Algorithm, Search & Distribution
Topical authority
Also called: topic authority, subject authority
Borrowed from search engine optimisation, where covering a subject thoroughly can help a whole site rank. On YouTube the mechanics differ. Recommendations are made per video and per viewer, driven by what an individual has watched before and how similar viewers responded, so there is no channel authority score sitting somewhere to be raised. What a coherent topic does buy you is a clearer audience: viewers who liked one video are plausible viewers for the next, and your back catalogue becomes somewhere to stay. Read topical authority as a description of audience fit, and stay sceptical of tools that claim to measure it as a number.