Topic clusters and pillar pages: how to plan them

The short answer

A topic cluster is a group of pages on one subject: a broad pillar page that covers the whole topic, plus supporting pages that each answer one narrower question. The pages link to each other with descriptive anchor text. There is no fixed size. Build as many supporting pages as the real questions about the topic need.

What topic clusters are

Topic clusters are a planning method for related content. You pick one subject that your customers ask about, write one broad page that covers it at overview level, and write a set of narrower pages that each answer a single question inside the subject. Every page links to the others where a reader would want to go next.

The idea is older than the label. Anyone who has built a help centre, or a manual with chapters, has done something similar. In SEO the label gives the work a shape: a main page, supporting pages and a link pattern that ties them together. You will also hear it called hub and spoke content. The hub is the pillar page and the spokes are the supporting pages.

Topic cluster is a trade term, not a feature you switch on in Google. Treat it as good housekeeping. A reader who lands on one page can find the next, and a crawler has clear paths between related pages. Both are worth having whether or not the structure moves a ranking.

What a pillar page is

A pillar page is the broad page at the centre of a cluster. It explains the whole topic at overview depth, defines the main terms and sends the reader to a detailed page for each part. It works like the contents page of a short book that also reads well on its own.

A pillar page has two jobs. It must be useful by itself to someone who wants the overview. It must also be a clear map to the detail. A page that is only a list of links does the second job and fails the first, so it is closer to a sitemap than a pillar.

Length follows the topic. Some pillar pages are short because the subject is small. Do not stretch a page to look substantial.

Before you commit to a broad phrase, check what searchers expect to find. If the results are mostly shop pages or comparison pages, a guide-style pillar may not match. The search intent guide shows how to read the results and decide on the right page type.

Pillar page and supporting page side by side

A worked example: bookkeeping for small businesses

Take a made-up accountancy practice that wants to be found by owners who keep their own books. The topic is small business bookkeeping, and the practice sells help with it.

The pillar page is called “Bookkeeping for a small business: a plain guide”. It explains what bookkeeping is, what a basic routine looks like and when owners need outside help. Each section ends by pointing to a supporting page.

• What records a small business should keep (this page says plainly that the rules differ by country and tells the reader to ask a local adviser)
• How to record business expenses
• Spreadsheet or accounting software: how to decide
• What a bookkeeper does and when to hire one
• A monthly bookkeeping routine
• Sales tax or VAT records: what to ask your adviser

Each supporting page has a different reader in mind. Someone reading “what a bookkeeper does” is close to hiring, so that page ends with a clear next step. Someone reading the monthly routine is a do-it-yourself owner who may become a client later. The pillar serves both and sends each to the right place.

How many pages make a cluster?

There is no correct number. A cluster is complete when each main question people ask about the topic has its own page, and not before. A small topic needs a small cluster. A broad topic with many separate questions needs a larger one.

Do not set a target such as “ten pages” and then invent questions to fill it. Pages written to hit a count tend to overlap, and overlap makes your own pages compete with each other. Start with the pillar and the supporting pages that answer the questions you hear most from customers. Add more as new questions turn up in enquiries, sales calls or search data.

Competition decides the order of work. A narrow question is often easier to win than the broad phrase, so supporting pages can earn visits first. The guide to judging keyword difficulty and competition explains how to size up each phrase before you spend time on it.

How to build a topic cluster, step by step

1. Choose a topic that connects to something you sell or advise on, and that customers really ask about.
2. List every question you can find: customer emails, sales calls, the suggestions Google shows as you type, the People also ask box and forums where your customers talk.
3. Group the questions by intent. Questions that want the same answer belong on one page. Questions that want different answers need separate pages.
4. Check each phrase against the live results to see what kinds of page appear and how strong they look.
5. Name the pillar and the supporting pages. Write a one-line promise for each so you can spot overlaps.
6. Write the supporting pages first or alongside the pillar, so the pillar has real pages to point to.
7. Link the pages both ways with descriptive anchor text.
8. Put the pillar in your navigation or on a clearly visible hub page, and include all the pages in your sitemap.
9. Review the cluster after a few months. Note which pages earn visits, which overlap and which questions are still unanswered.

