In an ever-changing, always evolving world of search engine algorithms, it's important to keep up with the ways in which Google ranks pages. In the past, to have a successful website ranking in SERPs, keywords were key. But each year Google is getting smarter. This is where topic clusters come in.
Topic clusters help Google get a deeper understanding of the overall subject and not only how your website relates to it, but whether or not Google can trust your expertise on the topic. Google's algorithms are evolving and they now recognise more than just a word or a few words. Google is learning how to recognise the relationships between multiple pages and the overarching ideas between them. Which is why including 'topic clusters' in your SEO strategy is becoming more and more important.
What Is a Topic Cluster?
Essentially, topic clusters are a number of content pieces (often blog posts) on your site that are all connected to an overall subject matter. The main topic they all relate to is known as a 'pillar'. The pillar content is linked to all the topic clusters which can strengthen the pillar's authority.
Your 'pillar' page should be about a broad category. It should then link to subcategories (topic clusters) that go into greater detail about each more specific topic. It will aid your website in gaining more authority for the good or service you are providing.
Why Topic Clusters Work
In the past, the search results may have related more to the keyword in the topic such as 'SEO' and 'Sydney.' SEO Sydney may have still ranked highly, but using topic clusters can assure that Google ranks the most trusted pages for almost any longer conversational queries and our users find exactly what they're looking for. Google trusts our website, therefore so do our users.
Now, you can't just go into your site and start linking every blog post to every other page. It's not quite as simple as that to create successful content. In fact, Google may even penalise you for that. It's important to work on a topic-focused strategy.
How to Get Started
Spend some time working out exactly what your main ideas are and the clusters they need to go with them. At the end of the day, you want the user to find exactly what they need so that they're totally satisfied.
If a user gets to your page because it was at the top, but finds it actually has nothing to do with what they're looking for then your SEO is working for the wrong reasons. Think about the user – what is their intent? Base your strategy around providing information to a searcher's queries.
Take a holistic approach and be patient, good things take time.
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