“Topical authority” used to mean something precise. Now it often means “publish more posts,” “get more links” or “cover a cluster.”
Modern search engines and AI systems are not scoring you on any one of those alone. They look at the whole system of your content, reputation and AI visibility.
This guide lays out the three pillar model Floyi uses for its Topical Authority Score so you can plan and measure authority the way AI search actually behaves.
Why “Topical Authority” Became Meaningless
Topical authority started as a way to talk about owning a subject.
Then it got watered down into checklists.
- Ship more content around a keyword
- Collect more links than competitors
- Fill every node in a cluster tool
Teams do that, see a bump in traffic for a handful of URLs, and still watch AI panels quote someone else as the safe explainer.
From the AI search guide, you saw the real pattern.
- AI answers pull passages from many brands at once
- Your content is judged as a system, not as disconnected pages
- Authority looks like a reusable body of work across a topic, not one long article
In that context, authority is not about a big pillar post or one powerful backlink.
It is about how the entire system looks when a model or ranking algorithm asks three questions.
- Can this brand teach this topic clearly from first principles
- Do others treat this brand as a reference in this space
- Do assistants feel safe quoting this source across many related questions
The answers depend on three different things.
- What you have actually published and how it performs
- How you sit relative to others in your market
- How often AI systems use you when they build answers
You can bundle all of that under “topical authority,” but unless you separate the pieces you cannot manage or measure it.
The Three Pillars Of Authority
Floyi treats topical authority as three connected pillars.
- Content Authority
- Market Authority
- AI Authority
You need all three. If one is weak, the topic is fragile.
Content Authority
Content Authority is how strong your own content is across a topic.
In principle it reflects:
- Depth of coverage across the map for that topic
- Quality, clarity and usefulness of what you have published
- How people respond in terms of engagement and outcomes
Take a topic like “email deliverability.”
A brand with real Content Authority does not just have a single “ultimate guide.” It has:
- A crisp definition page that states what deliverability is and is not
- A detailed how to workflow that people can follow
- A comparison of approaches and tools for different teams
- Use case pages for key segments, for example SaaS, media and ecommerce
- A few posts that handle edge cases, pitfalls and diagnostics
In day to day work, teams can influence this pillar by:
- Planning topics as maps instead of isolated keywords
- Shipping pieces that have clear roles in those maps
- Updating and linking content so the structure stays coherent
The tradeoff is simple. You publish fewer random posts “because volume” and more deliberate pieces that fill gaps in the topic.
If you neglect Content Authority, AI search might want to trust you but cannot find enough reusable passages to lean on.
Market Authority
Market Authority is how you sit relative to competitors for the topics that matter.
In principle it reflects:
- How visible you are compared to others across that topic
- How often other sites reference or cite your work
- How strong your brand is inside the niche, not just in general
You see it in questions like:
- Whose definitions and frameworks get quoted in other blogs
- Who gets asked to speak, join panels or share benchmarks on the topic
- Whose case studies get picked up as examples of “how this is done right”
In day to day work, teams can influence this pillar by:
- Choosing topics where they can realistically outrun specific rivals
- Backing strong content with outreach, partnerships and PR that reinforce those topics
- Earning mentions that tell the same story their own map already tells
The tradeoff is that you stop chasing generic PR and links that do not support the topics you actually want to own.
If you neglect Market Authority, you can have good content and still lose by default because the market treats someone else as the safe choice.
AI Authority
AI Authority is how you show up inside AI search and assistants.
In principle it reflects:
- How often your content is selected as a source for answers
- How you are described or summarized when you appear
- How consistently you show up across related queries and journeys
You see it when you check:
- Whether assistants quote your definitions and workflows
- Whether brand mentions carry the right positioning
- Whether you appear often across many related prompts or only in a narrow corner
In day to day work, teams can influence this pillar by:
- Creating clean, reusable pieces that are easy to cite
- Keeping definitions, workflows and examples consistent across the map
- Watching where they already surface in AI answers and reinforcing those topics with more depth and better structure
The tradeoff is that you stop treating AI visibility as a curiosity and start planning content with “reusability in answers” as an explicit goal.
If you neglect AI Authority, you can still report wins in classic rankings while assistants quietly train on your competitors instead.
Why You Need One Combined Score, Not Three Silos
Most teams treat these three pillars as separate worlds.
