Table of Contents
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Prioritize topical authority: deep, complete content clusters outperform scattershot posts in AI search and SGE results.
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Reinforce clusters with intelligent internal linking; anchor text and contextual passages strengthen entity signals that Google’s embedding models trust.
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Earn authoritative backlinks and brand mentions—traffic-driving links remain a top ranking multiplier despite algorithm turbulence.
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Prune low-value or off-topic pages; fresh, engaged content signals topical relevance to LLMs and agents.
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Shift KPIs from raw traffic to high-intent engagement; peak clicks passed, AI assistants own awareness stage.
Kevin Indig is one of the first SEOs whose content really helped shape my early thinking. We certainly took some key aspects from his keyword strategies for our work at Siege Media. If you’re not subscribed to Kevin’s Growth Memo newsletter, I highly recommend checking it out.
In this episode, we discuss one of his recent episodes, where he explains measuring topical authority, as I believe it has implications beyond SEO.
This kind of thinking is essential to ensure that SEO, PR, and brand work in harmony. It’s about thinking beyond links and how things connect for end users.
As Kevin said, “A link that brings traffic is a good link.”
If you’re trying to understand how to rank in AI, and the role links, brand, and other factors play into it, give this a watch/listen.
Enjoy!

Resources Mentioned
Here are a few links to resources or studies that we mention in the podcast.
⏰ Timestamps
00:00 – Intro
01:58 – Defining Topical Authority
04:57 – Topical Authority in the Age of AI
07:35 – The Role of Backlinks and Mentions
10:37 – Content Strategies for Topical Authority
13:27 – Four Levers of Topical Authority
21:17 – Engagement and User Behavior
29:03 – Future of Topical Authority and AI
33:28 – Conclusion and Farewell
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