To become an authority website in a niche, do you need to have lots of backlinks and a high PR? Or do you need to have lots of related links? What exactly is an authority website?
I don't there's really such a thing. People use the term 'authority website' to indicate a site that comes up at the top of serps, but it hasn't got any 'official' google sanction.
I thought an 'Authority Site' was one where Google lists it's main 2nd-level pages as well as the top level domain? I'd love to get to that stage with my Mars Guitars website... e.g. Mars Guitars - Guitar Accessories - Acoustic Guitar Strings - Electric guitar strings ... etc I'd assumed that you needed lots of deep links to make it happen...
you mean sitelinks - no, I've got them in webmaster tools, though I've never seen them in search pages - they've been giving them to lots of sites in webmaster tools lately. A friend of mine sitelink's show up when you search for the name of their site- so that makes them an authority on being their own site? No, I don't think I've ever seen the phrase 'authority site' used by google anywhere, it's certainly not used in their explanation of sitelinks http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=47334&topic=8523 They talk about a 'site's authority' in terms of pagerank, but that's not quite the same thing.
some say that if you have a PR7 site, thats considered as an authority but i never found any evidence to back that theory. i think what it means that you have unique content on your site and your site is one of the most popular in your niche where LOT of related sites link to you wihout having to ask for links.
Actually it depends on your targeted niche. To be an authority in a health niche is more difficult than in a recreational or hobby niche in general.
It's a matter of back links to lots of your content. If you've got links to your internal pages your site will start showing site links. The more relevant links you get the better chance you have becoming an "authority site".
as far as I know authority site is a site that got top rank all of its keywords on serps, and to become an authority website you have to be very competitive in all the aspect of seo!
imo, links isn't just the factor to become an authority site coz one should do a lot of SEO work to achieve this goal
An authority site is generally a website which is trusted and has a large user following (due to strong services and powerful content). Having high PR and good SERP's usually comes with the territory because of the quality of the website. For example, Digital Point may be considered an authority site in it's industry of webmaster forums because of how established it is.
i have one client site and that is authority site, as per my experience i can say that when you get lots of traffic from your site name or brand name for exp, if your site is xyz.com and you are getting 5000 visitors from only xyz searches than your site will become authority site for it. to get site link your site must be reputable and having strong seo structure too. there are lots of other factors are there.
Well said. An authority site is just that because of its content, not because of the link building that has been performed. Authority sites are naturally linked to and shouldn't need to rely on building artificial links.
My GUESS. An authority site is the master of the niche. If you have a guitar site, everyone wants to be you! They all link to you (or mention you in posts). I always consider the guy/gal who is always #1 in the serps to be the "authority". I work the "bikini" arena, and "weeklybikini.com" is the "authority". I'm not too sure wikipidia will ever overtake this guy! Thats an authority. Everbody links to you, you are number 1 in the serps everywhere, and it doesn't look like you will ever be overtaken in the serps! Now that my freind, is an authority!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auctoritas In Ancient Rome, Auctoritas referred to the general level of prestige a person had in Roman society. And, as a consequence, their clout, influence, and ability to rally support around one's will. Authority in this sense means not power in terms of serps, PR but influence. In other words it is CONTENT! Correctness and of course Trust Rank That invisible green bar you can't see..... It is the links that can't be bought....