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What's an authority site?

by tayuyaa
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi guys,

Can a 10 pages site be considered as a mini authority site or not?

For example you enter a micro niche but you try to get the most of this niche but you only find 10 category KW, is it an authority or not? In is niche?

Thanks
#authority #site
  • Profile picture of the author cbpayne
    My definition of an authority site is that site that many of the other sites in that niche link to. ie its been judged by its peers to be worthy.

    (I thing that or something like that was in a patent that Google got many years ago)
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    • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
      Originally Posted by cbpayne View Post

      My definition of an authority site is that site that many of the other sites in that niche link to. ie its been judged by its peers to be worthy.

      (I thing that or something like that was in a patent that Google got many years ago)

      That really is all it is. It is a site that other sites built on the same subject link to.

      The Hilltop Alogrithim breaks quality sites up into 2 different types. Expert Pages and Authority Pages.

      Expert Lookup

       We define an expert page as a page that is about a certain topic and has links to many non-affiliated pages on that topic. Two pages are non-affiliated conceptually if they are authored by authors from non-affiliated organizations.


      Target Ranking

      We believe a page is an authority on the query topic if and only if some of the best experts on the query topic point to it. Of course in practice some expert pages may be experts on a broader or related topic.
      Source: ftp://ftp.cs.toronto.edu/pub/reports...5/hilltop.html
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      • Profile picture of the author paulgl
        Eventually that happens in most cases.

        The true definition of an authority site, first and foremost,
        is content. Tons and tons of content. "Tons" here is
        relevant, but normally means "lots."

        There are no mini-authority sites by that definition.
        10 pages would not be very authoritative.

        Case in point: Wikipedia. No backlinks to many pages, and
        yet can rank highly for almost any subject it has a page on.
        They have a gazillion amount of content. Same could be said
        of ezinearticles, ehow, amazon, buy, nextag, etc.

        Being an authority is different than having an authority site.

        Too many people focus on 10 page (or less) mini sites. I say
        go big or go home. I have always gone for authority sites.

        Difference too between ranking #1 for a page, and having a whole
        site rank across the board for many terms.

        Paul
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        • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
          Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

          Being an authority is different than having an authority site.
          I think that is why they defined the 2 using slightly different terms in that Hilltop paper.

          Being an authority is an authority page, according to that paper and likely Google. An authority page can be singular/small.

          Having an authority site as most marketers and webmasters see it is what Hilltop/Google calls an Expert site/page.

          Wikipedia is an Expert site that links out to a lot of authority pages.

          To use the buzz word of the month, Wikipedia is a curator for authority resources.

          The common denominator is great content.

          I don't mean to be anal about it but I am just trying to use the terms that Google/Hilltop seem to use. It make sense to me: an authority page is like a scientific paper that gets referred to be every other study that talks about that elelment in the next scientific study.

          I personally use the term 'authority site' (like you and most others) for what might actually be an 'expert site' but if the Hilltop algorithim is used in Google then my use (with others) of the term is wrong.

          I'll just add:

          My use of the Hilltop paper as a resource shows that page is an authority page for the Hilltop Algorithim.

          I found that page in Google through the Wikipedia article on it: Hilltop algorithm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

          Would you agree that the original article, even though that page is really just a mini-site, is the authority and that Wikipedia is just a reliable resource that we trust?
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  • Profile picture of the author tayuyaa
    I agree with this way to see things.
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  • Profile picture of the author intesols
    a website seen by Search Engines as being trustworthy and influential. Typically, authority sites will have many incoming links (including from other authority sites, government and educational sites). Links from authority sites are typically given a high weighting by Search Engines.
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