Last year, when I was working at an SEO agency, I witnessed how our clients’ traffic gets hijacked. We had constructed magnificent content machines you can imagine, like soaring traffic and contracts keep renewing. Then, within several months, traffic plummeted around 20-80%, and we hadn’t altered a single element of our strategy.
Then I discovered we were losing traffic because our clients’ websites couldn’t substantiate their expertise as transparently as their competitors could. Our clients lost website authority, which represents the expertise and credibility your site demonstrates in solving genuine problems for visitors. It’s the trust that compels search engines and AI models to select your content over competitors’.
What Website Authority Really Means Today
Search engines and AI systems have pivoted to evaluate more profound qualities, such as trust, expertise, and genuine helpfulness. Understanding this transformation separates content that gets buried from content that consistently appears when your audience desperately seeks answers.
Authority Beyond Traditional Metrics
So what is website authority, really? It’s the expertise and credibility your site demonstrates in assisting visitors to solve problems.
But here’s the part that trips up even seasoned strategists, that possessing qualified experts on your team ain’t sufficient (shocking, I know).
I’ve watched health websites staffed with board-certified physicians who lose rankings to competitors. The competitors also employed doctors. But structured their content superior, answered more questions, and made the expertise impossible to overlook.
The meaning of authority has fundamentally transformed.
Authority today is measured relatively, not absolutely. Your site doesn’t possess “high authority” in isolation. It has more or less authority than your competitors for specific topics. No magic number declares you’ve “won.”
What matters is whether search engines and AI models trust your website sufficiently to recommend it when someone poses a question you’re qualified to answer. That trust is earned through consistent signals that prove you’re the optimal source of information, not by hitting some arbitrary number in a dashboard.
Google’s E-E-A-T Signals Explained
Google introduced the E-E-A-T framework specifically for topics that affect people’s lives, especially health and finance. These kinds of domains can cause genuine harm if you provide incorrect information.
(Because apparently, random individuals on the internet shouldn’t dispense medical advice. Who knew?)
It dissects authority into four components that function together: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
Expertise means your content originates from qualified experts with credentials. Such as your content about acne treatment was written by a dermatologist, or a chief financial planner composing about retirement planning. Credentials matter because they signal specialised knowledge that random bloggers can’t fabricate.
Experience defines your content, demonstrating the expert’s practical, measurable involvement with the topic. Your content needs to prove you’ve actually collaborated with patients or managed portfolios. This is where specific details, action verbs, and concrete examples become critical (more on this later).
Authoritativeness reflects that your content originates from officially recognised institutions or individuals. A university medical centre carries more weight because the information is necessarily superior, and institutional backing signals peer review and accountability.
Trustworthiness assumes that your content is reliable, current, and accurate. Outdated medical or financial advice erodes trust instantly. Search engines check publication dates, update frequency, and whether your claims align with established scientific consensus.
And your visibility on Google directly influences whether you appear in AI models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. These AI systems draw from web sources that search engines have already evaluated and ranked. So when your site appears consistently across both search and AI responses, your brand becomes more memorable and trustworthy.
People will be more inclined to click through and visit your site. And visitors arriving through these trust-based pathways can demonstrate high conversion potentials. These potentials are significantly higher than those who stumble across you randomly.
(It’s the difference between someone saying “I found you on Google” versus “I’ve encountered your name everywhere.”)
Three Authority Killers Destroying Client Rankings
I recognise the frustration that you’re executing everything the SEO playbooks recommend, but traffic keeps sliding. Authority threats manifest across three silent battlefronts: content quality, technical infrastructure, and external recognition. And weakness in any single arena can undermine all your other efforts.
Content Quality Gaps
Anyone can generate content these days. Tools make it easier than ever to pump out articles, blog posts, and landing pages that technically exist. But authority grows only when content genuinely helps solve problems.
Let me provide you a genuine example of authority of the website in action.
Once one of my ex-clients targeted mothers with non-verbal toddlers. These mothers’ natural first query was “how to make a toddler talk.”
