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With so much content online, search engines like Google are in overdrive trying to read it all and rank it properly. While keyword research and relevant content is still key, your authority on a subject matter is coming into question more and more.
Users themselves have started to use queries that are longer form, in fact, 29.13% of keywords with 10,001+ monthly searches are made up of three or more words[1]. With the growth of conversational search intent, pillar page strategies have entered the scene to fulfill those queries. By providing umbrella-like content, pillar pages and topic clusters allow for easy categorization and clear indication of authority.
Sounds easy enough, right? Like anything in the SEO space, pillar page strategies take time and a great deal of planning to do correctly. Let’s break down this process.
What is a pillar page?
A pillar page[2] is a piece of long-form content, like a guide or a white paper, that will serve as the basis for topic clusters on a particular topic. It gives basic information on its particular topic, with links out to cluster pages that delve deeper into a specific aspect of said topic.
Pillar pages should be thorough in their explanation and be framed as an early-stage piece of content. The cluster pages that the pillar page links out to should also link back to the pillar page. (Check out this quick Hubspot guide[3] for some great visualizations.)
What is a cluster page?
Now that we understand the structure of a pillar page, we can better comprehend cluster content. When choosing a