Generative engines infer topical authority from page count and angle diversity on a single subject — a site with three substantive pages covering different facets of its domain is weighted as expert, while a two-page site (home + pricing) is treated as a thin landing presence. Shallow sites get skipped in retrieval even when individual pages are strong, because the model lacks the signal that the operator has deep domain knowledge.
Critical because topical depth is a foundational authority signal and its absence caps citation rate across every other dimension.
Create at least three distinct public pages on the site's core topic, each with a minimum of 100 words of body text and a distinguishably different angle. Documentation, blog posts, guides, and comparison pages all qualify. Add routes under src/app/docs/, src/app/blog/, or MDX files under src/content/blog/.
src/app/docs/page.tsx
src/content/blog/post-1.mdx
src/content/blog/post-2.mdx
ID: geo-readiness.authority-expertise.topical-depth
Severity: critical
What to look for: Identify the site's core topic from the homepage definition. Then count all distinct public pages that cover different aspects of that topic. For each page, verify it has at least 100 words of body text (excluding navigation and boilerplate). For a SaaS product: product pages, documentation, blog posts, guides, comparison pages, and detailed feature pages all count. For a content site: articles on different facets of the same subject count. Enumerate each qualifying page with its topic angle. Report: "X distinct topical pages found covering Y different angles."
Pass criteria: Count all distinct public pages with at least 100 words of body text covering different aspects of the core topic. The count must be at least 3 pages. A homepage + docs + blog post on the same subject counts. Each qualifying page must cover a distinguishably different angle or aspect — 3 pages with nearly identical content count as 1.
Fail criteria: Fewer than 3 distinct pages cover the site's primary topic with at least 100 words each. A homepage and pricing page alone (2 pages) don't demonstrate topical depth. Pages that are just navigation shells or stubs with fewer than 100 words don't count toward the total. Report: "Only X topical pages found — minimum 3 required".
Skip (N/A) when: Single-purpose utility or landing page with no multi-page content by design.
Detail on fail: "Only 2 of 3 required topical pages found (homepage and pricing). No docs, blog, or detailed feature pages exist. AI systems see this as a shallow source." or "Blog exists but contains only 1 post — total 2 topical pages, minimum 3 required"
Remediation: AI systems equate topical depth with authority. A site with multiple pages covering different angles of the same topic signals expertise. Create topic cluster pages under src/app/ (e.g. src/app/guides/page.tsx) or blog posts in src/content/blog/:
Each page should offer a distinct angle, not repeat the same content.