Example
A developer topic includes concepts, setup, scopes, errors, security and troubleshooting, with purposeful links and current examples.
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Glossary · topical authority
Topical authority is demonstrated depth, consistency, relationships and trust around a subject.
It is not a single official Google metric. Treat it as an analytical model: does the site reliably answer the important tasks, connect them coherently and support claims with credible evidence?
Nothing publishes without approvalPaid product accessNo ranking guarantees
Why it matters
Isolated articles struggle to form a coherent user journey or durable body of evidence.
In practice
Measure coverage quality, not publication count.
Measurement
Map task coverage, qualified visibility, internal-link relationships, source quality, freshness and user outcomes by topic—not a vanity score.
Application
Prioritize missing high-value tasks, repair weak hub/support relationships and refresh evidence where product facts changed.
Paid deployment · human authority
Build useful topic systems instead of chasing a made-up score.
Deploy paid content operations after defining the task map and evidence standard.