Topical authority isn’t a metric Google publishes. It’s a reasonable shorthand for “we trust this site to talk about this topic,” and it’s measurable in the rough way SEOs measure most things: through what actually ranks.
What we’ve seen work in 2026:
- Cluster depth over breadth. One topic, ten pages that genuinely cover it, beats ten topics with one page each.
- Internal linking that mirrors how a human would explain the topic.
- Saying clearly what you don’t do, not just what you do.
What we’ve stopped doing:
- Buying generic SEO content in bulk. The drop in quality lands directly on rankings.
- Targeting “informational” keywords with “transactional” intent pages.
The real test: can a smart reader who’s never heard of you tell, in 10 seconds, what you’re an authority on? It’s the first question we ask in every SEO engagement.