What is Site Authority in Google
Suppose you want a link from a site with high PR. For the sake of argument, let’s say it is PR7. Now, will this link help you?
Before answering this, let’s look at the two ways a backlink helps a website.
1. The link may pass link power (PR) to your site.
2. The link may enhance the authority of the site for the term in the link text (anchor text).
Passing link power is understood by many. A web page that is being linked, receives some of the authority from the web page that links to it. If you add enough such links, the web page those links point to acquires PR from all the web pages pointing to it. This has a dramatic impact on your search engine position in Google.
Authority.
Authority is not an easy concept to master. Generally, there are two types of authority:
General authority.
These sites cover a lot of different subjects and topics. They are not seen as authoritative for their subject matter, but are seen to provide a basic reference for those doing searches. Examples of general authority websites include wikipedia, blogger, ezinearticles, and squidoo.
Niche authority.
For each niche, Google considers a few sites as an authority for that subject. Google ranks these web pages on page 1 for terms associated with that niche.
Anyone can be an authority for a niche if they put the content together. Unlike general authority sites, you or I can be an authority for a specific keyword phrase if more resources are provided for it than any other website. Authority-building content includes a keyword-specific domain name, articles, blog, forum, software, web tools, videos, pdf files, etc.
Authority Websites.
For a list of generally-accepted authoritative websites, look at the top 1000-2000 sites in Alexa. It provides a good group of general authority websites.
Identifying an Authority.
When deciding if a site is an authority, follow these steps:
- Find the meta keywords tag on the home page.
- For each keyword, check the site (any some page on it) to see if it ranks on the first page of results.
This tag has the keywords that are most important for the web page.
If it does, it is an authority. If not, it probably is not.
The reason why it can’t definitely be said it is not an authority, if not on the first page, is because the page could be new or it could be moving up the search engine results.
Authority Benefits.
When google calculates relevance (== authority) for a site for a specific keyword phrase, it considers…
- the general authority,
- the niche authority, and
- the link’s anchor text.
The first two link attributes are determined using some secret formula from the page and website where the link appears. The last component, anchor text, is controlled by the webmaster. It is the only part of the authority you have any chance of manipulating. If you can get the webmaster to give you the anchor text you want, you have a better chance at being seen as an authority for that keyword phrase in Google.
For instance, suppose you want to rank for the keyword phrase “blue widgets” in Google. Well, you will need lots of links with that anchor text from general AND niche authority sites.
All Authority Links Matter.
Hopefully, by now, it is clear why links from seemingly unrelated websites actually work. If a general (or niche) authority site gives you a link, with keyword-specific anchor text, they are passing authority for that keyword phrase. That link sends a little bit of its authority to your site, for that keyword phrase. Add enough links like this, and your site will move up the search engine rankings in Google.
Once you get ranked in the Top 10 in Google, you only have one problem. How do you keep from being penalized by Google once they realize you are not as authoritative as the competition?
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but how does site authority for google, differ from site authority of alexa ?. how does one strike a balance between both ?