Web Site AuthorityA number of different elements are involved in how the search engine algorithm determines the position of your website in the search result pages (SERP) for keyword or key phrase. The sites architecture, navigational layout, internal and external links, the domain’s age, the amount of relevant information on the topic, and the degree of Web Site Authority the site has developed through momentum and search engine trust all factor in.

Just as in the off line world trust is important. You wouldn’t accept the advice of a person or deal with a business you didn’t trust. Trust is also an important component of search engine optimization (SEO). Trust is the basis of Web Site Authority and that authority is an important part of influencing search engine rankings. In terms of Search Engine Optimization Web Site Authority can mean different things to different people. No matter how you define domain authority it is always considered to have a positive influences on search engine ranking.

As a concept Web Site Authority can be difficult define. Web Site Authority can be defined as any or all of the following:

  • Web Site Authority may be viewed as a metric of of the quality of a given site, it’s calculated through a mixture of age, size, importance and relevancy. A back link from a website with a higher web site authority carries more value then one from a website with less authority.
  • A website that is seen by the search engines to have domain authority in it’s chosen area of subject matter, such as industry leaders, leading educational institutions and renowned experts in particular fields seem to carry more web site authority. Top level domains like .org and .edu for instance. This is even more important if you are trying to rank outside the U.S. The domain authority of sites that end in co.uk is greater  in the U.K then .com sites for user located in that country.
  • Websites that are the center of a network of sites on the Internet can be regarded as sites more Web Site Authority.
  • Sites that already show up at the top of the search results for common terms can be considered Authority sites. As far as the Search Engine Optimization (SEO)  profession is concerned, Amazon has web site authority because it dominates search results for terms like “books” or “CD”.

No matter how you define Web Site Authority you know it when you see it. Authority sites tend to be the most popular, are linked to the most, and contain content of sufficient quality that other sites with domain authority link back to them based on merit.

Benefits of Web Site Authority

Authority Sites enjoy preferential treatment by the search engine. They are spidered and index more often. This means that fresh content and updates appear in the SERPs more quickly, influencing the Web Site Authority of the domain.

Quick and repeated visits from the search engine spiders improves your chances of ranking for keyword modifiers (which allow your pages to be found under a variety of additional searches) or additional keywords. SEO optimized content can be used to gain an even greater tactical advantage and prove to be a powerful part of a successful long-term SEO strategy.

Keywords and phrases that may have taken a long time (may be even up to a year for new domain names) to show up on the search engines result pages from sites with little domain authority can be rapidly indexed and generate search engine rankings quickly.

Web sites with Authority most often get link from other sites with web site authority. Content is king and quality content gets eyeballs and links. In this sense a link from an Authority site can be seen as similar to a word of mouth recommendation from a close friend. A recommendation from a friend is good, a recommendation from a friend who knows what what they are talking about is better. These are the best links. They infer quality on the recipient site. Search engines dig through the Internet for sites of quality and are do their best to promote them to the top of the search rankings.

Achieving Web Site Authority

PageRank is not always an accurate reflection of web site authority. Domain authority is about achieving a mixture of on page and off page optimization factors, fresh, useful, and popular content that makes the difference.

There are other factors contributing to domain authority such as Domain Age. The age of the domain (how long it has been registered) is a major factor in computing the web site authority of a site and thus its rank in the search engine. There have even been some SEO professional that suggest finding a business in bankruptcy with an old domain and offering to buy it to increase the domain authority of a new business.

As stated before, “Content is king”. Content can enhance web site authority through content theming, for instance, using a blog with category names including keywords and a consistently updated base of material. Web site authority needs to be leaveraged through contextual keyword research and inclusion. Content for contents sake is pointless. Poorly written articles stuffed with keywords that is boring and difficult to read not only screams spamming, it reflects on your business in a poor manner. In fact, all Google’s recent search engine algorithm updates (“Penguin”) have been focused on removing low quality and spammy results from the SERP. Content must be created and posted that is link-worthy. The content you create needs to offer real value. Developing web site authority is all about having influential friends with high search engine rankings. Other sites only want to enhance their reputations by being associated with quality. Deliver that quality and other Authority sites will want to share that authority with you. The will also want to gain some of your web site authority by linking back to you, thus enhancing your reputation is a self re-enforcing loop.

Knowing what content to add and when, capitalizing on trends and how to create popular copy is key. Predicting fads and identifying contextually powerful keywords then integrating them into your content and pages is an important part of any successful SEO strategy. Creating high quality, popular and relevant content on a consistent schedule will raise your website above the competition generating a critical mass of Web Site Authority that can become a feed back loop of sorts when authoritative sites create back links to you.

Other Web Site Authority gaining practices include using Social Media to develop links. High-ranking social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Reddit, Stumble Upon, among other social media networks generate authoritative links to pages instantly. The more links your pages receives, the higher your content can rank independently. These types of links create traffic in addition to Web Site Authority. A top 10 search result ranking can be created with the mention of only one keyword by an authority site.

Directory Submissions, guest blogging, are also proven methods of generating quality inbound links if you want to maximize your search engine ranking with Google, Bing and the other major search engines naturally. As useful as internal links are for funneling visitors around and improving the duration of their stay, the most important part of search engine optimization (SEO) happens off page. Finding the right balance of deep links (links pointing to pages other than your home page) and what anchor text should be used (the human readable text in the link) is critical in generating long term link weight for a given pages. Through distributing content and links across multiple channels we can increase your Web Site Authority efficiently.

If you want to enhance your Web Site Authority Contact us at Wi-Phye now.