Say Goodbye to Content Chaos with Topic Clusters
Stop struggling to organize content. Learn how you can use content cluster strategy to streamline your content workflow.
Heya creative minds,
Welcome to August! It's hard to believe 2024 is just four months away, isn't it?
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Creating a content strategy is overwhelming and can seem scary at times. But it doesn’t have to be, provided you tackle each element of it individually.
And today we’re talking about one of its elements — Topic Cluster Strategy.
Topic clustering is a strategic approach to content planning that helps you build authority, improve SEO, and provide readers with interconnected content tailored to their interests.
In this issue, we’re discussing:
What are topic clusters and their key benefits?
A step-by-step guide to researching and identifying clusters
Tips for creating high-quality content around subtopics
How to interlink cluster content for maximum impact?
Intriguing enough? Let’s get clustering. (Yeah, well that was a bad joke but you got the idea.)
So, what exactly are topic clusters?
In simple terms, a topic cluster is a method of organizing your content where a single "pillar" page acts as the main hub of content for a broad topic and is interlinked with multiple related content pages.
This interlinking action signals the search engines that the pillar page is an authority on the topic, and over time, the page may rank higher for the topic it covers.
Now, what are the benefits of this strategy?
Every strategy has its pros and cons, but what does this one bring to the table? Here are the top benefits:
Improved Site Structure: Topic clusters help in organizing your website in a more structured way, making it easier for search engines to crawl your site and understand the relationship between different pieces of content.
Increased Authority: By covering a topic in-depth, you can establish your site as an authority on that subject, leading to increased trust and credibility with your audience.
Better Search Engine Rankings: Search engines like Google have started to prioritize topic-based content. By creating topic clusters, you can improve your chances of ranking for a variety of keywords related to your core topic.
More Effective Content Creation: Focusing on a core topic and creating related subtopics can streamline your content creation process, making it easier to come up with new content ideas and ensure that all of your content is focused and relevant.
But how do you create your own topic clusters? Don't worry, we got your back.
Your step-by-step guide to creating content clusters
1. Identify Core Topics
Start by identifying the core topics that are relevant to your business and that you want to rank for. These should be broad subjects that include the primary focus of your brand and industry.
For example, if you're a SaaS company offering project management software, your core topics could be "project management," "team collaboration," or "productivity software."
Use tools like Google Trends, WriterZen, or Semrush to find topics with good search volume that are relevant to your target B2B audience.
When brainstorming your list of potential core topics, also consider:
Industry terminology and categories your brand fits within
Common pain points your products/services address
Ways people describe the problem you help solve
Your unique value proposition and brand positioning
The goal is to identify 3-5 core pillars that represent the breadth of what your business covers.
These will serve as the foundation for deriving more granular subtopics and clusters.
Once you have your core topics, validate them by examining competitors’ content strategies and talking directly to customers in their language.
Confirm that your core topics resonate and provide enough umbrella coverage for your brand.
2. Find Related Subtopics
For each core topic, actively find related subtopics and long-tail keywords to target.
For example, if "project management" is a core topic, related subtopics could include "project management techniques," "project management tools," or "project management best practices."
Use keyword research tools to discover these more specific long-tail variants.
When brainstorming subtopics, consider:
Common questions and problems your audience has
Types of educational content they seek
Industry terminology and niches
Specific pain points your brand solves
The goal is to drill down from the broad categories into more targeted subtopics that help you to create clustered buckets of content.
Identify at least 5-10 subtopics for each of your core pillars. We really love how Semrush does it. It has carefully divided its blog page according to the topics mentioned in the menu bar.
But ensure you validate these topics with ideal customer research to see if this is something your audience wants to read or not.
You can do this by asking questions in relevant Slack communities or forums like Quora and Reddit.
3. Create Content for Each Subtopic
Now, it's time to create a piece of high-quality content for each subtopic. This could be a blog post, video, infographic, etc.
Choose formats that best fit the subtopic and align with your overall content strategy.
When developing content, focus on providing in-depth value rather than churning out low-quality articles quickly with AI.
For each subtopic article or content asset, be sure to:
Include thoroughly researched information, data, and expert insights
Directly address audience questions and pain points
Use specific, keyword-optimized headers and subheads
Format content for easy skimming with bullets, images, etc.
Publish content at the right length for the platform
Promote the content across channels to drive engagement
Make sure you consistently track the performance after publishing and keep updating the content to maintain its relevance and freshness.
Remember the goal is building a library of authoritative content around subtopics that attracts and retains an audience instead of just dumping average levels of content.
4. Link Related Content Together
Once you've created subtopic content, actively link each piece back to your core topic content and other related subtopics.
This interlinking forms a "cluster" and helps search engines understand relationships between content. Use exact match anchor text so links flow naturally.
When linking:
Link to related articles within the body content where relevant.
Create resource pages that link to your clusters and subtopics.
Link core topics in subtopic content and vice versa.
5. Update and Expand Your Clusters
Content marketing is an ongoing process. Continuously add new articles to relevant clusters as you create content.
Also, regularly review clusters to identify:
New subtopics to meet rising audience interests.
Existing content that needs updating for freshness and authority.
Gaps where competitor content is ranking.
Routinely evolving your clusters keeps information current, fills gaps, and reinforces your brand as an authority. Use Google Analytics and search data to inform expansion decisions.
To sum it up — topic clusters are a powerful way to structure your content, improve your SEO, and provide a better experience for your users.
And that’s all for today, we’ll see you next week.
Cheers,
Aanchal & Uddalak