So, you ask, what is a pillar page? What does it do? What is its purpose? And most importantly, why do you need it?
Think of a pillar page as a brainstorm, or outline, or mind map. You have one central theme and a bunch of offshoots. You can also visualize a pillar page as a content umbrella—it has one overarching topic, with several more specific subtopics under it.
A pillar page is an intensive SEO strategy as well. It serves multiple purposes, such as addressing a topic fully within one web page. This is very helpful for your target audience, who is looking for answers. It serves as an excellent way to infuse keywords and phrases into your website as well. It gives you a helpful structure to link to other website pages. Most succinctly, it is a way to address the changing needs of SEO.
You see, today’s consumer wants to chat. They want to ask questions or get real specific about what they’re looking for (it helps them wade through all that content noise out there)—and this makes queries and searches longer than ever before. You can call it the SIRI-effect…“Siri, what is a pillar page?” The effect is very real, especially with more people using voice searches and search questions as technology continues to advance.
In fact, according to Ahrefs, around 64% of searches are 4 words or longer, which makes pillar pages a dynamite SEO strategy; much more powerful than a blog post. But why is a pillar page such a great SEO strategy?
The quick answer is that search engines have gotten savvier. They are getting better at displaying content that a user wants.
Blogs are often written on a singular topic, but you aren’t necessarily able to put in all the SEO-rich keywords and phrases and subtopics within it. Pillar pages act as a topic cluster. You have a broad main topic, and since the pillar pages are longer, they allow you to bring in several more specific related topics and keywords into the page as well.
Bottom line—you need and want pillar pages to enhance your SEO strategy. You’re able to use the model to link URLs on your website more efficiently, help searchers find information more easily, and hopefully gets more pages on your site ranked by Google.
Here is where information could be written about the technicalities, algorithms, and thought process behind the topic cluster strategy—but you’ll need to be awake, so you can learn how to create pillar pages.
HubSpot says it best: “Topic clusters help more pages rank to give searchers better answers.” You see, at the core, while content is a way to rank and be found, its ultimate goal should be providing answers and solutions to your target audience. Everything should be written with that audience in mind—including your pillar pages.
A topic cluster is choosing your main topic, which should be one that can be broken down into several subtopics easily. Think of it as a way to explore a topic in-depth.
For example, let’s take Content Marketing (which the audience here is obviously interested in). Within that very broad topic you can form a cluster of topics—or subtopics—like:
Even more, you can use subheadings and formatting to answer questions, so that readers who are skimming still get the information they need.
Finding your topic clusters is more straightforward than you think. You have endless tools and data at your disposal. Inspiration is already there. Following are some strategies you can use:
Deciding what to put on your pillar page should be about organizing content in a way that makes it easier to navigate. Approach it with the intent to filter out vague search results. In essence, you are answering your audiences long-tail search queries. In fact, use questions and long-tail keywords as subtitles. For example, how do I create a content strategy?
Another approach is to determine the topics you want to rank for as a business. For example, if your business’s specialty niche is helping businesses harness the power of their accounting software, create a pillar page about the hows, whys, and benefits of using a software consulting firm that teaches your staff how to fully use their QuickBooks. Address the pain points, like how long it can take to navigate software you aren’t familiar with, and how that time can transition into a loss of profit for the company.
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Once you have your topic cluster ready to go, it’s time to determine some logistics for your pillar page. Like any piece of content, a pillar page will need to be individualized to your business. While there are some general rules of thumb, your audience will be more specific in their needs.
Here are some loose rules and keys that will help get you started in creating a pillar page:
Long-tail keywords, keywords, and topic cluster are how you’ll intertwine SEO and your pillar page. The easiest way to begin listing your keywords and key phrases is by brainstorming.
Some people approach it as a question. What are my consumers looking for? Maybe they are looking at “how to create a pillar page.” Look at your topic clusters and pull in keywords and key phrases from coordinating blog posts.
Use Google analytics, or even Google search. You can find what people are looking for simply by typing in the main question, key phrase, or keyword. For example:
If you type in “how to create a pillar page,” not only do you get the results, but a box toward the end of the page stating, “searches related to how to create a pillar page,” with the following results:
There are more results, but you get the point. You can also use the “people also ask,” or as you’re typing it your query into the Google search box, see what other phrases start highlighting below.
