Topic Authority: A Poorly Documented Ranking System

Topical authority started as a novel idea half a decade ago, but some in the industry have sworn by it in recent years. The once quiet murmur of a few has become a raucous of the masses. Market Muse states that “topical authority is the new keyword research”, while MonsterInsights lists it in their ten most important ranking factors for 2023. It is now covered by most major vendors including SEMRush, Ahrefs, Lumar, Botify, Shopify, Wix, and HubSpot.

What was a negligible 170 monthly searches in 2019 has now become more than 3,000 monthly searches and rising. As more companies jumped into the fray, the craze only increased each month. However, despite the loudening roar of its advocates, Google representatives have remained tight-lipped on the system.

The only clear reference in their documentation is an article from May 2023, where Google limits the scope to journalism on news websites. When Search Engine Journal covered the story, Matt Southern clearly articulated that it was an SEO Ranking Factor for News Sites. It is clear that Google attempted to provide much-needed clarity on the “topic authority system” in its dedicated post, and yet it doesn’t show up in their official ranking systems. Twice I’ve messaged John Mueller for a comment, yet the questions were missed or ignored.

Within their official ranking systems documentation, the closest match appears to be the reliable information system, which aims to “surface more authoritative pages” and to “elevate quality journalism”, both of which are featured in their dedicated documentation.

While clarity may have been the intention and goal of the team at Google, it has only added fuel to existing confusion. An excellent case study of the confusion can be found in the topical authority article written by Jake Sheridan at Ahrefs. Opening with the well-meant and optimistic goal to teach “everything you need to know about topical authority and how to build it for your sites”, it shortly becomes apparent this goal is pie in the sky. While answering the question “how does it work”, Sheridan readily admits that “no one really knows” and when pushed to measure topical authority, he writes “lack of clarity around the whole concept of topical authority contributes to having no definitive way to measure it.”

Kevin Indig is perhaps a minority voice on the subject and appears to call it out for what it is: “topical authority is one of many SEO ghost concepts that are often used to justify recommendations.” Indeed, this seems to be the case. In my experience many practitioners cling to the topical authority mantra either because they are uncritical of the evidence, or they wilfully and knowingly use it as a means to increase revenues. Afterall, if it can’t be defined or measured, it’s an open and blank check to create copious volumes of content.

Our perspective is that at present the evidence for topical authority outside of journalism remains lacklustre. Years of experience and experimentation leave us with more questions than answers: how much content is enough? When does one become a topical authority? When does one topic end and another begin? Will businesses continue to pour time and resources into an unproven assumption?

We remain optimistic that the future holds more clarity, but in the meantime, focus on clear demand conversion and measurable objectives.