I have been reading a lot about so called 'authority sites' listed in Google. As I understand it an authority site is listed with multiple pages from it's site in the Google search results. I am not sure if this is for keywords or just the site name. Post your 'thoughts/facts' here and let's see if we can create our own authority on authority sites.
I think it's for keywords. Do a search on the 'crappestURLintheworld.net' and you'll find a lot of pages listed under that site name. It's keywords that count.
By authority site I mean a site that is listed at the top of the SERPS with multiple pages rather than a site having multiple pages indexed in Google.
Authority sites are not necessarily at the top of the SERPs for intuitive keywords. For example Google is not in the top 10 for the search term 'search engines' but it is obviously an authority site. Authority sites are determined by using the link structure of the web and there are many ways to do this but how Google do it is unknown. A simplistic method used by the original HITS algorithm is to collect a root set of pages from an index of the entire web that contain the exact term for which and authority is being sought. It is not assumed that the authority site will be among them but it is assumed that the root set pages will refer to the authority site more frequently than they will refer to other sites. The link structure is analyzed with an iterative procedure and various weights applied (for example to eliminate internal links) and the authority or authorities are identified Over simplified but you get the idea I hope! - Michael
As per my experience (while discussing with one of my friend) the factors that goes in the making of an authority sites. 1.A Large number of one-way links from relevant and high PR pages & also from other authority sites. 2. The age of domain plays a big factor for making an authority site one. 3. Trust rank. A site having a high trust rank will eventually come up as an authority one. 4. The overall quality score of a site which is determined by the freshness and uniqueness of its content and also the amount of time visitors stay on the site. I think the amount of returning visitors also play a big role in improving a site's overall quality score. A site with a high quality score will emerge as the authority one. 5. Outbound links to other authority sites on the subject helps to establish topical authority. Thanks
Yes & No. Becoz some .gov or .edu sites provide a lots of usefull information so they are easily bookmarked by people for their reference, study & many other thinks & this helps then to incrase their back links. .gov or .edu sites are basically old ones & the age of URL is a major factor in deciding authority site. the .gov or .edu site owner is also belongs to a AUTHENTIC ORGANISATION, so it may be help them to make their site an authority site.