Grumpy SEO Guy – Episode 132: SEO Topical Authority, Content Structure, and Cannibalization

Date: November 28, 2025
Host: Grumpy SEO Guy
Main Theme: Understanding topical authority in SEO, how relevancy and authority determine your rankings, and content structuring to avoid cannibalization.

Episode Overview

In Episode 132, the Grumpy SEO Guy demystifies “topical authority”—a frequently misunderstood concept in SEO—and offers clear, actionable strategies based on hard-earned experience from 14 years in the SEO industry. The episode covers the relationship between relevancy and authority, ranking factors search engines use, site content organization, and the all-important caution about cannibalization (competing content). The tone remains direct, pragmatic, and, true to form, a little grumpy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What is Topical Authority? (04:50–05:25)

• Topical Authority = Relevancy:
  “Topical authority is basically relevancy… it just means what is the topic of your website?” (05:05, Grumpy SEO Guy)
  • If a site is about refrigerators, it’s relevant for refrigerators; if about toasters, it’s relevant for toasters.
  • Simple essence: What subject does your website genuinely focus on?

2. How to Gain Relevancy (05:25–06:40)

• Two Pathways:
  1. Write About the Topic:
     • “If you write about refrigerators, you are relevant for refrigerators.” (05:35)
  2. Get Backlinks With Keywords in Anchor Text:
     • “When somebody links to you, if they have your keywords in the link… that is providing relevancy.” (06:10)
• Both methods reinforce to search engines what your website is about.

3. The Four Pillars of Ranking in SEO (07:00–10:20)

1. Don’t Get a Penalty (“The highest priority in SEO is not getting a penalty.” 07:35)
2. Content (“The quality of content is not a ranking factor… You need content on your site because if you don’t, you have a blank website, and that doesn’t help people.” 08:05–08:35)
3. Relevancy as explained above
4. Authority (“Authority is like trustworthiness… comes from backlinks. Backlinks provide authority. Nothing else provides authority.” 09:10–10:05)
   • Myth-busting: No other source of authority exists aside from backlinks.

Memorable Quote:
“Backlinks provide authority, nothing else provides authority.” (10:00)

4. Positioning in Search Results: How Relevancy & Authority Work Together (10:25–14:20)

• Relevancy Filters the Pool:
  Only relevant websites (on a specific topic) are considered to show up in search results for a query.
• Authority Determines Ranking:
  Within that relevant pool, the site with more authority ranks higher.
• Search Engine Motivation:
  “Search engines want to deliver good, quality, relevant results to you… If they give you bad results, you’re going to stop using that search engine.” (11:20)

Clarifying Analogy:
“Relevancy answers the question, will my website appear in the search results? Authority answers the question, what position will my website be in the search results?” (13:55)

5. Content Structure & Cannibalization (14:35–18:50)

• Healthy Content Diversity:
  Multiple articles on a broad topic (e.g., toasters)—each with a unique angle (“how to buy toasters”, “different colors of toasters”, “where to buy toasters”, etc.) is good and builds topical authority.
• What to Avoid:
  “What is not okay is when you have a lot of articles that are all on exactly the same topic. If you have five articles on ‘where to buy toasters,’ that’s not good. That’s gonna confuse the search engines…” (15:55)
• Cannibalization Explained:
  When several pages target the same keyword, Google can’t decide which page should rank, so rankings fluctuate between them. “[The] page that’s ranking keeps changing… you’re not getting viewers to the proper page.” (16:40)
• General Principle:
  Avoid overlapping articles about the exact same keyword/intent to maintain clarity and ranking stability.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On What Relevancy Means:
  “It’s not even difficult. It just means, what is the topic of your website?” (05:13)

• Authority Source Clarification:
  “Backlinks provide authority, nothing else provides authority.” (10:02)

• Human vs. Search Engine Content Evaluation:
  “The quality of content is not a ranking factor… search engines can’t tell the difference. That’s why they use authority instead.” (08:20)

• Real-World Focus:
  “Can you imagine searching for something… clicking on it, and it’s blank? Why? It would not be beneficial at all.” (08:30)

• Relevancy & Authority's Role in Rankings:
  “If you’re relevant for a topic, you will appear in the search results. Authority will be what decides where you appear.” (13:55)

• On Cannibalization:
  “The search engines can’t figure out which page is supposed to rank, so they kind of just… leap through them.” (16:45)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–04:45 — Show intro, disclaimers, and reminders
• 04:50–05:25 — What is topical authority?
• 05:25–06:40 — How to gain relevancy
• 07:00–10:20 — The four things you need to rank in SEO
• 10:25–14:20 — How relevancy and authority determine what ranks, and why Google cares
• 14:35–18:50 — Content structure best practices; explanation of cannibalization

Conclusion

Episode 132 breaks down the core SEO concepts that are often clouded by industry hype:

• Topical authority is just about being relevant for a topic, achievable by writing about it and securing the right backlinks.
• Authority is purely derived from backlinks.
• Only relevant sites make it into the search results for a keyword, and authority determines the order.
• Organizing your site’s content around unique subtopics (not duplicating target keywords) prevents cannibalization and confusion for search engines.

In Grumpy SEO Guy’s words:
“You can be super relevant for a topic, but if you don’t have authority, you won’t rank. And you can have lots of authority, but if you’re not relevant, you won’t rank. Does that make sense?” (13:28)

For listeners serious about SEO, this episode is a must for cutting through confusion and focusing on what works.