To educate and nurture your prospects throughout the purchasing journey, it’s essential that Internet users can find your content. SEO is an excellent way to reach and engage audiences looking for relevant information about your business, as well as your products and services.

However, the battle is increasingly fierce on the internet and it is becoming very difficult for brands to ensure that their target audience finds their references and products on the web.

In order to carve out a prominent place in the first pages of Google search results, you will need good techniques.

Today, the trend is toward topic clustering. This is an SEO strategy that focuses on creating a set of pages around a theme, with a pillar page at its center.

To set it up properly, you must first identify the common problems that your ideal customer relies on your business to solve.

We share with you a list of SEO best practices in 2022-23 to successfully implement this content optimization strategy on your website.

What is a pillar page and a topic cluster?

As developed by Hubspot, the notion of a topic cluster, or semantic cocoon in French, can be summed up as an organic search tactic.

The idea is to link and group together several pieces of content that revolve around the same theme so that your website can gain authority on a given topic. This way, you optimize its natural SEO using relevant keywords.

The semantic cocoon, or group of subjects/themes, is composed of:

a main keyword known as the “ core topic ”
various more specific keywords called “ subtopics ”, secondary subjects or sub-themes.

On your website, the main topic is what Hubspot calls a “pillar page . ”

This is long-form content that aggregates all the topics included in your topic cluster and links to all the content in your subtopics.

Thus, the presence of a pillar page is what differentiates the SEO strategy of semantic cocoon from internal linking.

To better understand this concept, consider the case where your company offers software to support finance departments. You must therefore write a lot of content on finance, supplier management, customer arrears, and internal processes.

To prevent your blog from becoming a disorganized library, you can use a topic cluster strategy. This allows you to group your content by topic, with each one having a pillar page that links to your other content.

The whole thing thus forms a semantic cocoon. Your website now has a better architecture, which makes it easier for Google (and your readers) to find similar content on your blog.

6 Benefits of Organizing Content by Topic Cluster and Pillar Pages

Now that you have the answer to the question what is a pillar page and a topic cluster, it’s time to discuss their benefits.

1. A better structure for your website

Structuring your website content into pillar pages and content groups is a relatively new concept.

However, it has become very popular, as most businesses have been practicing content marketing for a long time and have large amounts of content.

Grouping these pages by theme allows content managers to better oversee their overall strategy.

They can in particular:

Plan keyword usage
Identify silos
Fill in their editorial calendar
Streamline processes.

Using a topic cluster also allows you to have a clear and logical website structure.

That is to say, easier to navigate both for:

Your customers : who use the pillar page to familiarize themselves with the topic and then quickly navigate through the content cluster to the subtopics that interest them.
Search engine robots : which rely on links to better understand the meaning of the content of each page.

2. Better ranking on high volume keywords

When crawlers understand your website’s content, they can easily index it and link it to relevant search queries. Your articles are then displayed only to users who are most likely to click on your links in the SERPs.

Have you ever created and implemented a content strategy? If so, you know how difficult it is to rank well for more general, high-volume search terms.

Most of the time, these are targeted by hundreds, even thousands of pages, some of which have far greater authority than yours.

A good tip is to cover all relevant subtopics using a topic cluster. This shows crawlers that you’ve provided comprehensive information on the topic.

Compared to a regular page, semantic cocoon pages are more likely to provide answers to a user who enters a general search term.

Not to mention that your cluster content may rank higher for long tail keywords.

This is because they are connected to the pillar page as well as other pages, making it easy for bots to contextualize them and understand their purpose.

3. A boosted EAT score

The EAT (expertise, authority, and trustworthiness) score is crucial for both Google and a good user experience. It can determine how well your pages perform in the SERPs.

What better way to demonstrate that you’ve got what it takes than with pillar pages and topic clusters:

Expertise: Google prioritizes content created by experts because what they say is more likely to be accurate. Providing detailed information on the topic is a good way to show that you’re an expert.
Authority: Well-written pillar pages and their respective content clusters tend to attract a lot of traffic and encourage engagement. By developing a topic thoroughly, you also demonstrate your authority in the field.
Trustworthiness: Strong authority and high-quality content show that you’re trustworthy. Also, the more time people spend on your pages, the more trustworthy you become with Google.

