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Innovative Ways to Build SEO Topical Authority for Your Website

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Analyzing Your Website's SEO Performance with AI Tools

Assessing your website's current SEO performance is a crucial first step before optimizing and improving rankings. In today's digital landscape, leveraging AI tools can provide unique insights to audit your site and identify gaps versus top-ranking competitors.

One powerful technique is to use an AI writing assistant plugin integrated with a search engine. By querying the search engine from the plugin, you can automatically analyze the top organic results for a target keyword and gain SEO intelligence on why those sites are outranking yours.

Using AI to Audit Your Site's Search Rankings

To demonstrate how this works, I used the Web Pilot plugin for the keyword “kiton” - a high-end Italian menswear brand we sell. After searching, here is Web Pilot's auto-generated SEO analysis of the search engine results page (SERP): The top organic result unsurprisingly is the official kiton.com website. As the authoritative brand domain, it signals high E-A-T to Google and ranks prominently. Ecommerce sites with 'kiton' in product titles and content also appear high alongside aggregated seller platforms like Mr Porter and Farfetch. Social media accounts like Kiton's Instagram page interestingly rank as well. This reinforces the growing importance of an omni-channel approach - optimizing social profiles and even YouTube videos can improve organic visibility. However, our own ecommerce site is nowhere to be found for our target brand-related keyword. This glaring omission clearly shows we have lots of room for improving on-page content, backlinks, social authority and other ranking factors.

Identifying SEO Gaps Versus Competitors

Beyond examining the sites currently outranking yours, further prompts to the AI assistant can uncover additional untapped opportunities for content, backlinks and visibility. For example, asking for 'more types of pages to build topical authority' yielded creative ideas like kiton history pages, product creation process pages, customer testimonials pages, executive interviews and more. These types of pages are unique avenues to showcase expertise, build trust and links from industry websites. Kiton's competitors likely don't have such content, giving us a way to close the gap.

Crafting Website Pages to Boost SEO

Now that we've analyzed high-ranking sites in our space and identified potential content gaps, the next step is actually building those new pages on our site. The goal is to better meet searcher intent, establish authority around our keywords, and ultimately climb ranks.

In addition to traditional product and blog pages, let's explore some other compelling page types surfaced earlier by our AI assistant:

In-Depth Resources and Process Pages

Walking through the intricate process of constructing Kiton suits (with their famed 32 construction steps per jacket) would make for an incredibly engaging resource page. Enthusiasts would eat up the behind-the-scenes details while pictures and videos visually showcase quality and craftsmanship - all lending to E-A-T. We could interview Kiton artisans and highlight family heritage or offer historical perspectives on the brand founding back in Naples. Such exclusive insider access helps separate us from the typical ecommerce site. These types of pages can target more nuanced, long-tail queries around specifics of clothes-making. They also build lasting value regardless of short-term ranking fluctuations.

Customer Testimonials and FAQ Pages

While we present designer history on one set of pages, spotlighting delighted customers is equally worthwhile. Video testimonials showing off new suit purchases or praising post-sales customer service make powerful social proof. An FAQ section also provides a means to dispel common concerns, transparently compare against competitors, and generally build trust. Visitors gain confidence seeing others' joy and knowing their questions have answers.

Instructional Content Pages

Many luxury shoppers researching designer suits are unsure exactly what to purchase or how to match combinations. Tutorial pages and videos advising on best dress shirt pairings, shoes for different suit styles, and proper measurement techniques offer helpful guidance. We can demonstrate subject matter expertise around formalwear while showcasing products woven into practical recommendations. This content better answers searchers' needs compared to solely ecommerce category pages. Instructional pages also interlink well to product pages, enriching site navigation.

Generating Backlinks Through Community and Outreach

Now with an expanded, more comprehensive site, the third component for SEO success is securing endorsement from industry authorities via backlinks. This signals third-party credibility to search engines.

While resources like interviews often naturally attract links, dedicated community engagement pages facilitate ongoing dialogue with our niche audience.

Discussion Pages Driving Backlinks

For example, an 'Ask our Bespoke Tailors' forum connects enthusiasts directly with our Kiton craftsmen. They can field outfit questions, share maintenance tips, or weigh-in on the latest runway trends. Not only does this foster a vibrant brand community publishing new regular content, but forum commentary may get linked to from fashion publications, interior design sites, and men's lifestyle blogs – helping drive visitors.

Interviews and Partnerships

Speaking of backlink opportunities, coordinating an exclusive CEO interview for our site provides a hugely compelling piece of unique content. Industry press would undoubtedly want to reference and link back to such a rare peek inside luxury fashion leadership. Likewise, partnering with well-known fashion personalities for an event, photoshoot, or co-designed product unveiling leads to additional discovery channels through affiliate connections.

Executing an Ongoing SEO Optimization Strategy

With technical audits setting a baseline, expanded content improving organic rankings, and community building securing endorsements, the final step is enacting ongoing processes to monitor and continuously optimize.

Set up tracking to identify new searcher questions and intent shifts over time. Use this intelligence to constantly refine page content or introduce new pages fulfilling demand. Treat SEO as a gradual, iterative strategy rather than one-off project.

Lean on AI tools to regularly audit competitors, gauge ranking gaps, and suggest additional creative page ideas. Use platforms like Web Pilot or ChatGPT to cost-effectively augment human brainstorming. Finally, build internal site search analysis into regular performance reviews - optimizing SEO should be company-wide priority.

FAQ

Q: How can I analyze my website's SEO performance?
A: Use AI tools like chatbots to search your target keywords and analyze the top-ranking results to identify gaps and opportunities.

Q: What types of new pages can I add to improve SEO?
A: Consider resource and process pages, FAQs, testimonials, how-to guides, video content, forums, news pages, interviews and events.