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What is an Authority Site?

by momo3
24 replies
  • SEO
    • |
What really is it?

How does one make one?

To me, its a site that is likely PR4 or above.
It has many deep links to internal + home pages.
It ranks for many terms.
it ranks high even for terms its not trying too hard to rank for.
It has many pages of content.
it has significant age


But beyond that, what really defines it? Lastly, how does one create one? Also, how does one create a site that beats one?
#authority #site
  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    It's all about size, importance, and relevance.
    Size and importance are probably top 2.

    Size, meaning lots of rich content, would be the first factor to
    go after.

    PR, age, etc. don't make authority.
    Obviously, if you have importance, people will link to you
    increasing PR. But a PR7 site may not be an authority site.

    I think the WF has PR3.

    Paul
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    • Profile picture of the author affiliated survivor
      It´s an authority on the subject. Detailed information about every aspect on the theme where the site is about. Something like Wikipedia. Usually sites like that have a large number of pages. It´s like in daily life. A doctor knows more about health issues than the average person and is therefore an authority on health issues.
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    • Profile picture of the author faceblogger
      Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

      It's all about size, importance, and relevance.
      Size and importance are probably top 2.

      Size, meaning lots of rich content, would be the first factor to
      go after.

      PR, age, etc. don't make authority.
      Obviously, if you have importance, people will link to you
      increasing PR. But a PR7 site may not be an authority site.

      I think the WF has PR3.

      Paul
      Size and rich content are not contributing directly. Large size and rich content are likely to result backlinks and that makes a website authoritative. A website will be nothing in terms of authority if it does not have good backlinks no matter what the size is or how much unique content it has.

      Some high authority giants such as google.com, bing.com does not have much rich content or size compared to some other "lesser authority" sites have.

      I'm not sure if google counts WarriorForum or any internet marketing forums as "authority websites". They obviously keep the page rank of such forums at low level, thus we can't decide if these web sites are authority websites from google's point of view. (Here, I don't mean high Authority is relevant to high PR)

      Another example is porn websites - there are some with very big size and 'rich content' but have no authority as no reputed sites link them

      It mainly depends on (quality)backlinks and the importance, other factors also do contribute but as important as this.
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      • Profile picture of the author freeair
        1. Page Rank
        2. No. Of inbound links
        3. No. of outbound links
        4. Web Structure
        5. Quality of Content
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        • Profile picture of the author hilhilginger
          Originally Posted by freeair View Post

          1. Page Rank
          2. No. Of inbound links
          3. No. of outbound links
          4. Web Structure
          5. Quality of Content
          Thanks for putting it numbered.I spent almost 10 minutes to read all the post " what is an authority site". I find this reading very interesting and meaningful.Thanks.
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          • Profile picture of the author marco005
            Hello,

            A great question, i have read the authority course stuff from John.

            But what exactly is an authority site? Google doe this not exact define.

            Is an authority site, a niche site with many categories in silo structur?

            Or an site with many content? When yes, then when i many many writing blogposts in my niche, then i have an authority site/blog?

            Or is an authority without an blog, only with static pages, categories in soli structur?

            Why is an authosrity site with categories in silo structur better, than a blog with many blogposts in categories????

            But in Wordpress you can not put static pages in categories, only articles.

            So when you have an product site in your niche like xfactor,you must write articles and deactivate the comment function you have a static site, but your must this site not shown like a teaser in your home page.

            With drupal you can make this little bit easier than with WP.
            But can anybody here schows me examples of authostity sites?

            Can this anybody me newbie explainded?

            with best wishes
            marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author brandonbaker
    Well, "Authority" with relevance to who?

    If you mean Google, then they'd see an authority site as one with:

    • High PageRank (think PR4+)
    • Aged Domain and Aged Backlinks
    • Go-to source of information on a certain topic
    • Scale. No one-page affiliate sites, obviously.
    • Backlinks from other sites that fit the above
    A good hint that Google sees a site as an authority is whether you see "sitelinks" under your search result in Google.

    Google Sitelinks: The Ultimate FAQ

    That's a good sign that Google sees your site as an authority for that keyword.
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    • Profile picture of the author momo3
      Great answers. Thank you.

      Does google only seem to allow a few authoritative sites in a market?
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  • Profile picture of the author faceblogger
    First...there is no clear line or definition available yet, but we can try to define it to some extent.

    Authority depends on who linked that site and what that site is about.

    you may through Matt Cutts's articles and Videos, there he is using the word "Authority Websites" many times with examples too, and that will help you infer the most appropriate meaning of "Authority Websites"
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  • Profile picture of the author iresh
    Its all about the important of the site to the relevant subject. which is the main reason that any one will link to your site, your site is the major player in selected field..
    and not to mentioned have lot of information also
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      I did not say size was the determining factor.

