Much like a carpenter needs their hammer, SEOs need to use topic clusters to effectively rank content on Google and other search engines. In this guide, we’ll explain what they are and how you can get started.
Understanding Topic Clusters
A topic cluster is a group of articles covering a larger subject. Typically, the group of articles covers many questions that one would have about a broader topic.
Perhaps you’d like to develop a blog post covering every aspect of the legal process in the context of a divorce. But one would imagine that there’s too much information on divorce proceedings to fit into a single, comprehensive article. That’s where topic clusters are useful.
Benefits of Topic Clusters
If you are in a digitally competitive industry, this is where you should listen up. Topic clusters are perhaps one of the only ways you can rank for your main service keywords. Properly created topic clusters not only rank for lower-volume search terms, but work together to help a pillar article or service page rank for competitive high search terms.
Beyond search visibility, the cluster approach to content lends itself to a better user experience, improved content organization and higher engagement metrics. An excellent thought leadership tool, topic clusters additionally help establish your authority in a particular niche.
How to Build Effective Topic Clusters
Building topic clusters isn’t that hard. The process is actually quite simple:
- Pick a larger subject (write about it)
- Break that subject down into several smaller topics (Write about them too!)
- Connect the topics by interlinks
- Repeat
The step-by-step process above might seem too good to be true, but it is! What you’re trying to do is establish your expertise, or authority, in your industry. If a potential customer viewed your website and read your articles, would they have faith in your service? Keep that in mind when choosing questions to answer in your topic clusters.
Here’s a quick example of what a topic cluster would look like
Pillar Post: Divorce Process
- Supporting Article: How Expensive are Divorce Lawyers?
- Supporting Article: Can I Represent Myself in My Divorce?
- Supporting Article: Are Divorce Assets Always Split 50/50?
- Supporting Article: How is Child Visitation Determined in Divorces?
The pillar posts are going to be longer-form content, often between 1,500-2,000 words. They are meant to be complete and comprehensive guides.
These topics are the easiest to find. Typically, your service page can be broken down into a couple of pillar articles. Your “Divorce Lawyer” page can be divided into the divorce process, child custody, and dividing assets. Then, supporting articles can flow from there.
Support articles are smaller than pillar articles at only ~800 words. These target specific questions and answer them in a short, sweet post.
Sometimes it’s hard to come up with ideas, but feel free to ask your current clients or poll the office about some of the questions the team gets asked the most. Another method of gleaning topic ideas is to do a Google search about your pillar post topic and browse through Google’s “People Also Ask” FAQ section for inspiration.
Best Practices for Topic Clusters
When creating these topic clusters, it’s important to remember that both quality AND quantity matter. The more supporting articles you can create for a pillar article, the stronger it will rank.
Remember to keep content focused and keep the clusters logical and keyword-focused. If the main subject is the divorce process, then topics around how to file paperwork or how to deal with opposing counsel are important. But if you find yourself meandering and trying to include content about co-parenting or how to budget child support, you might be losing focus and need to get back on track.
Another common mistake made is keyword stuffing, which is when you use a specific keyword way too many times. When trying to rank for the “divorce process,” you might think it’s wise to mention “divorce process” in every paragraph just to make sure that Google catches on to your signal. This is actually a spammy practice in Google’s eyes and will cause rankings to drop.
We’ve outlined the topic clustering process above – providing an easy-tofollow guide to boost your Google rankings. Reference this article for the dos and don’ts as you write to avoid creating ineffective content and start your first topic cluster.
