It’s fall again, which means election season is once again upon us. And with it comes the debates, town halls, interviews, and endless opportunities for candidates to tell us what they think.
Views aside, I’ve noticed there are two types of politicians.
There’s the one who arrives armed with a handful of carefully crafted answers – surface-level takes on the issues that might come up over the course of the discussion. Whatever the actual question, their response always somehow circles back to their prepared talking points.
Then there’s the candidate who knows their subject. Ask a follow-up and they can answer it. Come at the issue from another angle, and they can add context, explain the nuances, and tell you why it matters. Their knowledge goes deeper than a single prepared answer.
Which one would get your vote?
The second candidate – the one with topical authority.
The same principle applies to brands. Publishing one good article can make your site visible for a question. Getting cited for the next question, and the one after that, requires building a body of expertise.
In today’s AI-driven discovery environment, that means building authority in two directions: deep across your own content ecosystem and wide across the third-party sources that reinforce your credibility.
From Visibility to Topical Authority
Topical authority is what happens when you become recognized as a trustworthy source on a subject matter because you’ve demonstrated your breadth of knowledge across the questions that matter.
AI is changing how people find information. As we’ve written before, AI search goes beyond keywords to understand the intent behind a question and the broader topic surrounding it. A search may begin with one question and quickly move into comparisons, use cases, alternatives, or increasingly specific follow-ups.
A 2026 Semrush study on topical authority found that ChatGPT consistently cited certain brands as the leading source across related questions for different categories. These are “category owners.” Brands earn that position by establishing a strong enough presence around a subject that they continue to surface as questions change.
That’s what topical authority can look like in AI search. Instead of competing for visibility one question at a time, a category owner becomes associated with the subject itself. The more consistently that association is reinforced, the stronger the brand’s position when people use AI to explore the topic.
So, how do you build that association? You need to go deep and wide.
Go Deep: Think Content Ecosystem, Not Editorial Calendar
Start by asking yourself a new question. Instead of asking “What should we publish this month?” ask, “What do we want to be known for?”
Then examine how well your content supports the answer.
A pillar page establishes comprehensive coverage of a core subject. Supporting articles explore the questions, challenges, and subtopics around it. Executive thought leadership introduces your distinct point of view. Interviews show firsthand expertise. Case studies and customer stories show that expertise at work.
Together, these assets create depth.
You might already have much of this valuable content on your website already. It might just need a strategic revisit to give it the necessary structure to tie it all together before adding more.
Depth isn’t measured by the number of articles you’ve published or the quality of a single piece of content. It’s the strength of the story they tell together.
Go Wide: Authority Goes Beyond Your Website
Of course, there’s a limit to how authoritative you can be when you’re the only one making the case for your own expertise.
Here’s where spreading your message more widely matters.
Earned media, trade publications, analyst coverage, social media, podcasts, backlinks, and expert commentary can all reinforce the connection between your brand and a subject. Developing an integrated thought leadership and media relations strategy can help extend expertise beyond your own channels.
Community conversations are becoming part of the discovery network alongside more traditional sources of authority. A separate Semrush study on visibility in AI search found that Reddit is one of the leading domains cited by Google AI, Perplexity, and ChatGPT.
What your owned content says about your expertise is only one part of the picture. What everyone else is saying about you matters, too.
Deep + Wide = Topical Authority
Put the two together, and your opportunity for category leadership gets bigger.
A brand can have an impressive library of content but relatively little recognition beyond its own channels. Another can generate plenty of media mentions while offering little depth when someone comes looking for more.
Topical authority requires both your expertise and others’ recognition of it.
Your content ecosystem gives people somewhere to engage with your expertise in depth. Third-party sources extend and validate that expertise across the wider conversation. Together, over time, they create more consistent associations between your brand and the subjects you want to own.
The goal isn’t to become an authority on every topic remotely connected to your business. Instead, identify the areas where your expertise, your audience’s needs, and your business priorities intersect. That’s where your strength is.
Don’t Just Answer the Question. Own the Conversation.
Think back to the debate stage.
The candidate with true expertise is more credible because their understanding goes deeper than a few prepared responses. They’re not just answering questions – they’re leading the conversation with topical authority.
Your brand should do the same.
Topical authority is deep and wide. Version A can help you develop the connected content ecosystem and broader visibility that position your brand as a category leader.