4. Increased customer engagement

Most often, people search for general terms to familiarize themselves with a topic and learn more. If they land on your pillar page, chances are they’re interested in some or all of the highlighted subtopics.

All they have to do is follow the links provided to the pages that detail the subtopics to learn more.

This brings many benefits to your website, since the Internet user:

can explore the entire cluster if the information is well written and relevant
don’t hesitate to search your content again if they need additional information
spends more time browsing your website
can fill out your registration forms, become a qualified prospect and, why not, benefit from your products and services.

These are all elements of proof of engagement that directly benefit your SEO, as well as your turnover.

5. More internal links and backlinks

Building internal links and backlinks is very important for your SEO, customer engagement, and the success of your business.

For example, internal links:

show how your content is connected and help search engine robots better understand the structure of your website
reduce the chances of having orphan pages (unrelated to other content), and therefore more difficult to reach
reveal to robots the most important pages of your website and provide a certain hierarchy.

In turn, the pillar page serves as a gateway to other secondary pages and improves their SEO. These, in turn, strengthen the authority of the pillar page by providing an in-depth exploration of the main topic and subtopics.

Thus, creating a hyperlink between the pillar and all the elements of the cluster allows the pages to amplify their value reciprocally.

Backlinks are also one of the most valuable benefits of pillar pages. With the right digital marketing strategy, they can become a veritable goldmine for external links.

The more you have, the better your website’s authority. Your pages then appear more often in SERPs and gain more visits and new backlinks.

6. Greater lead generation

When people spend time on your website, you can get their information and capture them as leads.

If they notice that you’re an expert, they’ll be more likely to remember your business. And that’s a real plus for your brand image.

These prospects will then identify you as a leader in your industry and will want to open your links more often in the SERPs. This will not only benefit your overall performance on the search engine, but will also give you a prominent place in the customer’s mind.

Combined with your lead nurturing strategy, creating topic clusters makes you a prime candidate when a prospect is ready to make a purchase.

How to identify a topic cluster?

Identifying and analyzing potential top topics is easier with HubSpot’s Topic Cluster Tool . It provides you with valuable insights like monthly search volume and keyword difficulty.

However, it’s not a magic solution that’s supposed to solve all your problems related to your website’s ranking in Google search results. Topic Cluster is more of an organizational assistant.

To effectively identify your subject group, you need to follow these steps:

1. Research your buyer personas and identify their main problems

Any decent SEO strategy starts with examining user behavior.

Keep in mind that keyword research is all about understanding the terms people are searching for. Keep in mind that changes Google makes to its algorithms are simply reactions to new trends in user behavior.

Topic clustering works in a similar way. To identify the topics your website’s content strategy should focus on, first examine your audience.

And what better way to achieve this than with buyer personas!

Based on market research and interviews, this semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer helps you understand your audience and then map out a buyer’s journey.

Go further and try to find five to ten main problems that this buyer would like your company to help solve.

Finally, check if these issues can be grouped into a few core problems. You then have the seeds of your topic clusters.

2. Select and refine your main topics

Now that you have your list of top buyer pain points, it’s very important to choose your topic theme (a generic term that describes your topic).

The “good” main topics are first of all those which are related to the activity of your company, as well as your services, benefits, or products.

These main topics should also align with the top of your marketing funnel. This is because you’re primarily targeting an audience that wants to learn more about the topics you’re going to cover.

Use keyword research to ensure topics match what your customers are actually searching for.

In particular, you can follow the Goldilocks principle:

When the search volume is too high, the topic phrase is too broad to rank. You should therefore be more specific by choosing, for example, long-tail keywords.
If the search volume is too low, the topic will not generate enough interest to justify the effort.

It’s essential to ensure that your primary topic has sufficient search volume. This justifies the investment in creating a topic group for it.

Ideally, there should be at least 400 monthly searches.

Exploring related topics is a key step in the process of developing a topic cluster (especially for sub-pages).

Once you’ve chosen a main topic, identify all the areas of your topic that a potential buyer might want to know about.