How to link the pages in a cluster

The pillar links to every supporting page, and each supporting page links back to the pillar. Supporting pages also link to each other when a reader would naturally want the neighbouring answer. That pattern is the hub and spoke shape.

Write link text that describes the destination, such as “how to record business expenses”, never “click here”. Google's link guidance says it can generally follow links that are anchor elements with an href attribute, and that descriptive anchor text helps it understand the page a link points to. A menu built from scripts without real links can hide a whole cluster from crawlers.

Links between your own pages need no special attribute. Values such as nofollow belong on links to pages you do not vouch for, as the guide to nofollow, sponsored and ugc link attributes explains. They have no place in a cluster, because you want those links followed.

Give every page its own title

Each page in a cluster needs a title and description that match its single question. If the pillar and a supporting page carry near-identical titles, searchers cannot tell them apart, and neither can you when you read a report. Write the title from the promise of the page, then check that no other page in the cluster makes the same promise. The guide to meta titles and descriptions covers the writing.

Does a topic cluster help you rank?

Treat a cluster as a way of organising help, not a ranking switch. Nobody outside Google can say how much weight its systems give the structure, so judge a cluster by what it does in practice.

• Each question has one page, so your own pages compete with each other less.
• Readers find the next step without going back to search.
• Crawlers can reach every supporting page from the pillar, so none is left without a link.
• Gaps are easy to see, because an unanswered question shows up as a missing page.

A tidy cluster of thin pages will not beat helpful pages that sit alone. Page quality comes first, and structure supports it.

Why clusters fail

• The pillar is a list of links with no explanation, so it offers nothing to a reader who lands on it.
• Supporting pages repeat each other with small wording changes.
• The pages follow what you want to sell and not what people ask.
• The pillar is not linked from the menu, or supporting pages are not linked from the pillar, which makes them hard to find.
• Pages are published but never appear in Google. Look for technical causes such as blocked pages or noindex tags; the list of signs your website needs a technical SEO audit is a good place to start.
• Nobody reviews the cluster, so facts date and gaps stay open.

If you want a second pair of eyes on a cluster plan, the search engine optimisation service page describes the SEO work Liftup Technologies does.

Related guides

• SEO services
• Search intent explained
• Meta titles and descriptions how to write them
• Website content audit how to review your pages

Questions and answers

What is a topic cluster?

A topic cluster is a group of related pages on one subject. One broad page covers the whole topic and several narrower pages each answer a single question. The pages link to each other so readers and crawlers can move between them.

What is a pillar page?

A pillar page is the broad overview page at the centre of a topic cluster. It is useful on its own and points to a detailed page for each part of the subject. It is not a page stuffed with every detail or a bare list of links.

How many pages make a cluster?

There is no fixed number. A cluster has one pillar page plus a supporting page for each real question people ask about the topic. Start with the questions you hear most and add pages as new ones appear, not to reach a target.

What is hub and spoke content?

Hub and spoke content is another name for a topic cluster. The hub is the pillar page and the spokes are the supporting pages. The hub links out to each spoke, and each spoke links back to the hub.

Can I turn my existing blog into topic clusters?

Yes. List your posts by subject, then pick or write one broad page for each subject you care about. Link the related posts to it and back. Where two posts answer the same question, merge them instead of keeping both.

Does every service I sell need its own cluster?

No. Build a cluster only where customers ask several separate questions about a subject. A service with one simple question behind it is usually better served by a single strong page.

Should the pillar page be the longest page on the site?

Not necessarily. A pillar page should be as long as an overview of the topic needs. Some are short because the subject is small, and some supporting pages run longer than the pillar because they go deep on one point.