What Is a Pillar Page? And Why You Need to Add it In SEO Strategy
Every time anyone thinks that they fully understand SEO something changes and there is something new to grasp and understand. However, it isn’t going to be easy to ever fully understand this type of search because the algorithms are complex and they are forever changing. The behavior of humans is also evolving, which means that the technology that is used is changing too, which includes pillar pages. Keep reading to learn more about pillar pages and why they are going to be important for your SEO strategy.
What Exactly is a Pillar Page?
The first thing that you are going to need to understand is what exactly a pillar page is and this isn’t a new concept. Marketers have been saying since 2006 that more foundational, valuable and longer content is the way to go when helping customers get the answers that they need and want. Simply put the pillar page is a long style content piece that has details and information regarding the main topics and that links out to other information that is useful and relevant.
You are going to have a topic cluster, which is built around the pillar page and it would cover a specific topic that is related to your business, products and even services. This is going to be the page where all of the basic and frequently asked questions would be fully answered and it should have everything that anyone might want to know. By creating these pages that answer the questions that most viewers would have, then the search engines are going to see that the content you are putting up is the most informative and relevant.
You also want to think about how this type of page is different from your regular blog post or web page. First off, this type of content is often a lot longer than any of the average blogs or website pages and it also has a table of contents or even chapters that make navigation easier. If you are going to be creating a pillar page you want to ensure that the topic would be able to have some 20 to 30 posts. These posts are going to be linked and should answer some main questions, including the basics of why, where, when, what, who and even how regarding the topic while staying relevant.
What is a Topic Cluster?
Another thing that you are going to want to know about is a topic cluster and this is a group of various content that is properly organized and then grouped by a common topic and the related subtopics. This is one of the best SEO services strategies that are out there and the topic cluster is not going to be focused on specific keywords, but rather topics. This would make the architecture of the website better and it would also make it much easier for search engines to search for any related content, which increases your visibility on the search engine results.
In the model for a topic cluster, there are going to be different groupings and each of them would cover one topic. The structure would start with your “pillar” which is a broader outline about the topic and then the content for the clusters that would be based on various long-tail keywords. The cluster pages would then link back to the pillar page while the pillar page does the same to the cluster page using specific hyperlinked keywords for the pages.
This would help the web crawlers find the connections easier, which would boost your site when it comes to the results of the search engine results. In the larger picture, these pages are going to help your customers and readers get comprehensive and detailed coverage of a single and specific topic.
How You Create Your Pillar Page
There are going to be various steps that you are going to need to take when it comes to creating your pillage pages and you need to know them. These steps include:
- Strategize
- Creation of topic cluster
- Write the content for the pillar page
- Edit the content
- Design
Strategize –
You would need to sit down with the other members of your team and brainstorm to create the right strategy. You should consider what are the largest pain points when it comes to the buyers and then you can separate them into topic areas and then expand on them more that would be based on your detailed keyword research. One good thing to do when it comes to creating the right strategy is to brainstorm with a huge and diverse group so you are getting different viewpoints.
Creation of topic cluster –
Once you have figured out what are the topics and the subtopics that you are going to want to cover, then you can start to interconnect all of your content. You can undertake a full audit of your site so that you can see what content is already there and what you are going to need to have created. This should span your entire website, including the content offers, blog posts and even pages and you can easily connect these later.
Write the content for the pillar page –
By this point, you are going to know exactly what the topic is that you are going to be covering along with the links for your topic cluster. Once all of this is done, then you are going to want to sit down and start to write out the long-form content for the page. You should start by creating the table of contents for your page since it can help you to organize what you are thinking and would guide the user easily through the page. Make sure that you are considering the headings that would be asking the questions that the readers are asking, which could help get you the Google snippet position.
Edit the content –
No matter how good you think you are at writing you are always going to want to get more opinions. This is because everyone tends to make mistakes and you won’t always catch them while others might, so let others check out your content. You want to ensure that it is the highest quality possible and you don’t want to miss out on any issues.
Design –
The final thing that you are going to have to consider is the design of the page and you should think about having this prominent on the site. This isn’t something that you would just want to bury, but instead, you want it to be promoted and within the navigation of your main site.
These are all important steps that would need to be taken when you are creating your pillar page. Knowing these things will help you to understand exactly why this would be important when it comes to your SEO strategy.
Knowing what is becoming more and more popular in terms of SEO is critical and you should ensure that you are keeping up-to-date. This pillar page is going to help your customers and readers find all of the information that they need in an easy to read place with links all over. The more links that you have and the more questions that you are answering while keeping the information relevant, then the higher your site would rank on the search engine results.
If you have any queries, feel free to ask. EZ Ranking – Small Business SEO Company, will assist you.