Have you ever searched for a topic online, then found yourself reading through a blog and clicking link after link? If so, you’ve stumbled upon a topic cluster, a group of blog posts centered around a subject. The posts often link to a pillar page and help keep visitors on a site (as you may have experienced). Topic clusters are more than just great tools for retaining visitors, though. They also boost your site’s search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, helping you land in the top spot.
Learn more about how topic clusters work, how to build them, and why they’re an important part of a content marketing and SEO strategy.
Topic clusters are groups of related content on a blog or website. The clusters revolve around a main topic or theme. The main topic is often an SEO-optimized pillar page, which all the other content in the cluster links to.
One way to visualize a topic cluster is as a wheel with a central hub and spokes coming out from the hub. The hub is the pillar page, while the spokes are the supporting articles. You can also picture a flower, with the pillar page at the center and the supporting articles forming the surrounding petals.
Writing topic clusters has become more popular lately for a few reasons. First, the clusters make it easier for visitors to find the information they need. They’re more likely to spend more time on your site, which can lead to more conversions.
Topic or content clusters are also great ways to organize your site. It’s easier to find your blog posts and pages when you’ve grouped everything together by subject. Creating clusters helps you identify gaps in your content and then fill those gaps with relevant content.
The biggest reason why topic clusters have become popular is that they improve your site’s SEO. A topic cluster strategy increases the number of links on your page, helping to establish your brand as an authority.
Topic clusters allow search engine crawlers to understand your site better. Once Google has a better grasp of what your site’s about and what value it can offer visitors, it’s better able to rank you in the search engine results.
The hierarchy of a topic cluster includes pillar content and supporting content. The pillar content broadly covers all aspects of a subject. Think of it as a 101 to the subject. People can click on supporting content if they want more details about a topic. The supporting content dives deeper into a particular area or aspect of a topic.
How do you separate pillar pages from supporting pages? One way to do so is to look at the scope. If the content covers a large topic in broad strokes, it’s probably a pillar page. If it dives into the nitty-gritty or minutiae of a subject, it’s a supporting page.
As you write supporting pages, you can delve into the details of a particular subject. For example, if your brand sells coffee and brewing equipment, you will want to start a blog about brewing the perfect cup of coffee at home. Your pillar page can contain an overview of the different methods of brewing coffee. From there, the supporting pages can each focus on how to brew coffee using a particular process, such as pour-over, French press, and so on.
You’re not limited to a single topic cluster. In fact, depending on your subject, having multiple clusters is desirable. The coffee blog can have a second topic cluster all about different coffee varieties and roasting techniques, for instance.
Topic clusters can improve SEO by increasing the visibility of the website’s content in search engine results. By grouping related content, topic clusters signal to search engines that the website has a strong and relevant presence on a specific topic.
Knowing how to cluster content is crucial to the success of your topic clusters. For example, the pillar page should always be a broad overview of the entire topic. You won’t want to go too deep here, as you don’t want to repeat what’s in the supporting content.
Keep keywords in mind when choosing the subjects of your supporting content pages and blog posts. While you don’t want to keyword stuff or use keywords unnaturally, you do want to keep what people are likely to search for in mind. Google’s gotten pretty good at figuring out search intent, meaning if someone searches for a broad topic, Google can now connect that search to more niche topics.
Topic clusters also look good to the search engines from an Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust (EEAT) angle. When you have a lot of interlinked content on a subject, Google is more likely to rank your site as authoritative. Authoritative and expert sites get a boost in the search results.
When you incorporate topic clusters into your site, you give searchers what they want. A visitor will be more likely to spend time reading your blog, clicking from article to article, and learning as much as possible about the subject. In the eyes of Google, that’s nothing but a good thing. It means that your website is engaging visitors and is high quality.
The world of content marketing, SEO, and blogging is always changing. Adding topic clusters to your site brings it into the modern age and can dramatically improve your search rankings. If you need help with how to go about splitting your content into clusters or how to perform keyword research to bring the most engaged visitors to your site, Zero Gravity Marketing can help. Contact us today to see how we can help you create content clusters to boost your SEO.