Inbound Marketing is constantly evolving. The algorithms that search engines use to find and index valuable content is always changing, and you need to change with them if you want to become a leading authority on your subject area of expertise.
Thankfully, there’s a wide range of Inbound Marketing methods you can use to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, and content creation - such as blogging or updating website pages with valuable, relevant content - plays a key role in that.
One of the most effective ways to improve your SEO efforts today is through the creation of pillar pages and relevant topic clusters. In this blog, The Brit Agency will explain exactly what pillar pages and topic clusters are, and run through some simple steps to help your business build them.
What is a pillar page?
A pillar page is a page on your website that focuses on one of the core topics of expertise for your business, a subject that you are trying to rank highly for on search engines. Your pillar page should provide real value to your target audience, positioning your company as a place they actively come to for expert information and advice.
A pillar page is an overview of all aspects of that particular topic, with links to both internal and external resources where your website visitors can read more in-depth information on the subtopics that they want to understand. The deeper you can go into the topic being covered the better, as search engines prefer content that is covered in-depth.
By creating pillar pages with links to related and valuable content across your website, you can organize your site architecture to help visitors quickly and easily get answers to the questions that matter to them.
What are topic clusters?
A topic cluster is made of one core topic (your pillar page) that links, to and from, a range of other subtopics across your company’s website.
By linking multiple pieces of subtopic content to one shared core topic, you can build comprehensive coverage of any specific subject - improving how valuable your website is to visitors and improving the chance that search engines will see you as a leading authority on that topic.
If you want to learn more information about what pillar pages and topic clusters are, and why they are an important element for your SEO efforts, please read our recent blog titled ‘Pillar Pages & Topic Clusters: Why Are They Important For Your Inbound Marketing Strategy?’
How to create a pillar page
Now you understand exactly what a pillar page and topic clusters are, the next step is to learn how to create them. We’ve listed some key steps that will help get you started building pillar pages and improving your Inbound Marketing strategy.
#1 - Choose your core topic
The very first step of building a pillage page should always be choosing a core topic. We aren’t talking about keywords at this stage either, just the main topic that you want your website to become a leading authority on.
Start by taking a look over your buyer personas and the questions that they want to have answered, or the challenges they want to be resolved. What information are they looking for that’s relevant to the products or services that you provide?
This will help you choose a topic that is relevant, valuable and educational to your prospects, and broad enough to write various pieces of content that are focused on specific subtopics.
#2 - Build your pillar page
Now you have a core topic for your pillar page, it’s time to start writing the content. There’s a chance that you can turn a comprehensive web page into a pillar page, or perhaps you have a blog post that you could expand on. If not, you will have to build it from scratch.
A pillar page should be long, and give an overview of every aspect related to the core topic. From there, you will want to summarize each of your subtopics with relevant links to both internal and external resources that are valuable to your reader.
Remember, while a pillar page should be detailed, it should link through to more informative content pieces that really dives into the questions that your prospects have. A pillar page should include:
- An explanation of the overall core topic that you are covering.
- A table of contents that links to specific subtopics.
- Specific subtopic sections that are long-tail keyword driven.
- Content that provides an overview of the subtopic with links to more detailed content pieces.
#3 - Create your topic clusters based on long-tail keywords
Once you have finished writing your pillar page, it’s time to choose the long-tail keywords that your prospects are searching for. Thankfully, Google’s Search Console can be integrated into your HubSpot account meaning your keyword research can be done directly in the backend of HubSpot location where you are creating the subtopics that connect to your pillar page
Choose long-tail keywords that are highly relevant, answer common questions about the core topic, and can stand on their own as a separate piece of content.
#4 - Create relevant content
With your keyword research out the way and a range of subtopics connected to your pillar page on the backend of HubSpot, it’s time to start creating various pieces of content that can build around the architecture of your pillar page.
Specific blog posts are the best. Start writing blog posts based on the specific keywords that you are trying to rank for within your topic cluster, and make sure these blogs are linked and optimized for your pillar page.
Are you interested in learning more about building pillar pages, or why they are important for your Inbound Market strategy? Contact the Brit Agency today. Our team of digital marketing experts would love to help.