The content is ubiquitous. Everyone and their cousin has written about it. But modern users iterate deeply, clicking through multiple results and refining their questions.
After reading the first article, they search for “What if my toddler refuses to talk?”
Then, “Can readings help toddlers talk?”
And finally, “Where can I get consultation for non-verbal toddlers?”
That last question represents the conversion point. It’s the moment when the mother transitions from research mode to action mode, from casual browsing to opening her e-wallet application.
The website that answers this ultimate query demonstrates the highest level of trustworthiness. Because it has proven it understands the entire journey, and this is what we call topical authority. We master complete topics, not just isolated queries that anyone could answer with a quick Google search.
Our client had produced tens of awareness-stage articles on child health conditions. But it lacked sufficient consideration-stage content about where to get milk, as our client offered. Traffic was elevated, but conversions were nonexistent.
After we built out the complete funnel with strategic internal linking, their lead generation increased within several months. Same traffic source, completely different business outcome.
Technical Infrastructure Failures
Technical issues are authority killers because they shatter the fundamental contract between your website and the systems evaluating it. You could compose the most brilliant content in the world. But if search engines can’t access it, you’re basically shouting into the void.
Here are the most common failures I’ve encountered:
Crawlability problems. Some websites are accidentally configured to block specific crawlers, particularly non-Google bots. In this case, your site was invisible to Bing and other search engines, which meant it never appeared in AI models that source from those engines. You can spend three months wondering why your traffic tanked before someone finally checks the robots.txt file, which blocks the search engine crawler bots. (Oops.)
Broken links. When visitors click a link expecting additional information and end up on a 404 page, trust erodes instantly. It communicates to them that the site isn’t being maintained. And if you can’t maintain basic links, why should they trust your advice?
Poor user experience. Intrusive pop-ups that appear while users are reading, especially those promoting irrelevant offers, prompt visitors to leave quickly. A pop-up requesting someone to subscribe to your newsletter while they’re mid-sentence in reading your article looks like you don’t respect their time.
Indexing failures. Search engines know your website exists. But they can’t comprehend what it’s about, so they can’t match your content to relevant queries. Your pages sit in digital limbo, visible to crawlers but invisible to searchers.
Orphaned pages. Pages with no incoming internal links are nearly impossible for crawlers to understand. Without context from other pages, search engines struggle to determine what the page is about and whether it deserves to rank. These pages become digital ghosts.
Slow loading times. Visitors won’t wait more than a few seconds in today’s instant-gratification world. When your site loads slowly, they abandon it before even observing your content. This behaviour signals poor quality to search engines faster than you can say “optimise my images.”
HTTP instead of HTTPS. Search engines automatically flag these as “not secure.” Most browsers display warning messages that frighten visitors away before they ever see your content. It’s 2025, there’s no excuse for this anymore.
External Recognition Problems
Search engines and AI systems treat citations like digital word of mouth. Now assess how frequently other websites recommend yours. It’s the digital equivalent of word-of-mouth reputation, except everyone’s talking online and the conversations are being recorded and analysed by algorithms.
Large language models interpret websites with more mentions of specific topics as endorsing those topics within their fields. If ten websites link to you when discussing child health condition management, AI models start associating your site with child health expertise.
During my agency work, time constraints prevented the implementation of a systematic citation strategy. (We were perpetually too busy putting out fires to plant trees). But with my own website, I invested the effort to request backlinks from reputable websites with aligned audiences, and I measured the results directly.
According to Bing Webmaster Tools, citation-rich websites appear more frequently on first pages. Bing measures this by backlink count.
Google uses citations as one factor among many for AI Overview and AI Mode appearances, but backlink quantity alone isn’t sufficient. The relevance and reputation of the linking site matter significantly.
(Quality over quantity, as your mom probably told you about friendships.)
And we can’t just optimise for Google anymore. We can’t predict which future AI models search engines will prioritise when sourcing their responses. So, we need to consider Bing, Baidu in China, Yandex in Russia, and Naver in Korea.
