Crawlie
Home Free tools Site audit Blog About Contact
Run free audit
December 23, 2025

# Topical Authority FAQ: Questions People Actually Ask

**What is topical authority, in plain terms?**
Search engines increasingly evaluate sites at the topic level, not just the page level — a site with 40 shallow posts covering a subject often loses to a site with 15 posts that comprehensively covers every angle of the same topic.

**How often should this be checked?**
Regularly, not just once. Assuming more posts always means better coverage, when several thin, overlapping posts often signal less authority than fewer comprehensive ones. Set a recurring reminder rather than trusting memory.

**What's the most common mistake here?**
Publishing broadly across many unrelated topics instead of building depth in a smaller number where genuine expertise and authority can accumulate.

**Does this actually affect rankings, or is it just best practice?**
It's rarely a single ranking factor on its own, but it affects whether search engines and users can do what you actually need them to do — which shows up in rankings indirectly, often more than any one direct factor would.

**What's the fastest way to check this on an existing site?**
Topical Coverage Calculator — paste your URL in and it does the check directly, no setup.

Related: our guide to content readability.

Try Topical Coverage Calculator yourself

Everything in this guide runs directly in your browser — no signup, no install.

Open Topical Coverage Calculator →
More on topical authority
Topical Coverage Calculator vs. Doing It by Hand: Is It Worth Switching?
A practical look at what Topical Coverage Calculator actually saves you over doing topical authority manually, and when manual still makes sense.
The Topical Authority Checklist: What to Verify Before You Publish
A short, practical checklist for topical authority — the things worth checking every time, not just the first time.
Does Topical Authority Still Matter in 2026?
A quick, honest look at whether topical authority is still worth the effort, or a holdover from an older era of SEO.
Audits & reports▸
Full SEO audit Competitor comparison
Technical SEO▸
Bulk URL indexability checker Robots.txt generator Sitemap generator Schema generator Redirect checker Broken link checker Backlink checker Image URL checker Internal link suggestion tool Keyword cannibalization checker Search intent cluster tool eCommerce keyword research tool Programmatic SEO page generator
Product & e-commerce feeds▸
Multi-channel feed generator Google Merchant feed generator Facebook product feed generator Pinterest product feed generator Google product category finder Competitor product research Merchant feed validator GTIN / EAN / UPC validator Product title optimizer SEO product description generator Slug generator Keyword density
Content & AI search▸
AI crawler &amp; llms.txt checker Readability counter Blog topic generator Google Discover headline generator AI Overview optimizer GEO checker Featured snippet optimizer Topical coverage calculator Meta tag generator
Sharing & distribution▸
SERP preview Open Graph preview UTM builder WhatsApp link generator RSS feed generator
No tools match your search.