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Learn how you can optimize your content to rank higher

Topic clusters in SEO can help improve the search ranking of your web pages and drive more visitors to your blog and website. Read this handy guide that explains the model and how you can restructure your content to create impact.

What is the pillar-cluster model?

Intent-based approach focused on topics rather than keywords
Pillar page acts as a content hub, giving an overview of the topic and establishing authority
Cluster pages deep dive into subtopics, linking back to the pillar page and each other using anchor text

4 reasons why it is important for SEO

71% of consumers prefer voice searches over the traditional method of typing a query
With Google's Hummingbird update, the algorithm parses phrases rather than keywords
Google RankBrain uses machine learning to understand the topical context of searches
Overlapping content and URL structures within the same blog tend to compete in search results

How to develop an effective topic-cluster strategy

Understand pain points of the target persona through research/ surveys
Create broad topic areas for the pillar pages from the set of problems
Explore subtopics/ long-tail keywords for cluster pages using keyword research
List out ideas, develop the content, analyze results and optimize

3 steps to restructure your existing blog

Organize content: Audit posts and group them under topics/ pillars (broad enough to anchor multiple posts, yet not too broad to hinder a deep dive)
Identify gaps: Make sure your clusters cover keywords that have the highest search volume and create additional posts if they don’t; remove content duplicates
Re-link pages: Change internal hyperlinks to link the blog posts within topic clusters, improving domain authority of the pillar page

Start creating SEO and user-friendly content

By implementing the pillar-cluster model, you help search engines understand the semantic relationship between pages, and improve the user experience and search ranking.