      But, size is the first step. To be a true authority site, you must have first and
      foremost a ton (read tons) of great content. Such as wikipedia, but smaller
      sites are also authorities.

      Without size, you cannot be much of an authority. Size is relevant here. Mini-sites
      need not apply.

      After that, it's about relevance. Your authoritative content must be relevant
      for the search words. But keep in mind, not all baloney keywords are keywords.
      There's real keywords, then there is nonsense keywords. A lot of people here
      are stuck on nonsense.

      You build those first two things, then you have people linking to you and you
      go viral.

      Then you are an authority site. It has nothing to do with PR. I don't know why you
      keep saying PR4+ when there are lousy nonauthoritative sites with PR4+.

      And the warrior forum is an authority site. PR3. Size and relevance. Bingo.

      If you want to build an authority site, size matters. Without size, you are
      not a true authority site.

      There is a difference between authority and just ranking high for certain keywords.
      They are not one and the same and maybe that's why people keep mixing in
      other stuff. A non-authoritative site can rank #1, but it is the authority sites
      that all others strive to get backlinks from.

      You don't get to be an authority site by having high PR, but you MAY get high
      PR by being an authority site. High PR and age have nothing to do with authority.
      They may eventually be bi-products from your authority.

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author alfieclinton
    Authority site is a site that seems to have added impetus to the search engine rankings. Webmaster individual may feel that your content is sufficient for an authority on a subject, but not enough in the eyes of search engines.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    interesting post. thx!!
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  • Profile picture of the author TheSEOmo
    This is one of those things that we could all speculate on, without anyone really knowing 100% of the formula. I would imagine that as far as Google's algorithms are concerned that all sites have "authority", it's just that some have a lot more than others. I doubt that the Google bots actually identify any site as an "authority site".

    Having "authority", or being a "trusted site" or having a high page rank, or ranking well on the SERPS all strike me as being relatively similar and as being evaluated on relatively similar terms. Google is not half as smart as most of us would like to think it is, so undoubtedly things like exact match keywords and popularity (think backlinks) play a strangely weighted role in a sites "authority".
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    • Profile picture of the author inter123
      What about if you pulled all the content from other sites such as Ezine Articles, I take it you can still be an authority site?
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      • Profile picture of the author freeair
        if your site is similar to the following sites:
        CNN.com
        DMOz
        .edu sites and other sites that are dominating the search engine

        I therefore conclude that your site is authority sites:p

        Maybe it's a common sense for everybody of what do we mean authority sites...
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  • Profile picture of the author jonehill
    An authority Web site is a website seems to be an additional increase from the search engine rankings.Somehow, in their analysis and its Web site configuration file backlinks, search engine algorithms to identify a site as a authority.
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  • Profile picture of the author cbpayne
    I would define an authority site as a site that is so damn good that other sites in the same niche link to it.

    What do you think iit says to the search engines if other sites in the, for eg, top 50 for a keyword have links to a particular site... Would that not make the site an authority in the search engines eyes?

    ....don't forget that google got a patent on this 6,7 or 8 yrs ago

    Having site links is NOT a sign that a site is an authority site .... It's just a sign that the google algorithm thinks that these extra links might be useful to the searcher in certain circumstance.
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  • Profile picture of the author simesdwin
    Authority sites (or rather the condition of the authority of the site) is what you are interested in if you are in the hunt for top position on search engines. In terms of search engine optimization, authority sites make your job 10 times easier than a website that has not yet reached that state.
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    • Profile picture of the author cbpayne
      Originally Posted by simesdwin View Post

      Authority sites (or rather the condition of the authority of the site) is what you are interested in if you are in the hunt for top position on search engines. In terms of search engine optimization, authority sites make your job 10 times easier than a website that has not yet reached that state.
      Where did you get that nonsense from?
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  • Profile picture of the author designerjack
    For Example, Look at Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.

    Go to Google and use SEO Tools and figure out why they're authority
    -- Page Rank?
    -- Quality Content?
    -- Website Organization?
    -- Web Structure?
    etc..

    Look at their details, deliverable, message, the faq, about us, contact us, support pages. Look at how many pages are indexed, how many links they have to each page. Do your homework and follow the steps of implementing.

    The only way you can get AUTHORITY is if you start thinking like one.
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    • Profile picture of the author usta
      There are many criteria to be an authority site but big and visible sign is sitelinks .
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