Currently, having an online presence and standing out on the internet is one of the most important tasks that need to be overcome by companies that want to stay in the market. To make this easier, several tools and methods were created that must be followed in the communication channels to be successful, as is the case with the Topic Clusters strategy.

Topic Clusters is an SEO strategy that has become new in the market and in the world of marketing, designed for the way users interact with search engines.

But, do you know what Topic Cluster is and how this method can help increase the viewership of your website’s content?

In this article, we will explain everything you need to know to put together your strategy and stand out from the competition . Check out!

What does Topic Clusters mean?

Topic Cluster, translated from English, means “group of topics ”. It’s a strategy created by HubSpot , aimed at changing people’s behavior online and how they search on search engines, especially Google.

In practice, this means organizing your website’s SEO materials into content groups that surround a central topic. In other words, Topic Cluster seeks to connect SEO content so that they are interconnected, targeting a specific topic.

With the aim of improving the position of content on search engines , the Topic Cluster strategy aims at the new way in which people relate to the internet and changes in search engines.

Previously, Google only understood specific searches, which varied according to the keyword typed. Today, searches are guided by the user’s search intention, who already has more “intimacy” with the internet, and searches in a more natural way , as if they were talking to someone.

In this sense, the keyword is no longer all that matters when writing SEO content. Therefore, the Topic Cluster was invented, aiming to offer greater context about the topic being researched.

Want to know how this works in practice? Keep following!

How does the Topic Clusters strategy work?

As the Topic Cluster aims to interconnect the website’s SEO content, the strategy aims at a planned structure of these materials. It has three main elements, namely:

• pillar post;
• clusters;
• internal linking.

Below, we will explain each one in more detail.

pillar post

The post pillar is the group’s central content . In other words, the theme that will connect all SEO posts together.

It works as the supporting structure for the other posts and, therefore, needs to have a more general theme, which can be divided between several other categories. In other words, it needs to have a keyword that covers broader content .

For example, in a marketing agency , it is possible to create a Topic Cluster strategy in which the theme of a pillar post is “digital marketing”. From this theme, it is possible to create other topics (clusters, as we will see later) that are more specific on the subject, such as “ Inbound Marketing ”, “Outbound Marketing”, “ personas ” and much more.

There may be several different pillar post groups, depending on the topic covered. In this sense, it is worth remembering that the contents of the pillar and clusters must be related to each other . In other words, no putting a cluster on remote work in a digital marketing pillar post, for example.

Clusters

The clusters, as we already mentioned, are the content that will be created around the post pillar, which relates to the main theme. While post pillar groups focus on broader subjects that can be broken down, clusters are more specific subjects that are related to the pillar.

In other words, while the pillar can explore several subjects within the same theme, the cluster aims to explain a specific point within that general content .

To find the topics that should be covered, it is worth defining a pillar post that has to do with the content of your website and searching for keywords that can be included within this material and that will later become specific posts on the subject.

In short, if your subject is “digital marketing”, it’s worth creating a pillar post that briefly talks about personas and then creating a specific cluster on that subject.

The post pillar and the clusters must be interconnected so that the search engine understands the structure as one, and thus improves the ranking of the content . Which brings us to the last point of the strategy, check it out!

Internal linking

But how is it possible to structure the content between different posts so that they are interconnected and thus work as a Topic Cluster strategy? For those who understand SEO, even if only a little, the answer is obvious: with internal linking.

Therefore, it is important that your pillar post briefly addresses the topics that will be covered in the clusters, just as the clusters must mention the main theme of the pillar post. This way, after all the posts have been created, all you will need to do is link the content to each other and, thus, structure your Topic Cluster strategy.

In this sense, it is worth creating ten, up to thirty clusters, which revolve around a single post pillar, depending on the subject covered. The post pillar must also be richer and more comprehensive , including in size — generally, post pillars have a greater number of words than clusters. It is also recommended that the post pillar is linked in the first paragraph of all clusters.

With all posts created and linked to each other, you create a web of content around a main theme, which brings much more weight to search engines when ranking your content for users.