- Content teams run on traffic and rankings
- Brand and PR teams focus on mentions and coverage
- AI visibility, if tracked at all, sits in its own dashboard
Leaders end up with three stories.
A CMO sees organic traffic up. PR shows more mentions. The AI visibility report shows that assistants still lean on competitors when they need examples or recommendations.
They still have to answer three simple questions.
- Which topics should we invest in next
- Where are we most exposed against competitors
- Did this quarter actually move our authority on the themes that matter
To answer those, they need one view.
Floyi’s Topical Authority Score (TAS) exists for that reason.
For a given topic and audience, TAS combines:
- How strong your content is on that topic
- How you compare to others in the market for that topic
- How often AI systems use you when they build answers for that topic
You do not need the formula. The intuition is enough.
- If any pillar is weak, the score feels it
- If all three move up, you know you are building real authority
- If one pillar lags, you know where to focus next
Floyi treats TAS as a planning signal, not a vanity badge.
See the product view of TAS: Topical Authority Score.
How A Topical Authority Score Guides Your Plan
Once you have a clear score by topic, planning stops being guesswork and politics.
You can:
Decide what to defend, grow or ignore
- High TAS on a key topic: defend and refine with updates and better internal links
- Medium TAS: grow with targeted briefs and supporting campaigns
- Low TAS on a non essential topic: ignore for now and save energy
Prioritize briefs and campaigns
- Aim briefs at topics where a few strong pieces can shift the pillar that lags
- Plan campaigns that mix content, outreach and internal links around the same topic rather than scattering effort
Explain tradeoffs to clients or execs
- Show that you are not “writing about X” because Topic Y has higher authority leverage
- Justify work on updates, internal links or PR that may not spike traffic but will move the score
Inside Floyi, TAS is one of the main inputs into the Topical Authority Planner. The Planner uses it to label topics as “grow,” “defend” or “ignore” so teams move from long idea lists to a ranked set of authority bets.
See how Floyi’s Topical Authority Planner uses TAS to prioritize work. Explore the Planner.
How AI Search Feels These Three Pillars
AI systems do not see your internal score.
They behave in ways that match it.
Content Authority → Passage selection and coverage
- Strong Content Authority means many clean passages that models can reuse
- Clear definitions, workflows and comparisons appear in answer boxes and assistant responses
Market Authority → Default brand choices
- Strong Market Authority makes you the natural example, benchmark or vendor in explanations
- Assistants pick you when they need a concrete brand to anchor the answer
AI Authority → Frequency and quality of mentions
- Strong AI Authority means you appear often and are described consistently
- Weak AI Authority means you show up rarely or only as one option in a long, undifferentiated list
When all three pillars are strong, assistants can safely:
- Explain the topic using your language
- Refer to your content for depth and nuance
- Recommend you when the question turns into a buying or selection moment
This is the same pattern from the AI search guide. Your content is judged as a system, not one URL at a time.
Most tools stop at content and links. The third pillar is where AI search now lives.
Moving From Random Wins To Systematic Authority
Most teams already have some wins.
A few posts rank well. A couple of strong links land. An AI panel occasionally pulls a sentence from their site.
The problem is that those wins are random. They do not add up to a position.
Here is how to turn them into a system.
Map your current topics and content
- Group URLs by the topics they serve, not just by keywords
- Build a simple topic map so you can see depth, overlaps and empty spaces
Identify obvious authority gaps by topic
- Topics with traffic but weak supporting content around them
- Topics where rivals dominate mentions and rankings
- Topics where AI answers rarely or never use you, even when you have material
Plan briefs around authority, not just volume
- Write briefs that state clearly which pillar they are meant to move
- Give writers the topic role of the piece in the map, not just a phrase and word count
Review movement in authority over time
- Track changes in TAS by topic, not just traffic spikes or ranking swings
- Review authority at the same cadence as your closed loop reviews
- Adjust plans when a pillar is not responding the way you expected
You know it is working when:
- Topics that matter move from fragile to strong across all three pillars
- AI answers start using your material more often and more confidently
- Planning meetings point back to authority by topic, not random ideas in a spreadsheet
Start planning with authority as the main goal Use the Topical Authority Planner
See how authority fits into the wider system Read Closed Loop Content Strategy For AI And Search