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Content strategy & maintenance

Topic cluster

A topic cluster is a group of pages on one website that together cover a main subject. A broad overview page, the pillar page, sits at the center. Detail pages on individual questions link to it and often to each other. The concept comes from content planning. It does not appear in the Google documentation checked here (SEO Starter Guide, link best practices).

How is a topic cluster built?

The pillar page covers the subject at a high level and links to each cluster page. Each cluster page answers one sub-question and links back. Internal links hold the structure together. Semrush, HubSpot and Conductor describe the same hub-and-spoke model. Their claims about ranking benefits come without independent evidence. Google’s link guidance recommends linking pages in context and making every important page reachable from at least one other page. Google’s documentation does not describe a ranking signal called topic cluster (assessment).

Site architecture and click depthTree of a website: the home page is at depth 0, categories A and B at depth 1, three subcategories at depth 2, three products at depth 3. Product 1 is reached via the home page, category A and subcategory A1, and its breadcrumb shows that path. On the right is an orphan page that no internal page links to.Depth0Depth1Depth2Depth3Home pageCategory ACategory BSubcat. A1Subcat. A2Subcat. B1Product 1Product 2Product 3no linksOrphan pageno link points hereBreadcrumb on Product 1Home page › Category A › Subcat. A1 › Product 1Click depth = number of links from the home page. Google finds pages mainly through links.
Each level sits one click further from the home page. Google finds pages mainly through links and recommends that every page you care about gets a link from at least one other page on the site. The breadcrumb shows the page’s position in the hierarchy. Sources: Google Search Central: Link best practices for Google; Google Search Central: SEO Starter Guide; Google Search Central: Breadcrumb (BreadcrumbList) structured data.

Example (fictional)

A running site plans the subject “running shoes”. The pillar page “Running shoes: overview and buying guide” links to “Running shoes for marathons”, “Pronation and cushioning”, “How to care for running shoes” and “When to replace running shoes”. Each page links back to the overview and to related neighbors.

Common mistakes

Cluster pages that target the same query compete with each other. Pages without a link from the pillar page stay isolated from the cluster. Thin cluster pages add little to the subject.

FAQ

How is it different from a keyword cluster? A keyword cluster groups search terms, usually by shared intent. A topic cluster groups the pages of a website.

Sources

  1. Topic clusters for SEO: what they are & how to create them – Semrushsemrush.com
  2. Topic clusters: The next evolution of SEO – HubSpotblog.hubspot.com
  3. Topic Cluster and Pillar Page Guide – Conductor Academyconductor.com
  4. Link best practices – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com

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