Build Topical Authority that Converts Traffic
Understanding what kills authority is only half the battle. The real win comes from rebuilding it strategically and sustainably.
Now comes the strategic rebuild. This is the comprehensive framework that transforms scattered content into authority-building architecture that actually generates your clients’ money.
It’s about constructing a sustainable authority that withstands algorithm updates and AI evolution. Three integrated components are required here, consist of strategic foundation, trust signals, and infrastructure.
Strategic Content and Linking Framework
Building comprehensive topic coverage requires a systematic approach. Here’s the process I utilise that produces results:
Step 1: Identify target audience characteristics and specify their needs. Don’t settle for vague personas like “mothers aged 25-35.” Get specific about the problems they’re attempting to solve and the language they use when they’re frustrated.
Step 2: Research question-based keywords that audiences use to express needs. Focus on the actual questions people type.
Step 3: Organise keywords by journey stage. There are three stages: awareness (I have a problem), consideration (I’m exploring solutions), and decision (I’m ready to act). Most websites only create awareness content and wonder why they don’t convert.
Step 4: Create content that addresses each specific question at the appropriate stage. Each piece should fully answer its question without forcing readers to hunt through multiple pages for basic information. Respect your readers’ time, and they’ll respect your expertise.
Step 5: Design a strategic internal linking architecture between stages. This is where most strategies fall apart completely, so pay close attention because I’m about to save you months of wasted effort.
Here’s the critical internal linking principle: awareness-stage content must link forward to consideration-stage content. At the same time, the consideration-stage content must link forward to decision-stage content. This unidirectional progression is non-negotiable.
Never reverse the flow, and avoid circular linking patterns in which pages link back and forth.
Backward or circular linking distracts audiences and erodes trust. Confusion kills trust faster than a politician’s promise. And without trust, your website loses authority.
Vicky Laurentina
The beauty of this strategic linking architecture is that it serves two masters simultaneously. It helps human users follow a logical journey toward solutions. And it also helps crawlers understand your website structure so they can properly match content to queries.
When both humans and bots can clearly see the progression from problem to solution, your authority builds naturally. And your visibility improves as a direct result.
Implementing E-E-A-T Signals Effectively
Now let’s translate the E-E-A-T framework into concrete actions you can implement today (not “someday when we have time,” but today).
For Expertise: Name specific experts with detailed credentials and qualifications. Don’t just say “our medical team”. Say “Dr Tom Hanks, M.D, F.I.C.S., board-certified surgeon with 15 years of clinical experience treating haemorrhoids”.
Professional titles and degrees signal appropriate authority and help readers trust that the information originates from qualified sources.
Show the Experience. Use specific vocabulary that brings expertise to life. Replace generic statements with action verbs, descriptive adjectives, and concrete nouns that include measurable elements.
Instead of “we help patients manage sore throat,” write “Over the past decade, I’ve guided 5 or 7-year-old children who enter my clinic with fever, weakness, and refuse to talk because they feel pain in their throats.”
This precise language helps audiences mentally visualise scenarios, creating stronger connections than abstract claims ever could. Experience signals become particularly powerful when content showcases the expert’s personal involvement in addressing the audience’s specific problem. For topics affecting public welfare, health and finance, especially, adopt an authoritative tone and back claims with scientific evidence from peer-reviewed sources.
(Because “Trust me, bro” isn’t a valid citation method.)
To create Trustworthiness, follow this specific 4-step content refresh process in this table that I use religiously.
| Step | Action | Example | Warning |
| 1 | Identify outdated content | Content 2+ years old in health/finance | Don’t skip fast-moving fields |
| 2 | Update statistical data | Check the flow before republishing | Use current year data |
| 3 | Deepen content strategically | Add relevant audience questions | Don’t force or pad word count |
| 4 | Verify readability | Check flow before republishing | Patched content destroys trust |
Let me provide you with concrete examples of why this matters beyond “because Google said so.”
