What is a Pillar Content Strategy for SEO?

A pillar content strategy is a content marketing approach that involves creating a series of comprehensive, in-depth, and high-quality pieces of content (known as "pillar content") around core topics or themes that are central to your business or niche. These pillar pieces serve as the foundation for your content marketing efforts and are designed to provide authoritative, evergreen information on a specific subject. Pillar content is supported by associated "cluster content" which are smaller pieces of content that supports and expands upon the topics and subtopics covered in the pillar content.

The pillar content strategy typically consists of the following key elements:

Pillar Content

These are the central pieces of content, most often long-form articles, guides, or multimedia content, which cover broad and essential topics related to your industry, products, or services. Pillar content is thorough, comprehensive, and can stand the test of time.

Example of Pillar Content (for a Video Production Company in Atlanta)

Let's take a look at an example of pillar content for a video production company in Atlanta.

Pillar Post Title: "The Ultimate Guide to Corporate Video Production: Engage, Educate, Elevate"

Description: This pillar content serves as a comprehensive guide to corporate video production. It covers various aspects of creating effective corporate videos, including strategy, pre-production, shooting, editing, and distribution. The post is long-form and provides valuable insights into every step of the corporate video production process.

Cluster Content

Cluster content pieces are related, smaller content items that delve deeper into subtopics or aspects of the central pillar content. They link back to the pillar content and provide additional context, insights, or specific details.

Examples of Cluster Content (for a Video Production Company in Atlanta)

1. Cluster Content Title: "Crafting a Compelling Corporate Video Script"

Description: This cluster content piece focuses on the art of scriptwriting for corporate videos. It discusses the importance of a well-crafted script, offers tips for writing engaging content, and provides examples of successful corporate video scripts.

2. Cluster Content Title: "Choosing the Right Visual Style for Your Corporate Video"

Description: This cluster content article explores the visual aspects of corporate video production. It delves into selecting the appropriate visual style, such as animation, live-action, or a combination, and provides insights into the impact of different styles on the message.

3. Cluster Content Title: "Video Equipment Essentials for High-Quality Corporate Videos"

Description: This cluster content piece discusses the equipment required for shooting professional corporate videos. It covers cameras, lighting, audio gear, and accessories, helping readers understand what's needed for a successful shoot.

4. Cluster Content Title: "The Art of Video Editing: Enhancing Your Corporate Video"

Description: This cluster content dives into the post-production phase of corporate video production. It offers tips on video editing, color correction, sound design, and adding graphics and animations to make videos more engaging.

5. Cluster Content Title: "Distribution Strategies for Corporate Videos: Maximizing Impact"

Description: This cluster content article focuses on the distribution and marketing of corporate videos. It discusses strategies for sharing videos on various platforms, optimizing for SEO, and measuring the impact of video marketing efforts.

How Pillar/Cluster Strategy Can Support Local SEO

The pillar/cluster content model is a smart framework to strengthen local SEO efforts—especially for service-based businesses. By organizing local seo topic cluster content around specific geographic areas you serve (with “[Service] in [City]” pillar pages and supporting blog posts), you can improve local keyword targeting and demonstrate topical relevance in each location. This approach can be especially helpful when you're trying to show up in search results for areas where you don’t have a physical location. We’re currently testing this method on our own Atlanta Web Design landing page—stay tuned for insights in our local topic cluster case study.

Internal Linking

A crucial aspect of pillar content strategy is to create a network of internal links connecting cluster content to the pillar content. This enhances the user experience and helps search engines understand the relationships between your content pieces.

SEO and Keywords

Pillar content should be optimized for search engines, using relevant keywords and structured data to make it easier for search engines to understand and index the content.

Evergreen Content

Pillar content should be evergreen, meaning it remains relevant and valuable to your audience over an extended period. While trends and statistics may change, the core information remains valuable.

Authority Building

Pillar content is aimed at establishing your authority in your niche or industry. It positions you as a trusted source of information. Establishing Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-A-T-T) is an important component of ranking will in Google search results.

Content Upkeep

Over time, you should regularly update and refresh your pillar content to keep it accurate and relevant. This shows your commitment to providing valuable resources.

Content Promotion

Content promotion is a critical component of a pillar content strategy, and it goes hand in hand with creating valuable pillar and cluster content. While the creation of high-quality, comprehensive content is essential, it's equally important to ensure that the content reaches your target audience. Content promotion involves various activities to increase the visibility and reach of your pillar and cluster content such as:

• Social Media Sharing
• Direct via Email Marketing
• Press Releases
• Paid Advertising

A Pillar Content Strategy is Effective at Generating Organic Traffic

The pillar content strategy is particularly effective in generating organic traffic, improving your site's search engine ranking, and establishing your brand as an industry leader. It also helps to keep your website organized, making it easier for visitors to find relevant information and encouraging longer sessions on your site.

By providing a comprehensive and interconnected web of valuable content, pillar content strategies can lead to improved user engagement, trust, and, ultimately, conversions and business growth.