How do I build a topical map for my site?

Topical maps are for accounts that have bought something: a plan, a one-site plan or a pack. The site's profile must be confirmed first, because the map's centre is proposed from it.

1. Prepare the map

Open the site and choose the Map tab. Press Prepare the Map. This is free and takes about two minutes: from the confirmed profile, the competitors and any research that has run, the centre of the map is proposed. You can leave the page; we email you when it is ready.

2. Review the centre

Press Review, Confirm and Build. You see five things: the central entity (the one thing the site is about), why the site is the source, the central search intent, the core topics, and the border (what the map leaves out). There is also a line of encyclopedia topics that feed the attribute lookups.

Read them the way you would read a brief for your own business. Fix anything that is off: a central entity that is too broad or too narrow, a core topic that is not something you sell or that does not define the subject, a border that leaves out something you do sell. Keep core topics short, two to five words, with the detail in the reason. The map is only as good as this page.

3. Pick a size and build

Small is up to 60 pages for 180 credits, Standard up to 150 for 450, Large up to 300 for 900. The strongest core pages are inspected in full: 15, 35 or 60 of them. The size is a ceiling; a subject with fewer topics that earn a page fills fewer slots, and the rest of the size shows as pages held in reserve. See Why does my map have fewer pages than its size?.

Press Confirm and Build. The credits are charged when the build starts and returned if it fails on our side.

4. Wait

A Small map takes about 40 minutes; a Large one can take two hours, most of it reading the pages that rank for the core. The run page shows each step; the Map tab fills in as the pages are decided. We email you when it is done.

5. Read the map

The tree shows every page with its section, its main phrase and volume, the page test result and its publish order. Open any page to see its decision, its place in the map with the record behind each rule, and its planned links. The Publishing order view lists the pages in the order to go live, with the reason for each position; In reserve lists the topics a larger map would add.

6. Write the pages

Tick pages and press Write: a brief and a full draft per page, 30 credits each, up to 50 a batch. See How do I write the pages of a map in batches?.

Building again

Subjects move. Press New Version on the Map tab to propose a fresh centre and build again; earlier versions stay readable from the version switcher. A map that stopped before finishing can be built again from the same centre; finished steps are reused.