Connect with your audience by covering the topics they care about the most.
Plan out a network of interlinked blogs that answer related questions and help each
other rank.
Write and publish content that helps people, and watch your rankings go up!
Find topics and outlines catered to your business.
If you’re not on page one of Google, you’re missing out. The fact is, page one is where most of the clicks occur, and a lot of searchers don’t even scroll to page two. For example, the 10th organic result on Google only receives a click-through rate of 2.5%. Next time you perform a Google search, think through your habits and which links you click on. We’re willing to bet they’re on page one.
But how do you get there?
We know that topic clusters and SEO pillar pages are a surefire way to boost a website’s rankings in 2022. In fact, time and time again our own customers are seeing how a pillar plan, when executed correctly, can jump them right up to page one on Google. But what is a pillar page and a topic cluster, how do they work together to build your brand’s authority, and how do you get started? It’s easier than you think. Let’s dive in.
In SEO, a pillar page is a high-level piece of content that serves as an ultimate, authoritative guide for a given topic. Pillar pages are broad, aiming to cover breadth, not depth. They are around 3,000 words in length (or about 6 pages single-spaced) and are typically aligned with a company’s products or services. Examples of pillar pages might include “used cars,” “SaaS marketing,” or “landscaping.” These make excellent pillar topics because they’re broad, providing your content writer plenty of room to easily develop 3,000 words. And don’t worry, you’ll have a chance to dive into specific, detailed subtopics with other pieces of content.
In a pillar strategy, there are shorter articles called sub-pillars and supporting blogs that link back up to your pillar. Sub-pillars are generally between 1,500 - 2,000 words while supporting blogs are between 750 - 1,000 words. These shorter articles dive into more detailed aspects of the pillar topic, using high-value keywords and phrases to explore frequently asked questions.
Looking at our pillar page examples above, sub-pillar or supporting blog topics might include “used cars for sale under $10k,” ”why is SaaS marketing different,” or “what does landscaping consist of.” These more narrow articles focus on a singular topic, exploring specific themes and questions in detail. We’ll dive into how to choose topics for your articles later—and how our DemandJump platform can help—but first let’s quickly talk about why pillars are so important these days.
If you want to get to page one on Google, pillar pages have absolutely become a necessity. Google and other search engines continually refine the ways in which they rank content. Because of the sheer volume of content being produced every day, search engines have started valuing articles that they see as authoritative. What’s one way to signal to search engines that your brand knows its stuff? Build out a pillar page with sub-pillars and supporting blogs linking up to it. Those links tell Google that your pillar is an authority, which can drive your rankings higher and higher. We probably don’t need to tell you why that’s important; most searchers stick to page one results on Google, so ranking higher means more traffic—and potentially more customers.
Another of the many benefits of pillar pages is that they provide an excellent opportunity to connect with your target audience in an organic, honest way—as long as you go about it in the right way. Pillar pages, sub-pillars, and supporting blogs are designed to educate your audience, to show that you understand their pain points, to inform them of their options, and to arm them with what they need to move forward with a decision—even if that decision is that your solution isn’t the right fit. That doesn’t mean you can’t highlight your own offerings, but selling shouldn’t be the primary goal. Educate your readers and illustrate that you’re a trustworthy brand willing to put in the work, and it’ll go a long way.
A topic cluster, on the other hand, is a term that describes the way that all of your content, including pillar pages, sub-pillars, and supporting blogs, interlink to form a cohesive unit. Sometimes referred to as a content cluster, topic cluster content strategy illustrates exactly how topics and subtopics relate to one another.
Have you ever done a mind mapping exercise where you pick a topic or category, place it in the middle of your paper, and draw lines to link up every related term you can think of? This has been common practice in writing classes for years, and it’s a perfect illustration of the topic cluster model.
Let’s take a look at a couple of topic cluster examples to illustrate what we mean.
Above, you’ll find a massive topic cluster all focused around the topic of “hurricane season.” As you can see, there are almost infinite subtopics you could write about. Trying to narrow this down without a plan would be an overwhelming task. But if you zoom in a bit, you can start to notice trends—and that’s step one.
Looking closer at the top left portion of that content cluster, we can start to narrow efforts. You’ll see that the majority of these topics all relate to Hurricane Harvey. That might be one great sub-pillar to a pillar about “hurricane season.” Smaller, more detailed topics about Hurricane Harvey could become supporting blogs, exploring very specific topics about Hurricane Harvey’s effects, when it hit, and more.
Now we know it’s easier to talk about the strategies and theories behind topic clusters and pillar pages, but it might seem a lot more difficult once you start putting pen to paper—or fingers to keys. We’ve got you covered here, too. In these next few sections, we’re going to look at the basic steps you can go through to nail down your strategy, including how you identify topic clusters and pillars, what should be on a pillar page, and more.
Before getting started picking specific topics for sub-pillars and supporting blogs, you must select your overall pillar. In other words, you need to identify a topic cluster to focus your content around. To identify a topic cluster, companies should consider the following:
Once you have your topic cluster chosen, you have your pillar topic. Next, you should start choosing sub-pillar and supporting blog topics. How do you decide which to go with? There are a couple of options.
You can perform manual keyword research to find related topics and sketch out your plan that way. Using Google’s People Also Ask and Related Searches features can give you great topics that interrelate with your pillar topic.
Or, you could use a tool like DemandJump and let our platform do the heavy lifting. Our Insight Reports provide you with detailed information on the highest value keyword and questions and how your competitors rank. And our Pillar Strategy dashboard will even sketch out a potential pillar plan, including sub-pillars, supporting blogs, and how they all connect.
No matter which option you choose, it can be helpful to use a topic cluster template to keep everything organized. We recommend a simple Excel or Google Sheets file with headers for category (pillar, sub-pillar, blog), title, keywords, due dates, revisions, and any other pertinent information you may need to track.
Once you have your topic cluster decided and you’ve picked all of your topics, keyword research and writing can begin. As you’ll recall, pillar pages should be roughly 3,000 words. And, we recommend using at least 15-20 high-value keywords and phrases in your pillar page for maximum results. Here are a few tips to guide you through creating a pillar page.
These general tips can help as you write your pillar, but they are also great pieces of advice for any piece of content writing, including sub-pillars and supporting blogs!
Search engine optimization is constantly changing. One thing that’s here to stay? Your content marketing plan needs to include the right keywords and strategies. Doing so is the best way to achieve first page rankings, get more traffic, and drive better outcomes. That’s why we built DemandJump. Built for marketers, by marketers, DemandJump is a marketing strategy platform that shows companies the exact content they need to create to boost their rankings. From developing pillar plans to finding out how you stack up to your competition to selecting the right high-value keywords, our platform takes the guesswork out of content marketing.