Health topics require updates at least every 5 years as new medications emerge. An article recommending a treatment that’s been superseded by more effective options actively harms readers and makes you legally liable in some cases.
Finance topics need updates whenever exchange rates shift significantly. Dollar values from five years ago mislead current readers when making investment or purchase decisions. Nobody wants to base their retirement planning on pre-pandemic financial assumptions.
Building Essential Trust Infrastructure
Your website must include these foundational pages:
- About Us (proves organisational credibility)
- Contact Us (shows communication accessibility)
- Service/Product pages (explicitly defines your offerings)
- Privacy Policy (assures data protection).
Search engine requires them for health and finance sites because search engine users increasingly fear misuse of personal data.
Make specific SSL certificates are installed correctly so your site displays HTTPS, not HTTP. The “not secure” warning that appears on HTTP sites instantly destroys trust before visitors even read your content.
Fix Technical Issues Blocking Authority
Even exceptional content still meet difficulty to earn authority if crawlers, search engines, and AI models can’t discover, understand, and recommend it.
Next fixes I’m about to share are both manageable and high-impact. Think of this as the essential technical foundation that ensures everything else you’ve constructed actually functions. Without these technical foundations in place, all your content strategy efforts remain invisible.
Crawlability Setup Checklist
Verify robots.txt access settings. This file instructs crawlers which parts of your site they can access. Check that neither crawler bots nor LLM bots are blocked.
If your robots.txt accidentally blocks LLM bots, your website won’t appear in AI responses, no matter how brilliant your content is.
Upload sitemaps to all major search engines. Don’t just submit to Google Search Console and call it a day, but include Bing Webmaster Tools and other search engines as well. We can’t predict which future AI models search engines will prioritise when sourcing their responses, so cover your bases across platforms.
Ensure all public-facing pages are accessible. Check Search Console to identify pages that aren’t being crawled. If crawlers can’t reach a page, it doesn’t exist in the eyes of search engines and AI models.
For large websites, prioritize the essential page types. These important pages are usually Home, Category, Service, Product, and Transaction pages. The highest value lies on these pages, so they should be the first ones that crawlers can access without obstacles.
Page Architecture
Understand your page hierarchy clearly. Which pages serve awareness-stage audiences? Which serve the consideration-stage? Which serve the decision-stage?
Map this out so you can audit whether your internal linking supports or undermines the user journey you’ve designed.
Audit existing internal links to verify they maintain the strategic forward flow we designed in the content framework. Awareness should link to consideration, and consideration links to decision. Never backwards, never circular.
I’ve audited sites where internal links created chaotic loops that confused both users and crawlers. These confusing loops can destroy the authority they need to build for months.
Conduct regular link health checks. Ensure all internal links function correctly, with no broken destinations or typographical errors. Broken links are trust killers that signal neglect louder than outdated content ever could.
Eliminate orphaned pages, those without any incoming internal links. These pages struggle to develop authority because crawlers can’t understand their relationship to the rest of your site’s topic coverage.
User Experience Optimisation
Minimise oversized elements to improve loading speed. Heavy images, unoptimized videos, and bloated scripts all contribute to slow load times that frustrate visitors. Nobody has patience for a 10-second load time in 2025.
Ensure navigation buttons are clearly visible. If users can’t figure out how to move through your site, they leave, and high bounce rates signal poor quality to search engines. Don’t make people hunt for your “Contact” button.
Maintain responsive layouts that prevent element overlap on mobile devices. More than half of web traffic comes from mobile devices, and broken mobile experiences destroy trust instantly. Test your site on a real phone.
Remove intrusive pop-ups with irrelevant information. If someone is reading an article about managing a child’s health condition and a pop-up materialises selling theme park packages, you’ve just told them you care more about conversions than their experience. (And they’ll remember that insult.)
