What Are Topic Clusters and How Do They Work?

Topic clusters are a way of finding relevant, high-quality content for a specific topic. It is achieved by grouping related keywords together and then filtering out irrelevant keywords.

At the heart of a content cluster strategy is strategic internal linking. Topic clusters are a group of content that revolves around a central topic and use a pillar page to link to and from. In short, topic clusters are centered around a single topic and offer multiple internal linking opportunities to keep readers on your site.?

Your content cluster should start with a robust pillar page and then include links to all-related topic cluster pages. More specifically, this breakdown looks like:

Pillar. Your hub for a specific topic. Pillar pages are generally broad and link to multiple topic cluster pages.
Topic cluster.?A more in-depth page that answers a specific question about your broad topic and links back to the main pillar page.

Following the topic cluster model has many benefits, including:?

More organized content.?Pillar pages allow your organization to organize your content. Pillar pages are designed to organize your blog around topic cluster pages.?
Improved SEO.?Linking topic cluster pages to pillar pages will eventually improve your SEO by giving your blog authority over a particular topic.?
Increased content production speed.?Once you?ve done the bulk of the work creating a pillar page, topic cluster pages are much simpler to create since the research you do will apply to all of your content.?
More comprehensive content.?Avoid an overlap or gaps in your content. For example, if you are writing about financing higher education and mention student loans on your pillar page, the cluster pages can include loan types or scholarship opportunities. In this way, your original blog will not go too in-depth on these topics.?

How to Create Topic Clusters

The pillar-topic cluster model enables organizations to streamline their content creation and produce better content in less time. The goal of clustering your content goes beyond traditional SEO strategies to help you create quality information. Your content should be planned, researched, and delivered in multiple content formats.?

What Are Topic Clusters and How Do They Work?

If you're in the process of?developing your content strategy, you need to determine how to divide and conquer your plan. As we have discussed in past posts, you?should be creating clusters related to one key topic, developing a pillar page for that topic,?and then subpages.?

When content writers structure their content this way,?with pillar pages and topic clusters to attract organic web traffic, you have a more organized approach to content creation. In this guide, we?ll cover the basics of topic clusters and how including them in your content structures can improve your marketing strategy.?