew shared a special message with TikTok yesterday from Washington, D.C., to thank 150 million users, five million businesses, and 7,000 employees in the U.S. for helping build the TikTok community.

@tiktokOur CEO, Shou Chew, shares a special message on behalf of the entire TikTok team to thank our community of 150 million Americans ahead of his congressional hearing later this week.♬ original sound – TikTok

The video has received over 85k comments from users, many describing how TikTok has allowed them to interact with people worldwide and find unbiased news, new perspectives, educational content, inspiration, and joy.

TikTok Updates Guidelines And Offers More Educational Content

TikTok has been making significant changes to its platform to address many of these concerns before this hearing to evade a total U.S. ban on the platform.

Below is an overview of some efforts by TikTok to rehab its perception before the hearing.

Updated Community Guidelines – TikTok updated community guidelines and shared its Community Principles to demonstrate commitment to keeping the platform safe and inclusive for all users.

For You Feed Refresh – TikTok recommends content to users based on their engagement with content and creators. For users who feel that recommendations no longer align with their interests, TikTok introduced the ability to refresh the For You Page, allowing them to receive fresh recommendations as if they started a new account.

STEM Feed – To improve the quality of educational content on TikTok, it will introduce a STEM feed for content focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Unlike the content that appears when users search the #STEM hashtag, TikTok says that Common Sense Networks and Poynter will review STEM feed content to ensure it is safe for younger audiences and factually accurate.

This could make it more like the version of TikTok in China – Douyin – that promotes educational content to younger audiences over entertaining content.

Series Monetization – To encourage creators to create in-depth, informative content, TikTok introduced a new monetization program for Series content. Series allows creators to earn income by putting up to 80 videos with up to 20 minutes in length, each behind a paywall.

More Congressional Efforts To Restrict TikTok

The TikTok hearing tomorrow isn’t the only Congressional effort to limit or ban technologies like TikTok.

Earlier this month, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the RESTRICT Act (Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology), which would create a formal process for the government to review and mitigate risks of technology originating in countries like China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.

Organizations like the Tech Oversight Project have pointed out that Congress should look beyond TikTok and investigate similar risks to national security and younger audiences posed by other Big Tech platforms like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta.

We will follow tomorrow’s hearing closely – be sure to come back for our coverage to determine how this will affect users and predict what will happen next.

Featured Image: Alex Verrone/Shutterstock

Source link

SEO

How Is It Different From GPT-3.5?

Published

11 hours ago

March 22, 2023

EntirewebNewsBot

GPT-4, the latest version of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s language model, is a breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) technology that has revolutionized how we communicate with machines.

ChatGPT’s multimodal capabilities enable it to process text, images, and videos, making it an incredibly versatile tool for marketers, businesses, and individuals alike.

What Is GPT-4?

GPT-4 is 10 times more advanced than its predecessor, GPT-3.5. This enhancement enables the model to better understand context and distinguish nuances, resulting in more accurate and coherent responses.

Furthermore, GPT-4 has a maximum token limit of 32,000 (equivalent to 25,000 words), which is a significant increase from GPT-3.5’s 4,000 tokens (equivalent to 3,125 words).

“We spent 6 months making GPT-4 safer and more aligned. GPT-4 is 82% less likely to respond to requests for disallowed content and 40% more likely to produce factual responses than GPT-3.5 on our internal evaluations.” – OpenAI

GPT-3.5 Vs. GPT-4 – What’s Different?

GPT-4 offers several improvements over its predecessor, some of which include:

1. Linguistic Finesse

While GPT-3.5 is quite capable of generating human-like text, GPT-4 has an even greater ability to understand and generate different dialects and respond to emotions expressed in the text.

For example, GPT-4 can recognize and respond sensitively to a user expressing sadness or frustration, making the interaction feel more personal and genuine.

Screenshot from OpenAI, March 2023

One of the most impressive aspects of GPT-4 is its ability to work with dialects, which are regional or cultural variations of a language.

Dialects can be extremely difficult for language models to understand, as they often have unique vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation that may not be present in the standard language.

However, GPT-4 has been specifically designed to overcome these challenges and can accurately generate and interpret text in various dialects.

2. Information Synthesis

GPT-4 can answer complex questions by synthesizing information from multiple sources, whereas GPT-3.5 may struggle to connect the dots.

For example, when asked about the link between the decline of bee populations and the impact on global agriculture, GPT-4 can provide a more comprehensive and nuanced answer, citing different studies and sources.

Screenshot from OpenAI, March 2023

Unlike its predecessor, GPT-4 now includes a feature that allows it to properly cite sources when generating text.

This means that when the model generates content, it cites the sources it has used, making it easier for readers to verify the accuracy of the information presented.

3. Creativity And Coherence

While GPT-3.5 can generate creative content, GPT-4 goes a step further by producing stories, poems, or essays with improved coherence and creativity.

For example, GPT-4 can produce a short story with a well-developed plot and character development, whereas GPT-3.5 might struggle to maintain consistency and coherence in the narrative.

Screenshot from OpenAI, March 2023

Screenshot from OpenAI, March 2023

4. Complex Problem-Solving

GPT-4 demonstrates a strong ability to solve complex mathematical and scientific problems beyond the capabilities of GPT-3.5.

