There has been a lot of talk about “Authority Sites” in regards to search engine marketing. OK, so what does this mean…and why are Authority Sites ranking so high in the search engine results pages (serps)?

As most people know the Internet was started to provide information. Then business people saw that they could sell goods on it, and thus the start of eCommerce. Almost everyone uses the Internet to find information, be it to learn something, or read the local headlines, or maybe to check the upcoming movie times. People search for information, so why do Authority Sites rank so well, because they provide the most relevant information, as well as the largest amount of information. One thing that is missing from the last statement is that they provide the most relevant information about a “theme”.

The term “Theme” in this case relates to a subject or a keyword phrase used by a person when searching the Internet. When search engines spider a site, they try to determine what the overall theme of that site is. If the site is designed properly, the spider will be able to find all the content that is on that site. The more related content it finds the better. Now that the spider has found all the content of the site, it takes a look at the inbound, and outbound links for the site. Inbound links, are links from other sites that point to your site. Outbound links are links that go to other sites, maybe in a statement like, “…to find out more visit…” with a link going to another site that also offers similar content.