Concept of Topical Authority With Silo Structure

*Concept of Topical Authority With Silo Structure*

Topical authority is an SEO Concept that refers to a website's expertise and reputation in a specific topic or niche. It's like being a recognized expert in a particular field! And search engines reward that expertise with better visibility and rankings!

Now let’s understand this concept

Let's say you have a website about "Vegetable Gardening".

Now to build topical authority you have to cover your main topic from 360° such as;

1. How to prepare soil for vegetable gardening
2. Different types of vegetables to grow (e.g., tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots)
3. Vegetable gardening techniques (e.g., companion planting, crop rotation)
4. Common vegetable gardening problems (e.g., pests, diseases) and solutions
5. Vegetable gardening tools and equipment
6. Seasonal vegetable gardening guides (e.g., spring, summer, fall)

now when you cover all subtopics of your main topic and do relevant internal linking, you would represent yourself as a trusted source to your users as well as to Google. and thus your website gets a boost and more chances to rank. you will get ranking and organic traffic.

Just like a doctor expert in his field, you have also to be an expert in your niche.

Now To establish topical authority, a website should:

1. Focus on your specific topic (like Vegetable Gardening) above example

2. Create High-quality, informative, and relevant content.

3. Show expertise in your niche.

4. Built your reputation through user engagement, reviews, and mentions.

5. Continuously refine your content, so Google takes you as a trusted authority.

Now here is a question how to implement topical authority on your website, with proper silo structure?

Let's suppose your main Topic (Category) is: "Vegetable Gardening"

Sub-Topics (Sub-Categories) like:

1. Tomato Gardening
2. Cucumber Gardening
3. Carrot Gardening

Now to make its silo structure cover in that way;

Topic “Vegetable Gardening”

Subtopic (Sub- Categories) like this;

1. Tomato Gardening
* Tomato Varieties
* Tomato Soil Preparation
* Tomato Support Systems

2. Cucumber Gardening
* Cucumber Trellis Ideas
* Cucumber Watering Tips
* Cucumber Pest Control"

3. Carrot Gardening
* Carrot Soil Preparation
* Carrot Sowing Tips
* Carrot Harvesting Techniques

Create content on sub-topics like this:
* How to Grow Juicy Tomatoes
* Carrot Soil Preparation Tips"
* Tomato Fertilization Tips"
* Cucumber Watering Schedule
* Carrot Pest Control Methods

Basic rule of internal Linking;

1. Always keep in mind the relevancy of anchor text, categories, and sub categories.
2. Never internally link one category to another without any relevancy.
3. Use descriptive anchor text instead of "Click here"
4. You have to build a complete hierarchy.

This partially covers Topical Authority but key points are not mentioned.

Central entity, search intent and context must be defined first before actually topics can be determined.

Thanks for the guide.

I have created a main topic category page who has a sub topic menu (4 items) nested url is like; subtopic/article
Example the site byrdie "Hair" this site shows an overview of all their subtopic blog posts.
My main topic category page is like the byrdie example, showing overview of all my subtopic blog posts.

Qurestion: is this not duplicate content? I mean the blog posts on the main category page overview are the same blog posts from the sub topics . Is this the normal main topic- sub topic structure in wordpress, also I should index both?

My home page is like an hub overview like example of bloomberg(com)/europe
then linking to all the pages and categires, here I show some blog posts only with excerpts.

Then my main topic page it shows like byrdie/hair all the blog posts of my 4 different sub topics here I show only the blog posts title. On the related sub topic there it shows all related posts as a list with title and excerpt.

Is this ok or should I no-index the main topic category ? Or better I create a main topic hub page (no category) overview of the 4 subtopics each with a different images and different description who then linking to the related sub topic to avoid double content issue? I think this is the better idea.

Topical authority is the perception of expertise and trustworthiness a website builds by covering a subject comprehensively. A silo structure enhances topical authority by organizing content into focused, hierarchical categories.

In this structure, a main "pillar page" covers a broad topic (e.g., "Digital Marketing"), while supporting subpages (e.g., "SEO," "Social Media Marketing") delve into related subtopics. Internal linking connects these pages, signaling to search engines the website's depth and relevance, boosting rankings and authority in the niche.

tiiberius said:

This partially covers Topical Authority but key points are not mentioned.

