Pillar content sounds monumental, and yes, it is. Think towering structures of biblical proportions——huge, immense, gargantuan… Blimey. Pillar content supports all other content. It’s the broad topic that neatly arranges your subcategories——aha! (This article is a little TL;DR, so maybe bookmark it.)
Here’s what we’re covering:
Why do you need pillar content?
Well, chuck, it increases the chance of people finding your stuff. Content arranged logically will make visits to your website a joy. Pillar content has Google saying, hello, what’s all this then, more great info about [INSERT TOPIC TITLE HERE]??
A homepage points to key content (that should be the content users find the most helpful). Sadly, blog pages are nowhere near that organised, and blogging is where pillar content happens. A blog post might link to other web pages, but pillar content focuses on blog content.
When writing blogs, we assign a focus keyword to each post. We add links (internal/outbound) and include a Call To Action (CTA):
The name of the game is to optimise the living shit out of each blog article, and with pillar content, you do the same, except you’re not just relying on individual blog pages to drive traffic——hell, no! Suddenly, you have loads of articles working in unison covering your niche. Before you know it, you’re on your way to building something called topical authority.
“Topical authority is an SEO concept where a website aims to become the go-to authority on one or more topics.
>>Ahrefs Blog<<
Building topical authority is about helping search engines understand a website’s topic so that it has better potential to rank for topically related keywords.”
When you view blog articles as separate entities, you run the risk of keyword cannibalisation (which sounds horrifying). This happens when pages target the same keyword. Pillar content stops your website from eating itself because you have a better grip on what you’re publishing.
Side note: SEO plugins like RankMath notify you when targeting the same keyword. To defeat keyword cannibals, merge content or change/remove the keyword.
Organising your content this way also reveals content gaps.
Topic holes are the biggie (when you run a content gap analysis), but outdated content, irrelevant content, badly written content, poor user experience, and zero search optimisation are also gaps pillar content highlights.
Pillar content revolutionises how you create content. I’m not suggesting you delete your blog (unless it’s the worst blog ever), but when you add pillars, you’ll soon see which articles to keep and which to ditch.
Side note: don’t get attached to content. If it ain’t serving your audience, get rid.
Cornerstone content vs. pillar content.
Cornerstone content is a website’s most valuable content. Correction: the content most valuable to the audience. For example, we tend to point to cornerstone content on our homepage, and it’s often the content we want to rank the highest. Pillar content builds topical authority through purposeful, structured content (and it can also be cornerstone content).
How to create pillar content.
Start by choosing the broad subject your content falls under. (Make it make sense. Don’t go blogging about romantic city breaks on your auto parts website.) Think about the keywords you target. If you’re already using the ideal keyword, consolidate existing content with your new pillar or research another keyword.
Content audit.
Time for a content deep clean.
“Old content gets found on the interwebs. Articles from days of yore still attract web traffic, so why wouldn’t you update old blog posts? A blog’s priority is to provide evergreen content, the kind of content that lasts a long-ass time. But that doesn’t mean it’s maintenance-free, nope, all content requires an audit once in a while.”
— >>Update old blog posts (and SEO ’em): an easy-peasy guide<<
Get your nerd on and create a blog content spreadsheet. It helps manage articles and highlights duplicate content. The blog posts you keep will become your new cluster content. Way-hay!
Side note: auditing might reveal several broad subjects. That’s cool, you’ll just need more than one pillar.
Cluster content.
Cluster content is what your pillar content links to. (For example, my ‘SEO’ pillar points to articles about user experience, keywords, organic traffic, etc.) Old content you’ve kept from the audit is your starting point. Run a content gap analysis on existing articles to make sure they’re good enough for cluster content. You’re building a library, one that helps the user navigate to more information, so new blog posts will become cluster content.
New pillar.
Once you’ve established your broad topic(s) and sorted out the content that stays, you’re ready! To build a content pillar, create a new blog post. This blog post/pillar will be a one-stop shop for every article you’ve published on your broad topic. Yes, this baby will be very TL;DR!
Here’s what to include:
- Table of contents
- Headings for each subcategory
- Introductions for each subcategory
- Clickable buttons and links to subcategory (cluster) content
Providing a table of contents allows users to skip through sections. Offer them a downloadable version as a lead magnet and/or provide a print option.
Each subcategory introduction should clearly describe what visitors can expect (and what they can learn) when they hit cluster content links.
Here’s what your pillar content structure should look like:
See, cornerstone content can be selected from anywhere.
Cluster content articles (blog posts) can link to other content (other articles, pages, cornerstones, and pillars). It just has to make sense. Think of it as a cross-pollination content fest! You’re creating accessible logical pathways through your website. Doing so encourages dwell time.
“Dwell time is the amount of time a user spends on a page after clicking through from search results before returning to those same search results.”
>>Semrush Blog<<
Pillar content checklist:
- Make it worth reading
- Make it skimmable
- Use mixed media
- Include hard and soft CTAs
- Regularly add/update the content
The ugly truth is, folks won’t read every word, but write it as if they will.
Just like regular blog posts, use headings and digestible paragraphs. Think yummy, bite-sized morsels.
Include infographics, audio, and video. Users respond to different content. Make each pillar as stimulating as possible.
Pillars can contain many subcategories. Ending on a single CTA might be tricky. Instead, scatter relevant soft CTAs to round off each subcategory (eg, a newsletter signup). Finishing each pillar with a hard CTA is a good idea (eg, a Calendly link). If a user has read everything, there’s a real chance they’re interested in your offer.
Don’t neglect your pillars. Update and revise their content. And if it no longer applies, bin it.
Pillar content examples.
I have two pieces of pillar content: >>The Misfit’s Guide to SEO<< and >>The Misfit’s Guide to Content Writing<<.
First published, 11th April 2024.
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