What is a Topic Cluster?

February 11, 2022

Blogging, Inbound Marketing, SEO, Content Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), User Experience

A topic cluster is multiple pages of content on your website — pillar pages, blog posts, infographics, videos, etc. — that all are delivering detailed information relating to a broad common subject.

Think of the subject as the umbrella that shelters all the individual pieces of content, or the bucket that holds them together and keeps them from spreading out to unrelated areas.

A topic cluster organizes related content and links it together. This helps your customer find the information that’s relevant to what they need, and it also shows Google that you know a lot about the subject, and is the key to any great inbound marketing strategy.

Organization of a Topic Cluster

A pillar page is at the heart of the topic cluster. Pillar pages are long and authoritative pages focused on a single topic but in a very general sense. The idea of clustering related topic together isn’t completely new. If you have an existing blog, you likely have the content organized by categories.

The difference is that topic clusters are intentionally structured around a unifying pillar page with links connecting everything.

Clusters and Categories

The idea of clustering related topic together isn’t completely new. If you have an existing blog, you likely have the content organized by categories.

The difference is that topic clusters are intentionally structured around a unifying pillar page with links connecting everything.

Good for SEO

HubSpot calls topic clusters “the next evolution of SEO” (search engine optimization) because like a rising tide that lifts all boats, the practice of building topic clusters lifts your overall search ranking over time.

How people search for information online has evolved. These days, people search by typing in questions. But people searching for the same answers may type in different variations on the search questions.

Topic clusters are being rewarded by search engines because they’re better recognized as providing relevant information to a number of variat The goal of the pillar page is to answer as many questions someone may have about the topic, but without going into great detail.

Supporting blog posts or other content pages answer the questions in more detail and provide more in-depth information on sub-topics mentioned on the pillar page.

The pillar page and blog posts are connected by hyperlinks that direct the reader back and forth and make it easy for them to navigate the information. The links also tell Google that the content is part of the topic cluster.

Another way to visualize a topic cluster is to think of a wheel. The pillar page is the center hub, the blog posts and other supporting content are the spokes, and the links are the rim that holds it all together. The complete wheel represents the entire topic cluster.