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. Building one costs 180, 450 or 900 credits, so the one-site plan's 100 credits do not cover a build on their own; a 300 or 500 credit pack, Pro or Agency does. The site's profile must be confirmed first, because the map plan is drafted 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, we draft the map plan. You can leave the page; we email you when it is ready.

2. Check the plan

Press Review, Confirm and Build. You see five things: the main topic (the one thing the site is about), why your site is the one to cover it, what searchers want, the core topics, and what the map leaves out. There is also a line of encyclopedia topics: the Wikipedia articles we read to find what defines the subject.

Read them the way you would read a brief for your own business. Fix anything that is off: a main topic that is too broad or too narrow, a core topic that is not something you sell or that does not define the subject, a topic left out of the map that 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 draft a fresh map plan and build again; earlier versions stay readable from the version switcher. A map that stopped before finishing can be built again from the same map plan; finished steps are reused.