The Difference Between Domain Authority and Topical Authority

In the world of SEO, two terms tend to get thrown around a lot: Domain Authority (DA) and Topical Authority. At first glance, they might seem interchangeable. After all, both are about building trust and rankings in Google’s eyes, right?

Not quite.

While both are indicators of a site’s strength, they work in fundamentally different ways. Understanding the distinction between Domain Authority and Topical Authority is crucial if you want to make informed SEO decisions, especially if you’re running a newer site or operating in a niche with established competitors. The nuance lies in the mechanics of how each is built, how they affect rankings, and what they’re actually measuring. If you’re focused solely on Domain Authority, you could easily overlook one of the most powerful SEO strategies available to newer, more agile websites: building topical depth.

Let’s break down what each of these metrics means, how they affect your rankings, and how you should approach them depending on your business goals and website stage.

However, if you are looking for help with building topical authority, check out our effective topical authority packages and let’s get started!

What is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority is a metric developed by third-party tools like Moz, Ahrefs (DR), and SEMrush (Authority Score) to estimate the overall “ranking power” of a domain. It’s typically calculated based on the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing to the entire domain.

It’s a proxy for how much trust and visibility a domain is likely to have in Google’s eyes, especially for competitive terms. The higher the number, the more likely your site is to rank—but only if your content meets search intent. Think of DA as your domain’s reputation across the board.

Key points:

• Numerical score: Most tools use a 0–100 scale to rate your domain, based on proprietary algorithms.
• Link-driven: The primary factor is how many backlinks you have and how strong those linking domains are.
• Cumulative: It grows slowly and reflects long-term efforts across your whole site.
• Comparative: Useful to benchmark against competitors, but not a direct Google metric.

Example:

A site like Forbes.com has a DA close to 95+. It ranks for a wide range of topics because it has millions of backlinks from reputable sources. Its sheer domain strength helps it rank even with relatively shallow content on many topics. That level of reputation allows it to publish new content and have it indexed and ranked almost instantly.

What is Topical Authority?

Topical Authority, on the other hand, reflects how deeply your website covers a specific topic and how well Google associates your content with that subject. It focuses on the semantic relationships between pieces of content and their ability to satisfy a range of search intents within a subject area.

Where Domain Authority is about breadth, Topical Authority is about depth. You don’t need hundreds of backlinks or a massive content library—what you need is clear focus and comprehensive topical coverage.

Topical authority can also be considered at local level, whereas domain authority tends to be far reaching. Building topical authority in local SEO is done in a very similar way to national, or even international level, but it requires few adjustments, such as local depth as well as the topical depth.

Key points:

• Topic-focused: You can build authority in one area without needing high domain-wide authority.
• Content-based: Depends on the depth, quality, and interlinking of your content around a theme.
• Intent-aware: Reflects how well you answer user questions and address subtopics.
• Earned over time: Grows as you publish more helpful, interlinked, and relevant content.

Example:

Imagine a site like The Gift Bot with a DA of 0.8 but dozens of in-depth, interlinked pages around gifting ideas. It could outrank BuzzFeed or Vogue for “gifts for people you don’t know” because it demonstrates clear topical coverage and understanding—even with far fewer backlinks. That’s the power of topic saturation and focused clusters.

Learn more: What is Topical Authority

Why Does the Difference Matter?

Here’s where it gets practical. If you’re running a small or new website, trying to compete on domain authority alone is a losing game. You’ll never catch up to big-name publishers on sheer link volume.

But you don’t need to.

With Topical Authority, you can punch above your weight by focusing on a specific niche and building out high-quality clusters of content. Instead of chasing links blindly, you’re focusing on user intent, internal linking, and depth. This gives Google a clearer picture of what you’re an expert in, and allows even lower DA sites to secure prominent rankings within their niche.

Comparison Table

To help clarify things further, here’s a direct comparison of Domain Authority and Topical Authority:

Metric	Domain Authority	Topical Authority
Based on	Backlinks & referring domains	Content depth, topical backlinks, interlinking, topic coverage
Measures	Overall site trustworthiness	Authority within a specific topic area
Built by	Link building	Publishing interlinked content, topic coverage and strategic link building
Useful for	Large sites with broad topic coverage	Niche sites aiming for SERP dominance
Estimated by	Moz, Ahrefs, SEMrush provide proxy estimates, but ultimately by search engines	Search engines (not publicly quantified) and specific topical authority metrics

How to Build Domain Authority

Building DA takes time, consistency, and a wide net. You’re aiming to increase your domain’s overall credibility through inbound links and mentions.

To build Domain Authority:

• Pursue high-quality backlinks: Seek out links from reputable and relevant websites in your industry. These might include media outlets, authoritative blogs, or resource roundups.
• Fix technical SEO issues: A site that loads quickly, is mobile-friendly, and has no crawling errors builds credibility in Google’s eyes.
• Diversify your link profile: Aim to earn links to multiple internal pages, not just the homepage. A natural and varied link profile signals authenticity.
• Engage in PR and outreach: Digital PR strategies like newsjacking, data studies, and original research can help you attract high-authority backlinks naturally.

Building domain authority can take a lot of time (and in many cases money). You need to build tons of high-quality backlinks and build out a lot of well optimised content. To develop true domain authority, you’ll really have to corner your entire area.

However, the benefits of domain authority are substantial. You will be able to rank for some of the most competitive and profitable search terms out there!

How to Build Topical Authority

This is where newer or niche sites can shine. With enough focus, you can become the go-to resource for a subject even if your domain is relatively new.