Strive to find specific keywords that are each substantial enough to make up a blog post.

For example, we can consider the following topic: “What is demand generation marketing?”

It could then be broken down into different sub-themes entitled:

Demand Generation Best Practices
How to Create a Good Demand Generation Strategy
The main demand generation tactics.

Also note that not all of these subtopics need to include the main topic keyword.

So you can use other headings like “marketing strategies for your sales funnel” and “data-driven marketing.”

Feel free to use HubSpot’s topic cluster tool to refine the keywords for the subtopics you choose.

As you add one keyword per subtopic to your cluster, the tool displays the search volume for that keyword, along with a list of alternative related keywords.

You can start with a topic cluster of at least six subtopics, but ideally you should aim for eight or ten.

Sometimes you may need many more subtopics to fully cover your main topic. In this case, you will need to make two or three subdivisions of your main topic and assign each its own pillar page, with ten or more subpages.

3. Map your topic clusters with Hubspot’s SEO tool

Once you have identified a specific core topic and subtopics, you can map the content of your cluster.

The easiest way is to use Hubspot’s SEO tool.

The latter generates a graphical representation in the form of bubbles to help you visualize how your topic cluster is implemented on your website.

On this map, your main topic and “pillar page” is in the center, surrounded by all the related keywords you will need to have in your supporting content.

The topic cluster tool will allow you to:

Monitor the search volume of all the keywords you have included in your SEO strategy
Discover the queries that drive visitors to your pillar page and subpages
Check that all your topic clusters (core topic and subtopics) are linked together.

4. Categorize your existing content into the main topic

Seriously: Auditing your website content isn’t exactly a fun task, especially if your business has been blogging for years.

However, it is essential to know what content you already have, and what you are missing, before beginning the writing process.

To approach auditing in the context of pillar pages and topic clusters, you need to:

Classify existing content into sections
Identify competing links on the SERP
Identify duplicate content and any gaps in your main topic.

Keep in mind that identifying and removing content that no longer has value for your website can be a positive decision for SEO.

This is especially important when poor quality content competes with stronger content for the same keywords on a SERP.

Reviewing older articles can also be an opportunity to identify any particularly impactful paragraphs, definitions, metaphors, or examples. These can be valuable input when writing your pillar page.

Also take advantage of this audit to clean up your internal links between the cluster content and the pillar page.

5. Identify content opportunities for cluster subpages

Now that your audit is complete, compare the listed content to the topic map from Step 3 to see if there is an imbalance.

Perhaps you’ve covered a niche of your topic very thoroughly, missing a long tail keyword.

These are gaps that you can later turn into new cluster content as part of your ongoing pillar page update.

So, don’t just use the topic cluster tool to visualize your action and get performance reports.

Setting up editorial calendars, SEO writing and internal links is also essential for the success of your topic cluster strategy.

How to create a pillar page?

As a comprehensive overview of your topic, the pillar page should be an “A to Z” guide that provides links to additional resources.

Unlike traditional blog posts, which can be anywhere from 500 to over 2,000 words depending on your goals, a pillar page is typically between 5,000 and 10,000 words.

Here are the steps to follow to create a pillar page that will add value to your customers and improve your SEO:

1. Use your usual design elements

By using your familiar branding, logo, colors, and font, you’re creating content that’s familiar to your customers. A pillar page is an extra-long blog post that should be user-friendly and consistent with your existing content.

2. Create a catchy title

In just a few words, the pillar page title should explain exactly what question you are going to answer.

Make sure to include a keyword so search engines can find the page easily.

3. Write an introduction

The introduction to your pillar page should introduce your topic and the purpose of your page. This approximately 200-word piece of content aims to explain what people will find in your text.

Highlight readers’ gaps and explain how you will help them.

4. Integrate a form

Pillar pages are a great opportunity to increase conversions, so consider including a lead capture form (at the top and then at the very bottom) to encourage visitors to submit a few more details in exchange for a gift.

5. Create anchored chapters

The beauty of the pillar page is that it’s never truly finished. As you expand your knowledge of a topic, you can continue adding new chapters until it becomes a comprehensive resource.

