The idea of a topic cluster content strategy is simple—it groups blog posts about related topics together rather than targeting individual long-tail keywords.
This strategy helps to make your content more visible and engaging to both search engines and readers. Here’s your complete guide to this type of content creation.
What is a Topic Cluster?
A topic cluster can be defined as a group of related blog posts around one topic. This can include multiple pieces of content like an article, video, or podcast episode.
The concept of a topic cluster is to provide readers and search engines with everything they need in one place, instead of bobbing from one page to the next looking for information on the same topic.
A topic cluster strategy is often preferred over an individual long-tail keyword strategy because search engines can easily index all of the related blog posts together, as opposed to single pages. When discussing topic clusters, you’re going to need to know the following terms:
- Pillar Content: Pillar content is the primary material you want readers to interact with, such as an article.
- Cluster Content: This is content relevant to the pillar content that supports the topic but may not be as important.
- Internal Hyperlinks: These are links within blog posts that point to other blog posts on the same topic.
The Benefits of Topic Cluster Content Strategy
Using a topic cluster content strategy, you can provide readers with everything they need without forcing them to bounce from page to page during their search. This makes your content more valuable and more accessible for search engine crawlers to index.
Additionally, this helps you establish yourself as a subject matter expert by providing high-value information on multiple topics, instead of just one or two.
How to Create a Topic Cluster Content Strategy
To create your strategy, you want to identify your blog’s primary focus. From there, you can section out into other relevant topics that are related or tangentially related, based on your topic research and your industry knowledge.
The easiest way to picture topic clusters is to imagine a site map. You have your primary pillar pieces, and underneath each of these is related content, aka cluster pieces.
For example, one standard pillar piece for those in the marketing industry may include “Blog Writing Service.” From there, you’ll want to discuss various topics that answer common questions around blog writing or blog writing services. Topics covered could be:
- How to Start Writing a Blog
- Should I Hire Freelancers for My Company Blog
- Blog Writing Services: Expectations vs. Reality
- 7 Myths About Blog Writing & SEO Services: Busted
This topic-cluster strategy allows experts to show their expertise in a specific area by creating relevant and valuable content for the target audience.
Topic clusters provide expert insight into various topics related to one another, which can benefit both readers and search engines because they recognize an authority on those subjects.
Not quite sure how to include multiple related topics in your blog posts? Here are several things to help guide you in selecting a number of similar topics for your cluster:
- Include a variety of blog post titles that are related to the topic cluster.
- Keep your readers front of mind when creating content. What would they like to read? How can you make it easy for them to find what they want on your website?
- Introduce an idea and provide links to articles outside of your site for additional reading (providing readers with more high-value information).
- Make sure every sentence supports and drives home the main point or purpose.
- Write about different aspects within one topic by using bullet points.
- Cover similar topics from multiple angles – questions & answers, personal stories/experiences, DIY tutorials, etcetera.
A good topic cluster strategy allows experts such as doctors, lawyers, educators, and the like to show their expertise in a specific area through relevant and valuable content for their target audience – while still providing some insight into their own core topics.
What is a Topic Cluster Hierarchy?
A topic cluster hierarchy lays out all the contents of a subject area and then sub-divides them into manageable sections.
The main advantages to using a topic cluster hierarchy include:
- Enabling you to create content with a focus, instead of just broadening your scope across too many topics.
- Helping readers find what they need faster because there’s less chance that their topic will be buried amongst numerous others on your site.
- Letting visitors know where else they could go for other information.
A good strategy here would be to have an overarching theme that could tie together several niche themes. This creates a niche-specific topic cluster for readers who are interested in this particular area.
Another advantage is that it can help you create a content map of all the different topics on your site and where they fit into the bigger picture, which will also show you what needs to be updated or created next.
What Tools Can Be Used to Create a Topic Cluster?
When looking for help with generating a topic cluster or topic cluster hierarchy, you’ll want to investigate tools such as:
- KW Finder by Yoast
- SEMrush
- People Also Ask
- Answer The Public
- HubSpot Topic Cluster Generator Tool
Include Topic Clusters in Your Content Strategy
A topic cluster isn’t necessarily about what keyword you should target, but rather how to organize your content. With a more organized approach to your topics, search engines and readers will recognize you as an expert in your industry/niche, and not someone who is just out to hit a trending keyword.
Need help implementing topic clusters into your content strategy? Then contact the ContentMender team today!
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