Content Marketing: What is Topical Authority and Topical Clusters?

Content Marketing: What is Topical Authority and Topical Clusters? / What is Topical Authority and Topical Clusters in Content Marketing / What is Topical Authority and Topical Clusters in SEO 

In a world full of SEO strategies chasing keyword rankings – the idea of Topical Authority forces marketers to look at the bigger picture and ask: 

And the next question to answer is…. 

What are Topical Clusters and Topical Authority? 

• Topical Clusters
  Topical Clusters pushes your keywords to focus around a central topic. 
• Topical Authority
  When you start building Topical Clusters, your domain and brand automatically become a topical authority to Google. 

Topical Clusters and Topical Authority closely tie in with Google’s Domain and Site Authority. Building this leads to: 

• Improve search rankings for keywords within that subject 
• Better user experience with visitors finding a treasure trove of information around the topic they searched for 

How to Start building Topical Clusters? 

So, how do you start building Topical Clusters? 

Select your Topic 

• Take a look at your Keywords
  If you already have an SEO and keyword strategy in place, take a look at your keywords. In case you don’t have an SEO strategy, use a mix of Google and Keyword Planner to build a keyword list. 
• Identify Core Topics
  Take a look at the keywords you have. Are there core topics that they surround? Creating a visual map of keywords connecting to a singular topic helps you identify them. 
• Connect the Topics with your Services/Products
  Do the topics connect with your business services or products? The closer they are to your topic services or products, the better. 

Build your Pillar Content 

Now that you have your topic clusters, it’s time to build a single pillar content blog around that. This will contain the A-Z on the topic. 

From this pillar content, you branch out and have more content pieces that 

• Write a High-Value Pillar Blog
  A pillar blog essentially covers all the main points of the pillar topic but does not have to comprehensively cover each one.
  
• Branch Out from the Cluster Content
  The subtopics in your pillar blog can become individual blogs and articles that branch on each of these topics. 
  
• Strategically Link Everything Together
  Use anchor text and linking to connect each content piece to each other so your readers can easily deep dive into the topic.
  
• Keep your content fresh and updated
  Regularly updating the content is good for your readers and SEO too. 

Bonus Tip: Don’t just focus on your website 

While you focus on building your content on your website – your digital presence extends beyond that. 

Look at your presence on social media, forums, Q&A platforms, and guest platforms. Publish content pieces that continue to build on your selected Topical Clusters. 

Through Topical Clusters, you build Topical Authority

It’s through Topical Clusters that you build Topical Authority. It isn’t built overnight, rather, you build it through consistently publishing high-value, interlinked content that covers a subject from every possible angle.

Once you start building Topical Authority, here is what happens: 

• Shows Search Engines your brand is an Expert
• Strengthens Internal Linking & SEO
• Future-Proof Your Content & SEO Strategy

An Example of Topical Clusters and Topical Authority 

Over the years, Spacebar has created a Topical Authority for Content Marketing and Content Authority. 

In addition to that, there are various content pillars. For example: Content Writing 101: The Ultimate Guide to Content Writing. 

In addition to that, videos and informational posts are put up on social media that continue to indicate Spacebar’s Topical Authority. 

Keywords are not the Hero 

Keywords cannot be the hero of your SEO strategy anymore. Your brand has to own the entire subject across multiple platforms. Brand is a powerful ranking factor for Google, and this ties in with Topical Authority too. To truly dominate search results and become the go-to expert in your industry, you need to own the conversation, not just rank for scattered terms.