Hubspot’s topic cluster tool can help you expand the reach of your topic cluster.

It helps identify what you haven’t covered yet, and if there is already relevant content on your website that could be optimized and linked to a specific pillar page.

6. Air out your content

Bulleted lists and short, clear subsections make your pillar page visually appealing. Visitors can then easily scan the content and digest the information.

You can also use videos, audio clips, images, and screenshots to break up your content, create natural breaks, and signal the start of a new chapter or group topic.

7. Make your content interactive

Don’t hesitate to give your users activities to complete throughout your pillar page. This is a great way to help them get involved and practice the skills you’re teaching them, step by step.

8. Add lots of hyperlinks

You should add external links to sites you’ve found useful. You should also create as many internal links as possible within your pillar page. These links should be bidirectional: from the pillar page to the blog posts, and vice versa.

Use HubSpot’s topic cluster tool to verify that you’ve created content to address each subtopic and placed hyperlinks throughout.

9. Publish the content

Before launching your topic cluster strategy with HubSpot, you should have most of your content already prepared. Creating an editorial calendar is then essential to guide the implementation of your pillar page and blog posts.

Once you have researched, written and optimized all the content, you need to publish it and connect everything through the tool.

How to promote pillar pages effectively?

To effectively promote pillar pages, you need to define your content marketing tactics. This will help you earn high-quality backlinks.

When it comes to promoting pillar and cluster pages, marketers also recommend taking some action on your website and social media.

Setting up a backlink strategy:

Publish guest articles on authority websites with a link back to your pages
Leverage existing strategic partners and link to their content
Write infographics that can be embedded on other sites with a link back to yours
Find mentions of your brand (that don’t have links) and ask the site owner to add the link to one of your pages
Collaborate with micro-influencers to promote your pages and generate traffic
Use off-site SEO techniques to generate backlinks from relevant websites.

Resource to exploit on the website:

Add call-to-action buttons or banners to your website to drive traffic to the pillar page
Highlight a link or call-to-action on your popular content related to your topic to lead readers to the pillar page
Make sure every article in your topic cluster suggests your pillar page (if your website has the suggested content feature)
Update your pillar page quarterly to see if new links need to be added.

Create paid search ads on Google for certain keywords and social media ads
Embed a link to your pillar page during a social media promotion
Identify places where people ask questions about your topic (Quora, LinkedIn, etc.) and add a link to your pillar page
Host a podcast episode, Twitter chat, or Facebook Live to discuss your topic, connecting to your pillar page

How to measure the success of a pillar page?

A topic cluster strategy essentially aims to increase your position in search engine pages on your main theme, or core topic.

So, you can use the increase in traffic to your website as a tool to measure the success of the pillar page.

Other performance indicators to monitor include the conversion rate per visit and the number of new visitors. Of course, there won’t necessarily be many conversions on your web pages at the very beginning of a topic cluster campaign.

Also consider tracking the average time spent on each page visited by users. This is an indicator related to user experience.

Search engine algorithms pay special attention to this when evaluating the value provided by your content.

Conclusion

The topic cluster, or semantic cocoon, is an organic search tactic whose principle is to group and link several pieces of content revolving around the same theme.

Done well, a content strategy based on the topic cluster concept can help your website establish itself as a topical authority in organic search.

However, you need to make sure you offer relevant and well-written content for this strategy to be successful.

To identify and analyze potential topic clusters, you can use HubSpot’s topic cluster tool. It helps you leverage the full potential of your content and ensure its visibility to search engines and readers.

Once you’ve researched, written, and optimized all the content for your pillar pages and subpages, you need to publish and connect them all using the topic cluster tool. This will make it easier to manage and monitor your topic cluster strategy.

To ensure your pillar pages are visible, consider implementing a backlink strategy and promoting them online and on social media.

Need more advice on creating and monitoring a topic cluster strategy? Connect with us on Webriy .

Create WP Websites in hours, not days

Create WP Websites in hours, not days

Popular

Free

Pro Components

Template Kits

Boost Your SEO in 2025 with Pillar Pages and Topic Clusters

What is a pillar page and a topic cluster?