Cross-Functional Authority Amplification Strategy
Authority building fails spectacularly when it’s treated as a solo effort by the content team working in isolation. The most successful authority strategies I’ve implemented involved coordination across multiple departments, each contributing to the website’s visibility and reputation. (It takes a village, as they say.)
Coordinate with social media teams to promote new website pages. Every time you publish in-depth content, your social channels should share it with commentary that adds context and encourages engagement. This drives traffic and signals to search engines that the content is valuable enough to be promoted across multiple channels.
Align with customer relationship management teams to include website resources in email campaigns and follow-up sequences. When sales conversations reference specific articles or guides, it reinforces your expertise positioning. It also gives prospects tangible proof of your knowledge.
Engage sales staff to mention the website in conversations with prospects. Train them to direct potential customers to specific resources that address common objections or questions. Sales teams often underutilise content assets because no one informs them that it exists.
Tracking Authority Through Content Coverage
Most marketers still wonder how to check website authority and immediately reach for tools that promise a simple answer. They want to check their website authority, obtain a number, and move on to the next task on their endless to-do list.
But the outdated authority scores like DA, PA, and DR don’t reflect the nuanced ways search engines and AI models now evaluate websites. If you’re asking how to increase website authority, you need to shift from score-watching to measuring real outcomes that connect directly to business results. The authority of the website is demonstrated through multiple signals working together like an orchestra.
Topical coverage analysis is your foundation. This is the fundamental tool for understanding authority which extendes checking a score in some dashboard.
Compare your content comprehensiveness against competitors. The website with the most complete and relevant topic coverage typically demonstrates higher authority for that subject area.
Here’s how to conduct this analysis systematically without losing your mind:
Identify your topic cluster. It is the core subject area where you want to be recognized as authoritative. (Don’t attempt to own everything; focus wins battles).
Map competitor content coverage. What specific questions and subtopics do they address? Make a spreadsheet if you have to.
Identify gaps in your own coverage. Which questions are competitors answering that you haven’t addressed? These gaps are your roadmap.
Assess depth of treatment for shared topics. When you both cover the same subject, whose content probes deeper and provides more actionable guidance?
This analysis reveals whether you’re truly comprehensive or just scratching the surface like everyone else. Search engines reward depth and breadth. Sites that answer the obvious questions and the nuanced follow-ups will demonstrate genuine expertise.
Measuring Real Business Impact
Also, focus on measurement methods that connect authority directly to business outcomes (the stuff your clients actually care about), such as share of voice in AI models.
Track how often your website is cited when users ask relevant questions on AI platforms. Frequent mentions signal strong authority within specific subject areas. This metric matters because AI is increasingly where people initiate their research journeys.
Here’s how to systematically test this without spending all day conversing with chatbots: Create a list of 10-20 core queries relevant to your business. Test them across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and other AI tools. Document which websites get mentioned in responses.
Track changes over time, is your share of voice increasing or decreasing? (If it’s decreasing, you’ve got work to do.)
This is the gold standard for confirming genuine authority, and it’s how you prove to sceptical clients that your work is actually producing results:
- Monitor how frequently your website appears for relevant queries in traditional search engines such as Google, Bing, and others. (Yes, check them all.)
- Once search visibility is established, expand monitoring to AI platforms. Track whether you appear in AI responses for the same queries.
- Track whether your website consistently appears for relevant queries across multiple AI tools.
- After achieving consistent visibility across both traditional search and AI platforms, you can confidently proclaim genuine authority.
Absolute authority means multi-platform presence that reinforces your brand across every channel where your audience searches for information.
Turn Authority Strategy into Client Revenue
Authority building is the difference between websites that steadily attract qualified traffic and those that watch their rankings erode despite executing “everything right.”
If you’re ready to construct authority that withstands algorithm updates and drives measurable business outcomes for your clients, let’s connect. Discover the complete framework and connect with a content strategist who’s been in the trenches, made the mistakes, and figured out what actually functions, like me, Vicky Laurentina.
I am a blogger who love making content about planning and optimizing contents. Follow me in my Linked In and Instagram below.