Don't get bogged down in creating 'on-the-fly' content! This will lead you through a maze where you'll be chasing your tail. Having no plan in place is a hit and hope process that you shouldn’t adopt.
So what should you do? Well, a great way to plan your content and create a visual map of it and how it links together is by using topic clusters.
Clustering content isn’t a new concept but it can tend to slip under the radar if you’re not up to speed with how much Google loves connected and authoritative content.
How to create topic clusters
Wrting great content that reflects your expertise and linking it to related pages in your website helps Google ‘understand’ its relevance and context, and will therfefore rank your pages accordingly based on several factors including E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust). This is an important thing to consider when you’re getting started with SEO.
The way to keep your content and its rankings well oiled is to identify topics relevant to your business, create main pages, or pillar pages about said topics, and then formulate cluster pages about sub-topics that link to the pillar pages and each other. Throw in your relevant keywords and ‘boom’! you’re on the road to SEO success.
Pillar content
This is your main topic page. Ideally a long form piece that gives a comprehensive overview of the main topic.
Topic cluster content
These pages are all about the sub-topics related to your pillar content. Let’s say your pillar page is about SEO. The pillar page will be covering everything from on-page optimisation to technical SEO and more. Cluster pages are focused on the sub topics of your pillar page. So you’d have one cluster page about on-page optimisation, another on technical SEO, another on local SEO and so on. All these sub-topic cluster pages will link back to the pillar page and vice versa.
Hyperlinking
This is so important to your internal linking strategy. Linking pages to other relevant content throughout your website sends positive signals to Google. Creating this link juice solidifies the internal equity passed from one page to another. It’s great for E-E-A-T, the user experience, and for your website’s health.
Keyword research
I touched on this earlier. When you’re thinking about clustering your content don’t ignore researching those keywords.
If you don’t have a solid keyword strategy then your SEO topic clusters won’t be effective. You must identify and research your keywords, including long tail keywords, and carefully garnish your pillar and clusters with them.
Measuring your clusters
To understand how well your topic clusters are doing you must measure and track their performance. This can be broken down into four main areas of measurement:
Organic search traffic
Keyword ranking
Dwell time and bounce rates
Click-through-rate (CTR)
1. Organic search traffic
Look at your organic traffic. Is your website seeing an increase of visitors hitting your clusters through organic search? If so, you’re on the right track.
2. Keyword ranking
How well are your target keywords on the pillar page and sub topic pages ranking against your competitors? If you're doing things right, over time you should see an improvement in your keyword ranking.
3. Dwell time and bounce rates
Are your visitors spending more time on your pillar and topic pages or are they bouncing? If they’re bouncing then you need to revisit your content.
4. Click-through-rate (CTR)
Check to see whether your visitors are actually clicking through to your pages within the cluster. A higher CTR between different pieces of content within the cluster shows that your audience is fully engaged.
You can also look at backinks and even ask your audience what it thinks of your website.
So there you have it. Topic clusters are important for your content and are an effective approach that can pay dividends to your overall SEO strategy. Jump11 can help guide you through the process with effective plans that will get started on topic clusters.