Imagine claiming to be an expert on video games but only ever playing the first level of one specific game. Nobody would truly believe you are an expert, right? Google works in a very similar way when it comes to websites. To rank high in search results, you need something called “Topical Authority.” This concept is the secret weapon to making a website strong without relying solely on popularity. This guide explains how you can build trust with search engines by covering a topic completely rather than just chasing the most competitive keywords.
To understand topical authority, you first need to distinguish it from domain authority. Domain authority is generally related to backlinks, which acts like a popularity contest; the more websites that mention you, the stronger your domain appears. However, topical authority is strictly about the content and articles on your website. A complete website strategy involves three types of keywords: short-tail, mid-tail, and long-tail. Short-tail keywords are highly competitive phrases like “dentist” or “lawyer.” Mid-tail keywords might be comparisons or guides, while long-tail keywords are specific questions. A common mistake many website owners make is focusing only on the competitive short-tail phrases. If you only chase these big terms, Google will not trust your website enough because you lack the supporting information found in the middle and long-tail sections. You must cover all three areas to prove you are a true resource.
The structure of your website is critical for achieving this authority. In many cases, websites simply have a homepage and a few service pages, but they lack supporting blog articles. While this might work in industries with zero competition, modern SEO requires a web of related content. To visualize this, you can use a spreadsheet to map out your site. First, identify your core service pages. For instance, if you run a digital marketing agency, your core pages would be “SEO Services,” “PPC,” or “Content Marketing.” Once these are established, you need to brainstorm supporting blog articles that link back to these services. A great framework for finding these topics is to think about the user’s journey. Ask yourself what questions a customer has before they buy, questions they have during the service, and questions they might have after the service is complete.
For example, if you are selling SEO services, a “before” question might be “How long does SEO take to work?” A “during” question could be “Is SEO better than paid ads?” and an “after” question might concern how to maintain rankings. It is important to verify that people are actually searching for these questions. You can do this by typing your potential article title into Google. If you see many other websites discussing the topic, it is a good sign that there is search volume and interest. However, you do not always need to brainstorm from scratch because your competitors have likely done the hard work for you. You can reverse engineer their success by analyzing their website structure.
A simple way to spy on competitors is to search specifically within their site using the “site:” command on Google, followed by their domain and a keyword. This shows you every article they have written on that topic. However, for a more technical and comprehensive approach, you should look at their sitemap. You can access this by typing their website URL followed by “/robots.txt” in your browser address bar. This file usually contains a link to their XML sitemap, which lists every single URL on their website. This is much more accurate than just looking at their navigation bar because it reveals hidden pages that Google reads.
Once you have the sitemap open, you can use tools to speed up your research. A Chrome extension called Link Clump is incredibly useful here. It allows you to click and drag to copy hundreds of links at once. You can copy all the URLs from your competitor’s post sitemap and paste them into an AI tool like Claude AI. You can then instruct the AI to filter the list. For example, you can ask the AI to identify all SEO-related supporting blog articles from the list and ignore unrelated topics like social media. This gives you a clean, organized list of article ideas that are proven to work. Finally, once you write these articles, you must use internal linking. This means your new blog post about “How long SEO takes” should contain a hyperlink pointing back to your main “SEO Services” page. This connects the long-tail information to your main service, passing authority throughout your website.
Building a website that Google trusts requires more than just a few good pages; it demands a complete network of helpful information. By understanding the difference between competitive short-tail keywords and specific long-tail questions, you can create a strategy that outperforms others. Utilizing technical methods like analyzing sitemaps and using AI to filter data allows you to replicate what is already working for your competitors. Start by mapping out your core services, finding the gaps in your content, and filling them with high-quality articles that link back to your main offers.