Topic Clusters: Everything You Need to Know

When creating content for your business website, how do you pick out your topics? Is it by random, or do you choose a broad subject and then create a series of blog posts discussing matters around it?

If you’ve been doing it randomly, it’s time to change tactics this 2021. That’s because Google has changed its algorithm once again - and it’s now favoring topic clusters.  

In case you’re wondering, topic clusters are groups of related content that altogether cover a broad topic area. It’s a content marketing technique you can use to build strong internal linking, which helps both users and search engine bots find your content.  

The logic behind topic clusters is that the more value you provide users, the more they will trust your site -and the more Google will recognize your credibility and rank you accordingly.  

You should use it along with building backlinks to further strengthen your Fort Lauderdale SEO, establish your authority, and show your expertise in your industry for better ranking.  

In this article, we are going to discuss everything you need to know about topic clusters, including:

• The definition of topic clusters
• Why it’s important for SEO
• The different elements of a topic cluster

• How it can influence your ranking
• Tips on how to create effective topic clusters that boost your SEO

Without any more delays, let’s get started!

What Are Topic Clusters?

A topic cluster is a system where you create numerous pieces of related content-usually based on a keyword you want to rank for.  

For example, if your target keyword or the main topic you want to discuss is healthy eating, then your subtopics should be about nutrition, different types of diet, debunking diet myths, and so on. All these topics are somehow related to each other and are all part of the same cluster.  

Topic clusters are how you build your internal links. They will direct users to find other content within your site that they’ll likely be interested in, and at the same time, allow search engine bots to crawl or find other related content.  

Why Are Topic Clusters Important for SEO?

1. Topic clusters allow you to educate users and provide more value. Compared to shallow blog posts that are stuffed with keywords and are mainly published for ranking purposes, topic clusters allow you to discuss a subject more extensively and thoroughly, which helps educate users and build their confidence in you.  

2. Search engine bots want to see more value from you. Topic clusters are incredibly important for Fort Lauderdale SEO because search engine bots have shifted their focus from keywords to more value, consistency, and expertise from you - and this is the technique that enables you to give them exactly what they want.

3. Great way to organize your content. When done properly, you can use topic clusters to organize your content nicely and neatly, making your content easy to find not just for your visitors, but also for search engine bots.  

Elements of a Topic Cluster

If you’re having a hard time wrapping your head around this relatively new SEO strategy and still can’t picture what it looks like, let us break it down for you:

1. Pillar Page  

A pillar page is a piece of high-quality, long-form content that covers a general topic and links out to several in-depth blog posts about specific subtopics. It should be comprehensive and detailed, like a ‘how-to’ or ‘the ultimate guide’ type of article.  It should also be properly structured and easy to read.

2. Content Cluster

A content cluster is a group of supporting articles that are related to the pillar page. These articles tend to focus on a specific subtopic, are generally shorter in length, and always link back to the pillar page.  

3. Hyperlinks

A hyperlink is what connects your topic clusters and pillar page. Basically, you need to incorporate an internal link of every single content cluster to your pillar page. This signals Google that they’re all related and that you’re an expert on this particular subject.  

How Can Topic Clusters Influence Your Ranking?

1. Google has shifted its focus from keywords to topic and passage comprehension. Google recently announced a breakthrough in ranking technology that allows algorithms to determine the relevancy of a paragraph or sentence within the page. They also said that they advanced their ability to understand subtopics around a general topic to drive search and improve user experience.

Topic clusters allow you to do this by organizing blog posts that cover broad topics and linking out to more detailed articles from relevant passages.  

2. Boosts context, relevance, and expertise. Another remarkable thing about topic clusters is that they help search engine bots understand the context, connection, and order of each page within a group of content. This is incredibly helpful because they provide nuance between your pages.  

Furthermore, topic clusters also allow you to cover a subject more thoroughly. And, when those pages interlink with each other, they signal Google that you’re an expert on that specific subject matter. Expertise, authority, and trust (EAT) are crucial to search rankings, and topic clusters are the content strategy that strengthens those qualities in your website.  