Central entity, search intent and context must be defined first before actually topics can be determined.

Click to expand...

And i don't bother with any topical authority and still rank number 1 for tonnes of keywords and never been hit with any google updates.

i just keep it simple and give google basic SEO it wants..

Thank you for sharing this.

I must ask you again guys Ineed advice: when I want to rank in google with my brand name like jsmith instead of john smith, I have the wordpress site title like this: jsmith and when possible with seo plugin all my article like this:
Guide to be more happy| JSMITH

to rank in google with my brand name which schema markup should I use for my home page or should I use only schema for my category page and my category articles?

When I sholuld use a schema for my home page to rank with jsmith insetad of john smith, should I us ethe organization or persona schema here two examples which is the right to use?
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@Type": "Person",
"name": "John Smith",( or only mpatzer?)
"url": "https://jsmith.com",
"image": "https://jsmith.com/yourphoto.jpg",
"jobTitle": "Your Professional Title",
"worksFor": {
"@Type": "Organization",
"name": "mpatzer"
},
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/jsmith",
"https://www.twitter.com/jsmith",
"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsmith"
],
"description": "A brief description of your services and expertise."
}

or this schema :
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@Type": "Person",
"name": "Jsmith",( or only mpatzer?)
"url": "https://jsmithcom",
"image": "https://jsmith.com/yourphoto.jpg",
"jobTitle": "Your Professional Title",
"worksFor": {
"@Type": "Organization",
"name": "jsmith"
},
"sameAs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/jsmith",
"https://www.twitter.com/jsmith",
"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsmith"
],
"description": "A brief description of your services and expertise."
}

I'm confused.......
any tips which is best to use or not to use ?

Mister Ghost said:

And i don't bother with any topical authority and still rank number 1 for tonnes of keywords and never been hit with any google updates.

i just keep it simple and give google basic SEO it wants..

Click to expand...

Not sure why you quoted me but good for you.

Topical Authority is a website's expertise on a specific topic, built through in-depth, comprehensive content and backlinks. Silo Structure organizes related content into thematic groups, improving SEO and user experience. Together, they reinforce a site's relevance, helping search engines understand its expertise and boosting rankings. For example, a "Digital Marketing" silo might include subtopics like SEO,8 social media, and email marketing, all interlinked to demonstrate authority. This combination strengthens a site's credibility and visibility.

tiiberius said:

Not sure why you quoted me but good for you.

Click to expand...

Thought I'd keep you involved in the convo.

usa casino said:

Topical Authority is a website's expertise on a specific topic, built through in-depth, comprehensive content and backlinks. Silo Structure organizes related content into thematic groups, improving SEO and user experience. Together, they reinforce a site's relevance, helping search engines understand its expertise and boosting rankings. For example, a "Digital Marketing" silo might include subtopics like SEO,8 social media, and email marketing, all interlinked to demonstrate authority. This combination strengthens a site's credibility and visibility.

Click to expand...

Thanks chatgtp.

I found it on web research;

For the home page use the website schema

for each static page;use webpage schema

each category the collectitems schema

each blog article has the article schema

When you have a brand name like jsmith use it on all schemas
When have personal name then use that.

I hope I'm on the right track with this?

You can build good topical authority with your main domain subdomains too, but nested urls are better, because I not see many subdomains after the google update in the serps, from big sites too they using subfolders now.

Have a topical site with category pages+ description, have a hub page, and all your blog posts linking back to the category page ,the home page and to related category/ subcstegory and you will be fine.

These would be 3-4 internal links in each blog post, writing 100 posts a month and you should ranking with 300-400 internal links.

This is my plan.....

Marco69 said:

I found it on web research;

For the home page use the website schema

for each static page;use webpage schema

each category the collectitems schema

each blog article has the article schema

When you have a brand name like jsmith use it on all schemas
When have personal name then use that.

I hope I'm on the right track with this?

Click to expand...

I use under strategy.
Homepage: Website, Webpage, Article
category: Generate Hubpage(=static page) and use Webpage, Article Schema
Blog : Article Schema

And It is recommended that you refer to the subcategories as hasPart among the Webpage schema properties.