By performing topical authority keyword research, you will be able to create content that is highly relevant and informative for your target audience, which will improve your website's visibility in search engines and help establish you as an authority in your industry.
What Is Topical Authority?
LAST UPDATED AUGUST 2025
Topical Authority Keyword Research is a process to identify the topics and keywords that are relevant to your industry, creating content and optimizing it for better web visibility. Learn the step-by-step process to increase your website's authority.
Topical authority keyword research is a process of identifying the specific topics and subtopics that are related to your business or industry, and then researching the keywords and phrases that are commonly used within those topics. The goal is to understand the language and terminology that your target audience is using to find information and solutions related to your industry, and to create content that is highly relevant and informative for those audiences.
Step-by-Step Process to Perform Topical Authority Keyword Research
Here is a comprehensive step-by-step process to perform topical authority keyword research effectively.
Start by brainstorming a list of broad topics that are relevant to your business or industry. For example, if you're in the health and wellness industry, your topics might include "nutrition," "fitness," "mental health," etc. This foundational step helps you map out the content landscape you'll be working within.
Use our tool on the homepage whoranksfor.com to find long-tail keywords, phrases and questions that are related to your topics. This tool will provide you with a list of keywords, questions and phrases that are commonly used by people when searching for information related to your industry.
Use the keyword research tools to determine the search volume and competition for each keyword. Search volume represents the number of searches for a particular keyword, while competition represents the number of websites that are targeting that keyword. Balance these metrics to find your sweet spot.
From the list of keywords, create a list of the top keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business or industry and have a high search volume and low competition. These will be your primary targets for content creation.
Use the top keywords to create content that is highly relevant and informative for your target audience. Create blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, etc. that provide in-depth information and solutions related to your industry.
Once you have created the content, make sure to optimize your website and content for these keywords. Use the keywords in your meta tags, headlines, and throughout your content to improve your search engine rankings and visibility.
Once you have a list of keywords and phrases, you can use them to optimize your website's content, meta tags, and other on-page elements to improve your search engine rankings and visibility. Additionally, you can use them to inform your off-page optimization strategies, such as link building and social media marketing, to improve your site's authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines.
Understanding Keyword Stemming and LSI
To get deeper into topical authority for your field, you'll need to understand keyword stemming and LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing).
Keyword Stemming
Keyword stemming is the process of reducing a word to its root form. This is often used in search engines to return results for variations of a word. For example, if a user searches for "jumping," a stemming algorithm might also return results for "jumps," "jumped," and "jump."
Examples:
- "Jumping" → "jump"
- "Swimming" → "swim"
- "Running" → "run"
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a method used by search engines to understand the relationship between words and phrases in a piece of content. It uses mathematical algorithms to analyze the text on a webpage and identify the underlying concepts and themes.
For example, let's say you have a webpage about "dogs." An LSI algorithm might identify related concepts such as "breeds," "training," "health," and "behavior." This information can help a search engine understand that the page is about dogs and not just the word "dogs."
Strategies to Increase Your Website's Topical Authority
Now that you have detailed information on how to perform expert level topical authority marketing, here are strategies to increase your website's topical authority:
Creating high-quality, informative, and engaging content on a particular topic can help establish a website as a reputable source of information. This can help attract external links and social shares, which can boost the site's topical authority. Focus on depth, accuracy, and user value in every piece you create.
Backlinks from other reputable websites can help establish a site's authority on a particular topic. Try to get links from websites that are considered experts in your field, such as industry publications or other authoritative websites. Quality matters more than quantity.
Properly optimizing your website's content for on-page SEO can help search engines understand the main topic of your site and its relevance to specific keywords. This includes using relevant keywords in the title, meta description, and throughout the content, as well as optimizing images and videos.
Participating in online communities and forums related to your industry can help establish your brand and expertise. By contributing valuable information and insights, you can build your reputation and attract potential customers. Be helpful, not promotional.
Social media can be a powerful tool for building a website's topical authority. Share your content on social media and engage with your followers to build a strong following. This can help attract more visitors to your website and increase the number of backlinks to your site.
Building Long-Term Topical Authority
Remember that building topical authority is a long-term process that requires consistency, patience, and a commitment to providing genuine value to your audience. Focus on creating content that truly helps your target audience solve their problems and achieve their goals.
Key Takeaway: Topical authority isn't built overnight. It's the result of consistent effort in creating comprehensive, valuable content that serves your audience's needs while strategically targeting the right keywords and topics in your industry.