What is topical authority?
Check which topics bring your pages rankings and organic clicks. Authority in one topic doesn't cover every topic.
Previously: What is Google PageRank? The topic matters too: authority for bike repairs is different from authority for bike insurance.
Find the topic where the site ranks
These are query-level results, rather than a single domain score.
Repeated positions in the top five
What to noticeSeveral relevant queries bring clicks. This is a starting point for another reachable repair question.
The same site is weak in another topic
What to noticeRepair click history does not establish the same authority for insurance. Research this topic separately.
Topical authority is authority within a particular subject. A website can rank and earn organic clicks for bike repairs while struggling to rank for bicycle insurance. Being strong in one topic doesn’t make it strong in every topic.
A single domain score cannot show you those differences. Check the individual pages and the queries they rank for.
Publishing about a topic makes a claim
Publishing several explanations lets you answer different questions about a subject. Each page makes a claim to rank for the question it answers.
Covering a list of topics doesn’t create authority by itself. Look for backlinks from relevant pages and organic clicks from relevant queries. Internal links pass existing authority between related pages.
Find the topics where you earn clicks
In Search Console’s Performance report, select one of your pages and open the Queries tab. Check which related searches bring impressions and organic clicks, and note their average positions.
Use the same country, device and date filters when comparing pages. A few impressions at position one tell you less than repeated rankings and organic clicks across several related queries.
Group the queries by topic. Keep bike repair, commuting accessories and insurance separate so you can see where the site actually earns clicks.
How a search system can describe your topics
The model includes a stored description of a site’s topics and how they relate. Its technical label is a Site2Vec-style embedding or semantic profile. Think of it as a summary of the subjects a site covers.
That summary can help a search system compare topics. There is no public score here you can look up, and the label doesn’t tell us exactly how Google uses it.
Build on pages that already rank
If your chain-repair pages consistently earn organic clicks, try a closely related question. Give the new page a clear URL, title and heading. Link to it from a relevant paragraph on a page that already ranks for chain-repair queries.
Then check the new page’s rankings and clicks in Search Console. Prioritize related queries where you can reach the top three or five. Position drives CTR, and organic clicks from those positions build the history you need before moving into harder queries.
Check which topics bring your pages rankings and organic clicks. Authority in one topic doesn't cover every topic.