Internet Marketing Authority Sites

In order to optimize your site for the search engines,  the goal is to be viewed as an authority site.  It’s explained in the course.  And, I did some more research independently, since I am sitting with the world’s largest answer bank at my finger tips!

I found a lot of good articles on authority sites, including this one.  In simple terms, an authority site:

  • is a popular site that people frequent
  • that gets linked to on the basis on its merit
  • others willingly refer to when the topic of that site comes into play 

Authority sites generally have more content and more pages than other sites. The search engines feed on content-rich websites.  Those with more pages and more content per page will do better compared to smaller sites.

Inbound Links Boost Authority

Also, links from other authority sites to your site help establish your site as an authority site. Search engines generally give more weight to the incoming links from authority sites as long as their main keyword is the same as your own.

Factors That Affect Authority

Domain Age – Typically Authority is commensurate with domain age, however this is based on the industry, the tactics of the competition and which relationships are established between other sites and the website that wishes to embody an authoritative position.  Also, per Matt Cutts at Google, this is not as significant a factor as has been stated by domain registrars. By the way, it’s in the best interest of the registrar for you to regsiter the name for a longer period of time.

The Scope and range of the Content’s Expertise – Theming the content (such as through using a word press blog with keyword rich category names) and building a solid base of content to augment each folder is one method known for producing notable traction in search engines.

Content for content’s sake is not the method to developing material that is link-worthy. Writing in-depth articles or white papers on a subject is one way to extend the global keyword density to encompass a plethora of holistic terms to embrace an industry.

An authority site needs to have good, honest “warts and all” reviews of products.

Link To Other Authorities

Also, an authority site should link out to other sites in the same niche.  Why?  Because the site has its visitors best interest in mind.  It recognizes that while it may be an authoity, is not the sole authority on the subject.  No one site can be all things to all people.

Authority Site Video

Here’s a video by Matt Cutts talking about domain age and registration.

Filed under: Internet Marketing Strategies

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