Page architecture

What Is a Topical Map?

A topical map is the list of every topic a site will cover, split into a core section that sells and an outer section that teaches, with a decision on which topics earn a page and which earn a heading.

Topical map, illustrated
A topical map: the central entity at the root, core section nodes, outer section nodes, and links flowing from outer to core

What are the six parts of a topical map?

A topical map has six parts: the central entity, the core section, the outer section, the nodes, the page decisions and the link direction.

The central entity is the one thing the site is about, and every other part hangs from it. A node is one row: the entity, its attributes, the predicate and the query network. Each node carries a page decision: a page, a section (a heading on another page) or a sentence. Links run from outer to core, with one canonical anchor per URL.

A topical map has one central entity at its root. Every node connects back to the root through at least one attribute, and a node with no path to the root belongs on another site.

How does a topical map node decide one page?

A node groups the query variations that share an entity and a result set, and marks each variation as a page, a section or a sentence.

Take the node for 'semantic content audit'. Entity: Semantic SEO Audit. Attributes: what it checks, what it returns, what it costs and who it is for. Predicate: checks.

Query variations: 'semantic seo audit', 'semantic content audit', 'seo content audit checklist', 'semantic seo audit cost'. The first two share an entity and overlap in results, so they get one page. The checklist becomes a section on that page, and the cost becomes a section on the cost page.

Page type: service page. Main component: the readiness self-test. Canonical anchor: 'Semantic SEO Audit'. Roadmap position: month one, because every other service links to the audit.

How does the core section of a topical map differ from the outer section?

The core section holds the commercial pages, and the outer section holds the informational pages that earn the first clicks and pass signals inward through internal links.

Core nodes are services, products, locations and comparisons. Outer nodes are guides, definitions and how-tos that connect the central entity to neighboring entities.

Every outer page links to at least one core page with an anchor that carries the core entity. Every core page receives links from several outer pages, each in a different sentence context.

Outer pages carry a conversion element tied to their topic, such as a quote form or a tool entry. Featured snippets, People Also Ask placements and first citations in generative answers usually go to outer pages.

How does a topical map become a semantic content network?

A semantic content network is a set of documents built together to cover one full query network, so that a ranking gain on one page lifts the pages linked to it.

A topical map becomes a semantic content network when its nodes go live as pages that follow the map's link direction and share one vocabulary. A page that ignores the link direction breaks the network at that node.

Each page answers its own node, and its links point to the neighboring nodes, outer toward core. The content brief fixes the heading order of each page as the contextual vector.

Koray Tuğberk Gübür's articles describe informational pages that rank higher lifting the commercial pages they link to. The anchor to each core page stays canonical, and the sentence around the anchor changes on every linking page.

How does a topical map differ from a keyword list or a sitemap?

A topical map records a decision and a reason for every query, while a keyword list holds no decisions and a sitemap holds no reasons.

A keyword list is strings with volumes. The list does not say which strings share an entity, which deserve a page or which page links to which. A sitemap lists the URLs that exist without saying why.

Keywords stay in the topical map as query variations on the nodes, each with its decision attached. A keyword with no node is a query the site has decided not to answer.

How big is a topical map?

A topical map is as big as the query network, and no bigger.

A single-entity tool site fits on one page. A healthcare practice with twelve treatments and four locations stays under a hundred nodes. An ecommerce site with fifty product classes reaches several hundred.

The number that matters is the ratio of nodes to pages. A sound map holds more nodes than URLs, because most variations land as sections or sentences.

Language count does not change the size. One map serves every language, and each language adds a vocabulary built by a native editor.

Sources
Illustration for the knowledge article What does query deserves a page mean?Query deserves a pageThe test that decides if a search query earns its own URL or a heading.Illustration for the knowledge article What is a content brief?What is a content briefThe document that turns one row of the topical map into one page.Illustration for the knowledge article What is topical authority?What is topical authorityRanking across the whole network of queries around one topic.Illustration for the knowledge article What is a query template?Query templatesA repeatable search pattern with a variable entity, such as [service] in [city].Illustration for the blog post How to Build a Topical Map for SEO in 7 StepsBuilding a topical map in seven stepsSeven steps take a topical map from the source context and central entity to the publishing order.Illustration for the Semantic SEO Strategy serviceSemantic SEO StrategyYour topical map and 12-month publishing plan.Illustration for the Semantic Content Writing serviceSemantic Content WritingBriefs and pages written from your topical map.Talk to us speech bubble: message the Digital Vikingz team on WhatsAppTalk to usMessage the team on WhatsApp

Questions about what is a topical map

Who builds the topical map?
Usman Ishaq, the founder, builds or reviews every topical map at Digital Vikingz. The map is the deliverable of the Semantic SEO Strategy service. Clients with their own strategist build from the audit.
What tools are used to build a topical map?
Google Search Console exports, site search logs, live results per query and the rewrites a generative system produces. The map itself is a spreadsheet and a diagram.
How does a topical map handle locations?
Each location is a core node with its own page test. Locations with demand and a staffed office get a page, and the rest get a service-area line on the parent page.
How is a topical map different from a content calendar?
A content calendar is the topical map's nodes in publishing order with dates, so the map is the plan and the calendar is the schedule made from it.
What does a bad topical map look like?
A bad topical map has nodes without a predicate, an outer section that links nowhere, two nodes sharing one query, or anchors that vary per link.
How often does a topical map change?
The map changes at the 90-day review, not between reviews. Nodes whose pages passed get their next attribute, and nodes whose pages failed are retested, merged or rewritten.
Does a topical map need search volume data?
Volume comes second. Historical queries, refinements and next-query paths show the relationships, and volume then ranks the nodes inside them.
Does a topical map cover competitors' topics?
Competitors' attributes enter as gaps: attributes the top results cover and the site does not become candidate nodes, each with its own page test.
Does a topical map include off-site content?
Not by default. Placements on other domains belong to Authority Link Building. Paid or arranged placements carry link-spam risk under Google's spam policies, so they need the client's written sign-off.
Does a topical map include existing pages?
Every existing URL becomes a node with a decision. Pages that pass keep their URL, and pages that fail merge into a parent or are pruned, with redirects.
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