Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a crucial element of any effective online strategy in the field...
What is the Pillar and Cluster method? A Beginners Guide to SEO
The pillar and cluster method is a popular approach to search engine optimisation (SEO). It involves organising a website's content into a hierarchy of pillars and clusters. This approach helps to improve the relevance and coherence of a website's content, making it more likely to rank well in search engine results pages.
What is a Pillar Page? (Also known as Cornerstone content)
A pillar page is a broad, high-level page that covers a broad topic or theme. It serves as the foundation or "pillar" of the website's content, and provides an overview of the topic. The pillar page should provide a thorough and comprehensive explanation of the topic, and should include a variety of sub-topics and related information.
What is a Cluster Page?
Cluster pages are a group of pages that are closely related to the pillar page and expand on the sub-topics introduced in the pillar page. These pages provide more detailed information on specific sub-topics, and are linked to the pillar page. This creates a "cluster" of pages that are related to the main topic, and helps to provide a more comprehensive and coherent view of the topic for both users and search engines.
What are the advantages of using the Pillar and Cluster method?
One advantage of the pillar and cluster approach is that it helps to improve the relevance and coherence of a website's content. By organising the content into a hierarchy of broad topics and sub-topics, the website's content becomes more focused and easier for users to navigate. This can help to improve the user experience, and can make it more likely that users will find the information they are looking for on the website.
Another advantage of the pillar and cluster approach is that it can help to improve a website's ranking in search engine results pages. By organising the content into a hierarchy of pillars and clusters, the website's content becomes more relevant and coherent. This can make it more likely that search engines will rank the website well for relevant keywords and phrases. In addition, the internal linking structure created by the pillar and cluster approach can help to improve the website's link authority, which is another important factor that search engines use to determine a website's ranking.
How do you implement the Pillar and Cluster method?
To implement the pillar and cluster approach, you will need to first identify the broad topics or themes that your website covers. These will become the pillars of your website's content. Once you have identified the pillars, you can create a pillar page for each one. The pillar page should provide a comprehensive overview of the topic, and should include a variety of sub-topics and related information.
Once you have created the pillar pages, you can start creating cluster pages. These are pages that are closely related to the pillar page and expand on the sub-topics introduced in the pillar page. The cluster pages should provide more detailed information on specific sub-topics, and should be linked to the pillar page. This will create a "cluster" of pages that are related to the main topic, and will help to provide a more comprehensive and coherent view of the topic for both users and search engines.
In addition to creating pillar and cluster pages, you will also need to optimise the content on these pages for SEO. This involves using relevant keywords and phrases throughout the content, and ensuring that the content is well-written and engaging. You should also include internal links to other pages on your website, and try to get other websites to link to your pages. This will help to improve the visibility and ranking of your website in search engine results pages.
In Summary
In conclusion, the pillar and cluster approach is a popular method for organising a website's content and improving its ranking in search engine results pages. By organising the content into a hierarchy of pillars and clusters, the website's content becomes more relevant and coherent, which can improve the user experience and make it more likely that search engines will rank the website well.
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