To build Topical Authority:

• Identify a central topic: Define the niche or theme you want to be known for. This could be “urban balcony gardening” or “budget-friendly PC builds.”
• Map out subtopics: Use keyword research tools to discover questions, comparisons, and informational needs within the topic.
• Create content clusters: Build a pillar article that covers the main topic broadly, then create and link to multiple supporting articles covering specific aspects in depth.
• Use internal linking: Make sure each page links to related content, guiding both users and search engines through your topic structure.
• Cover a range of intent: Don’t just focus on one type of keyword. Mix in how-to guides, product roundups, definitions, case studies, and FAQs.
• Keep updating content: Revisit your cluster periodically to add fresh data, address new search intents, and keep your coverage relevant.
• Build Topically Relevant Backlinks: If you strategically build backlinks relevant to your topic, you will need far fewer links to grow your topical authority.

Topical authority is built by creating quality content around a tight topic area and using backlinks to verify trustworthiness of the said content.

Gaining high domain authority can take many months, and for some websites, it might take years. It requires consistent backlink acquisition, brand mentions, and a level of domain-wide recognition that doesn’t come quickly.

Topical authority, on the other hand, is far more attainable in the short to medium term. With a focused content strategy, even smaller or newer websites can earn a strong reputation in a specific topic area. The process starts with identifying a subtopic that hasn’t been fully addressed by competitors. Ideally, this should fall outside of YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) categories, where Google tends to scrutinise content more heavily.

Once you’ve selected your subtopic, build out a thorough cluster of high-quality content pieces. Each article should cover a different aspect of the topic and should all be linked together using contextual internal links. This interconnected structure allows search engines to better understand the hierarchy and depth of your content. Once a cluster is completed and starts to perform, you can move on to the next logical cluster within your niche. The process is repeatable and can build topical strength in a matter of weeks or months—something that’s far less achievable with Domain Authority in the same time frame.

To find out more about building topical authority, check out our guide on building topical authority in your niche.

Can You Have One Without the Other?

Absolutely—and it happens all the time.

Some websites have incredibly high domain authority but no topical depth. Think of lifestyle blogs that touch briefly on hundreds of topics without going deep into any. Their breadth is impressive, but the depth is often thin. These sites tend to rely on sheer authority and volume rather than deep topical coverage.

Others have low DA but strong topical authority. These are often new sites that obsessively focus on a narrow niche and gradually start outranking major brands within that vertical. Their strength lies in topic coverage, content quality, and strategic internal linking.

Example:

A small website on “urban balcony gardening” with 30 pages deeply covering every aspect of the topic (from soil types to vertical garden ideas) could outrank a huge general gardening site that only has a couple of posts on balconies. Because Google sees that site as a definitive resource for the topic, the rankings reflect it.

Can High Topical Authority Compensate For Low Domain Authority?

Yes—at least to a significant extent. This is one of the biggest advantages of topical authority and why it’s such a powerful strategy for newer or smaller websites. While having strong Domain Authority certainly helps, it isn’t always necessary to compete—especially when your site demonstrates depth and relevance within a clearly defined subject area.

Google increasingly values expertise and depth over general popularity. If your website goes deep into a topic, covers a wide array of related subtopics, and provides real value through tightly interlinked content, it can outrank sites that have much stronger link profiles and DA but only surface-level coverage of the topic.

Example:

In our earlier reference to The Gift Bot, we saw a small site with a DA under 1 rank above Vogue and Buzzfeed for a query like “gift ideas for people you don’t know” . The reason? The Gift Bot had a tightly focused cluster of articles around gift ideas, including niche angles like gifting for acquaintances, colleagues, and people you barely know. The competing giants had far higher DA—but much weaker topic coverage in that specific niche.

This proves that while Domain Authority can open doors, Topical Authority helps you own the room once you’re inside, therefore, highlighting the importance of topical authority in a big way.

It also explains why focusing on building topical depth is often the fastest route to SEO traction for smaller sites. It’s a strategy that doesn’t require thousands of backlinks or a big budget—only planning, consistency, and a commitment to helping users navigate a specific topic thoroughly.

However, topical authority does have its limitations. Especially the YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) topics tend to lean heavily on domain authority as well as topical authority.

Should You Focus On Domain Authority, Or Topical Authority?

This depends on your business model, resources, and goals.

If you run a news site, ecommerce platform, or lifestyle magazine, Domain Authority will naturally matter more over time. You want broad appeal, lots of link equity, and authority across multiple topics.

But if you’re running a blog, affiliate site, SaaS company, or local business, Topical Authority is your ticket to visibility. It’s faster, more strategic, and frankly more reliable when starting out.

In most cases, starting with Topical Authority gives you the best ROI. As your content clusters perform well, you’ll attract links naturally, and your DA will grow as a side effect. This layered approach is how many niche sites transition from unknown to widely cited.

Conclusion

Both Domain Authority and Topical Authority play important roles in your SEO strategy, but they are not the same thing—and they shouldn’t be treated as such. One is about your overall reputation; the other is about your depth and relevance in a topic.

Topical Authority is what gets you traction. Domain Authority is what helps you scale.

If you’re starting from scratch or working with a limited budget, Topical Authority is your best bet. Focus on content structure, strategic internal linking, and full-topic coverage. DA can come later. In fact, if you build enough topical authority, you’ll likely attract the kind of links that boost your domain metrics anyway.

Focus where it counts, and you’ll have a better chance of building a site that ranks—and stays ranked.