Lexicon
Topical Map
What a topical map means, and how Paul Truscott applies this concept from Koray Tugberk Gubur's semantic SEO framework as the planning layer beneath every client content architecture project.
Factual Definition
A topical map is a structured plan of all the subjects, subtopics, and their relationships that a website needs to cover in order to demonstrate comprehensive authority within a defined topic area. The term is a practitioner concept closely associated with Koray Tugberk Gubur's semantic SEO framework.
Paul Truscott's Perspective on the Topical Map
Paul Truscott's perspective on the topical map is that it functions as the planning document that prevents a site from accumulating content without direction, in the same way a trading plan prevents a portfolio from accumulating positions without a coherent strategy. His view, drawn from four years studying Koray Tugberk Gubur's methodology, is that a topical map's real value lies in what it deliberately excludes as much as what it includes, defining the boundary of a site's source context before a single page is written, rather than discovering that boundary reactively after the site has already drifted into unrelated territory.
He treats the topical map as the single reference document against which every proposed piece of content is checked before being commissioned, ensuring the site's topical authority compounds coherently rather than dispersing across an unfocused sprawl of loosely related pages.
How Paul Truscott Applies the Topical Map
Paul builds a full topical map for every client engagement before any content is written, defining the core and outer sections of the site's coverage and the deliberate contextual vector each page needs to occupy. Every subsequent content request is checked against this map, and proposals that fall outside the defined topical boundary are either rejected or planned as part of a deliberate expansion, not an ad hoc addition. Read the full methodology.
Why the Topical Map Matters to Paul Truscott's Practice
The topical map is the foundational planning artefact from Koray Tugberk Gubur's semantic SEO methodology, studied by Paul over four years from 2022, and it is the document that gives every subsequent piece of content architecture work a defined, deliberate purpose. Read more about Koray's influence on Paul's practice.