Pillar pages broadly cover a particular topic, and the cluster content should address a specific keyword related to that topic in depth. For example, you could write a pillar page about content marketing (a broad topic) and a piece of cluster content about blogs, a more specific keyword within the topic. Pillar content is a strategy that focuses on topics, rather than keywords. You create a lot of valuable content around a central theme, or “pillar”.
Content pillars are 3 to 5 topics that your brand will consistently discuss, amplify, and create content across social media. As social media strategist Christina Galbato explains: “You might hear them called content categories or content groups. They all mean the same thing. The example of WordPress, a popular content management system, has an attractive pillar page that covers all support issues with your product.
A sub-topic column page is similar to a column page, because it completely immerses itself in a particular topic with the goal of fully covering it. Linking the cluster content to your pillar page with the anchor text of your main term will help Google track your site's architecture and rank you accordingly. Keep in mind that these visuals are perfect for sharing on social media, email marketing, and other channels to promote pillar content. If you want your pillar content to rank, you'll need to optimize your links (both internal and backlinks from external sources) to start gaining ground.
Consider that the pillar page is the head of your content marketing plan, while the group themes are the legs, arms and torso that support it. Pillar pages focused on evergreen content can work especially well with both readers and search engines, as long as you have enough high-quality cluster themes to support them. Finally, if your subtopics are well thought out, they'll spend more time on your site navigating the related parts of the hyperlinked cluster content on your pillar page. Content efforts also drove a 20% increase in direct referrals (year over year) and achieved record efficiency in media spend thanks to Northwell's personalized media plan for each piece of content.
That 60-page report is the perfect example of a large amount of content that is broken down into smaller, consumable pieces of content to reach a wider audience and attract new eyes. The first step in planning your content pillar is to figure out how you're going to create that larger piece of content and devise strategies to make the most of each section. As a general rule, your pillar content has the greatest potential to get a lot of backlinks, since it covers the topic in depth. Topic groups are built around a piece of pillar content that addresses a broad topic, linked to several related pages but with a narrower focus.
Recently, the CMO Council released an excellent white paper on content marketing and how organizations use content to drive traffic, leads, and revenue. Although column pages have a direct relationship to the problem that your organization solves, the relationship is less direct for column pages in child topics.