For example, GPT-4 can solve advanced calculus problems or simulate chemical reactions more effectively than its predecessor.

Screenshot from OpenAI, March 2023

Screenshot from OpenAI, March 2023

GPT-4 has significantly improved its ability to understand and process complex mathematical and scientific concepts. Its mathematical skills include the ability to solve complex equations and perform various mathematical operations such as calculus, algebra, and geometry.

In addition, GPT-4 is also capable of handling scientific subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy.

Its advanced processing power and language modeling capabilities allow it to analyze complex scientific texts and provide insights and explanations easily.

As the technology continues to evolve, it is likely that GPT-4 will continue to expand its capabilities and become even more adept at a wider range of subjects and tasks.

5. Programming Power

GPT-4’s programming capabilities have taken social media by storm with its ability to generate code snippets or debug existing code more efficiently than GPT-3.5, making it a valuable resource for software developers.

With the help of GPT-4, weeks of work can be condensed into a few short hours, allowing extraordinary results to be achieved in record time. You can test these prompts:

“Write code to train X with dataset Y.”
“I’m getting this error. Fix it.”
“Now improve the performance.”
“Now wrap it in a GUI.”

6. Image And Graphics Understanding

Unlike GPT-3.5, which focuses primarily on text, GPT-4 can analyze and comment on images and graphics.

For example, GPT-4 can describe the content of a photo, identify trends in a graph, or even generate captions for images, making it a powerful tool for education and content creation.

Screenshot from OpenAI, March 2023

Imagine this technology integrated with Google Analytics or Matomo. You could get highly accurate analytics for all your dashboards in a few minutes.

7. Reduction Of Inappropriate Or Biased Responses

GPT-4 implements mechanisms to minimize undesirable results, thereby increasing reliability and ethical responsibility.

For example, GPT-4 is less likely to generate politically biased, offensive, or harmful content, making it a more trustworthy AI companion than GPT-3.5.

Where Can ChatGPT Go Next?

Despite its remarkable advancements, ChatGPT still has room for improvement:

Addressing neutrality: Enhancing its ability to discern the context and respond accordingly.
Understanding the user: Developing the capacity to understand who is communicating (who, where, and how).
External integrations: Expanding its reach through web, API, and robotic integrations.
Long-term memory: Improving its ability to recall past interactions and apply that knowledge to future conversations.
Reducing hallucination: Minimizing instances where the AI is convinced of false information.

As ChatGPT continues to evolve, it is poised to revolutionize marketing and AI-driven communications.

Its potential applications in content creation, education, customer service, and more are vast, making it an essential tool for businesses and individuals in the digital age.

More Resources:

Featured Image: LALAKA/Shutterstock

Source link

SEO

Should Congress Investigate Big Tech Platforms?

Published

18 hours ago

March 22, 2023

EntirewebNewsBot

Should Congress Investigate Big Tech Platforms?

This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a full committee hearing with TikTok CEO Shou Chew to discuss how the platform handles users’ data, its effect on kids, and its relationship with ByteDance, its Chinese parent company.

This hearing is part of an ongoing investigation to determine whether TikTok should be banned in the United States or forced to split from ByteDance.

A ban on TikTok would affect over 150 million Americans who use TikTok for education, entertainment, and income generation.

It would also affect the five million U.S. businesses using TikTok to reach customers.

Is TikTok The Only Risk To National Security?

According to a memo released by the Tech Oversight Project, TikTok is not the only tech platform that poses risks to national security, mental health, and children.

As Congress scrutinizes TikTok, the Tech Oversight Project also strongly urges an investigation of risks posed by tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Google.

These platforms have a documented history of serving content harmful to younger audiences and adversarial to U.S. interests. They have also failed on many occasions to protect users’ private data.

Many Big Tech companies have seen TikTok’s success and tried to emulate some of its features to encourage users to spend as much time within their platforms’ ecosystems as possible. Academics, activists, non-governmental organizations, and others have long raised concerns about these platforms’ risks.

To truly reduce Big Rech’s risks to our society, Congress must look beyond TikTok and hold other companies accountable for the same dangers they pose to national security, mental health, and private data.

Risks Posed By Big Tech Companies

The following are examples of the risks Big Tech companies pose to U.S. users.

Amazon

Amazon has made several controversial moves, including a partnership with a state propaganda agency to launch a China books portal and offering AWS services to Chinese companies, including a banned surveillance firm with ties to the military.

Apple

Independent research found that Apple collects detailed information about its users, even when users choose not to allow tracking by apps from the App Store. Over half of the top 200 suppliers for Apple operate factories in China.

Google

The FTC fined Google and YouTube $170 million for collecting children’s data without parental consent. YouTube also changed its algorithm to make it more addictive, increasing users’ time watching videos and consuming ads.

TikTok

TikTok employees confirmed that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is involved in decision-making and has access to TikTok’s user data. While testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Vanessa Pappas, TikTok COO, would not confirm whether ByteDance would give TikTok user data to the Chinese government.

Conclusion

While the dangers posed by TikTok are undeniable, it’s clear that Congress should also address the risks posed throughout the tech industry. By holding all major offenders accountable, we can create a safe, secure, and responsible digital landscape for everyone.

Featured Image: Koshiro K/Shutterstock

Source link