3. Content clusters advance your keyword research. Many writers, marketers, and business owners do keyword research wrong. They only focus on the most competitive keywords with large search volumes, and they fail to realize how other keywords that are related to each other work together to push a prospect through the buyer’s journey.  As a result, they only produce one piece of content that solves only one of the many pain points prospects have during their journey, leaving them wanting more.  

Conversely, long-tail keywords that overlap each other significant results in keyword cannibalization, which kills your traffic and ranking. What’s even worse is that users might lose interest in your site because of redundancy in content.  

When you use the topic clusters approach to keyword research, you tend to organize terms or phrases into groups, which allows you to present your content team with a list of systemized keywords. This leads to your content appearing more unified, organized, and it will make more sense to users.  

4. Topic clusters improve the user experience and increase conversions. Creating content around the main topic that solves multiple pain points for different users lets you create a path that will help them move seamlessly down the conversion funnel without cannibalizing your keywords.  

Because of this, you’ll be able to direct them to another piece of content that they will find relevant and most likely answer the questions or doubts they have in mind.  

How to Create Topic Clusters That Strengthen Your SEO?

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While topic clusters might sound overwhelming, they’re easy to learn and do. In fact, it’s just a matter of writing several awesome blog posts and establishing a connection between them and your pillar page.  But of course, there is a proper way to do it.  

1. Audit Your Existing Content

If you already have existing content, then you can start turning those into a topic cluster.  

How?

First, take a look at the keywords you were targeting in the past, as well as the blog posts that have been generating you the most traffic. Analyze them and ask yourself if there are any subtopics around them that you can discuss thoroughly and what questions people are asking about these topics.  

2. Decide on a Pillar Topic and Subtopics You Want to Rank for

Once you’ve examined your existing content and decided which of them you’ll create a content cluster around, it’s time to make fresh pillar topics.  

A pillar topic needs to be a primary topic in your niche. It must be a sought-after topic - something that your target audience really needs or wants. More importantly, you should know the intent behind why they’re interested in that certain topic so you can build content clusters from the right angle.  

One way of understanding why people are searching for a certain topic you want to rank for is to check the search engine results pages. See which pages are currently ranking for a certain subject matter and examine how they’re approaching the topic.  

Here are two tools you can use to help you start your keyword research:

• SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool- Use this tool to find a list of search terms that users are searching for within a certain topic
• Answer The Public- Use this tool to visualize search questions and to know what the suggested autocomplete searches in Google are.

After discovering your audience’s intent on choosing the keywords, you can now choose subtopics to discuss that will resonate with your readers.  

3. Interlink Your Content Cluster

Interlink is the thread that ties topic clusters together. After creating your pillar page and subtopic pages, you may start linking them with each other. This means you need to link between subtopics and subtopics back to your pillar page.  

Be smart about using anchor text. They should be relevant to the content you’re linking to and don’t forget to optimize them.  

4. Track Success and Edit

The results will not come overnight, so you need to be patient. Once you start to notice progress, make sure to track changes, measure success, and apply the necessary adjustments to achieve the results you want.  

You can use Google Analytics to help you track progress. Some of the key metrics you should pay special attention to are:

• Bounce rate- allows you to measure how your topic clusters grab the interest of your target audience

• Conversion rate- measures how effective your topic clusters are in conveying value to your audience
• Average time on page- measures how engaging your topic clusters are to your target audience
• Page value- allows you to understand which page in your site is mostly responsible for your site’s revenue
• Exit rate- reveals that something is wrong with your page or topic clusters given that they cause potential buyers to leave right away after checking them out

Looking for an SEO Expert in Fort Lauderdale?

We all know how important creating content is, not just for the use of keywords or to provide value to users and attract more traffic, but also to build links, both external and internal.  

That is why topic clusters should be a part of your content marketing strategy. They’re a  proven and tested way to boost your Fort Lauderdale SEO and increase your rankings!

If you need help with building a solid SEO strategy that includes topic clusters, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!  

At Digital Resource, we can help you get the leads you need by building you an SEO strategy that’s unique to your needs and business goals!

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