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Why (& How) Topic Clusters Are Your Most Powerful SEO Weapon – Search Engine Journal

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Topic clusters show Google that a website has lots of useful content and is relevant to a specific subject. Here’s how they work.
If you want to show Google that your webpages are both relevant to specific keywords and more authoritative than your competitors, topic clusters are one of the best ways to do it.
That’s because Google no longer just looks for keywords on webpages when determining rankings.
It looks for synonyms, subtopics, and even answers to common questions that users have when researching your industry.
As a result, topic clusters are becoming a bigger part of many SEO professionals’ content strategies. They show Google that your website has industry expertise and features a breadth of useful, in-depth content about key topics in your industry.
Although building topic clusters on your website takes time, it can help you display topical authority in the eyes of Google and users, increasing total keyword rankings and driving more organic traffic in the long term.
A topic cluster (or content cluster) is a group of content assets on a website that are all centered on a related topic.
Topic cluster content explores a broader subject with more detail, nuance, and specificity.
As a unit, a topic cluster works to answer all of the questions users may have about a specific subject area in your industry niche.
Every topic cluster is built around a piece of pillar content (or a pillar page). Pillar pages are focused on broader subject areas and tend to target general industry keywords with higher search volume.
The accompanying cluster content explores subtopics or common questions and will usually target less popular (and less competitive) keywords that have a semantic relationship with the primary topic.
Let’s look at a more specific example. Say your company offers resume templates and writing services. One of your pillar content pieces could be optimized for the keyword “resume writing services” (12,000/month).
Under the long-form pillar content, you would have content that targets longer-tail, but related keywords like:
In terms of subject matter, these pieces still fall under the larger umbrella of “resume writing services,” but they are more narrow in focus.
For example, one is focused on the type of resume (i.e., “CV”) and another the type of applicant (i.e., “executives”).
The number of topic clusters on a website will be determined by the total products or services the brand offers.
This same resume business could create another content cluster around the larger topic of “resume templates” (188,000/month).
So why is topic clustering an ideal long-term strategy to gain search rankings for broad, overarching keywords?
Well, most websites starting out have lower Domain Authority and just can’t rank for more competitive keyword phrases, even if their content is high-quality.
So topic clusters can help you rank for less competitive keywords and start driving traffic in the short term. Once you build your site authority, you can rank for bigger and better keywords.
The SEO goals of topic clusters are threefold:
Not only do topic clusters help Google see your site as authoritative in specific subject areas, it helps Google understand the hierarchy of your website and how your content interrelates.
The reality is, most brands have more than one area of expertise. Thinking about developing your website around these key subject areas (instead of just single keywords) is a great way to start thinking about topic clustering.
Let’s look at a website for an HR software product.
Above is an example of a page that is targeting a high-value keyword: recruiting software.
Most likely, this brand’s ultimate goal with their pillar content is to earn page 1 rankings for this high-value, high search volume, general industry keyword.
As a result, their pillar content provides a comprehensive, in-depth overview about their recruiting software product and answers the most common questions users have.
The supporting cluster content explores related ideas or subtopics in recruiting with more detail and nuance. Here is some of the blog content that is strengthening the “recruiting” topic cluster.
Because of all the content centered on recruiting, Google knows that this particular website has topical authority in this area.
And because the content all links back to the main “recruiting software,” page, Google knows that of all the pages in this cluster, the pillar page is the most important.
So how do you map out your topic clusters?
Start with the pillar content and build from there.
For example, let’s say you run a social media agency. You might have a pillar page that targets the keyword “social media marketing strategy” (SV 1800, CPC $15) and provides a high-level overview of this topic.
To start mapping out your cluster, you’ll need to do some additional keyword research.
The most basic way to get ideas for your topic cluster is to go to the Google search bar and see what else people are searching for in relation to your pillar content.
Most keyword tools make it easy to find related keywords, questions, or autocompletes and discover potential target keywords for your cluster content.
Keyword tools can help you be more strategic about what type of content is actually worth adding to your cluster.
Because even though your cluster content targets will likely have lower search volume, they should still be meaningful enough to drive some traffic to your site.
They should also have strong search intent and some conversion potential.
From these two small examples, we can identify some target keywords to help us build out our cluster:
So, in this scenario, mapping out your topic cluster could look something like this:
– > A Guide to Social Media Marketing Strategy for Small Business (SV 50, KD 63)
– > 15 Examples of Social Media Marketing Strategy in 2021 (SV 50, KD 55)
– > B2B Social Media Marketing Strategy Tips (SV 20, KD 28)
The topic cluster should be guided by the pillar content. Smaller search volumes, less competition, but related search intent, are ideal keyword targets for cluster content.
As you gain keyword rankings for these less competitive keywords with your cluster content, Google will start to see your brand as an authority in the larger topic area of social media marketing strategy.
Over time, Google will then start promoting the pillar pages that target those more popular and competitive keywords in your industry.
So after you create your pillar content and cluster content, what holds the topic cluster all together?
The answer: Internal links.
Your internal linking structure helps Google understand several things:
As you interlink your content, remember that the pillar content needs to remain at the top of the linking hierarchy.
This emphasizes to Google that of all the content in this cluster, the pillar page is the most important. Therefore, Google should promote that page more often.
While there may be some exceptions, it’s important to make sure your cluster content is not linking back to the pillar pages of other topic clusters.
This practice helps Google understand your site architecture and more effectively spreads PageRank throughout the topic cluster.
Again, the number of topic clusters you deploy on your website will ultimately be determined by the scope of your services and products.
As you build out your topic clusters, your website will eventually look something like this.
Regardless of your industry, there are likely hundreds to thousands of ways that users are searching for products and services like yours in Google.
So even if your products or services are more limited, you can most likely build out multiple topic clusters on your website.
When done correctly, topic clustering should increase the total number of keywords driving traffic to your website.
But when cluster content is not optimized correctly or is too similar in subject matter, it can result in keyword cannibalization.
This means that Google doesn’t understand which content in the clusters is the most relevant or important.
It’s possible that your pillar pages might start ranking for the keywords you targeted in your cluster content and vice versa.
So if you are noticing this result on your own website, take the following steps to attempt to resolve it:
The topic cluster framework is an ambitious content strategy.
Ideally, it should be ongoing for as long as your website exists and until you finish answering every question users might have about your products, services, or industry.
If executed properly, your topic clusters will work together to be your most powerful SEO weapon.
In the long-term, Google will not only see specific pieces of content as relevant to industry keywords, but will see your entire website as a leading industry authority.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Graphic Grid/Shutterstock
Manick Bhan is the Founder and CTO of LinkGraph, an award-winning SEO and digital marketing agency. Through his agency work, …
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‘Cobra Kai’: Joe Seo Wished Kyler Could’ve Hurt Miguel More in the Series Premiere – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

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Cobra Kai is relevant even if you’ve never seen The Karate Kid. Everyone experiences bullying in one way or another. The show began when Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) tried to teach Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) Karate to defend himself against bullies like Kyler (Joe Seo). Now on Cobra Kai, Kyler is one of John Kreese (Martin Kove)’s students, but Seo reveals how violent he felt in the series premiere.
Seo was a guest on Kove’s podcast Kicking It with the Koves on April 27. He described his internal motivations in his first confrontation with Miguel on Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai returns for season 5 on Sept. 9.
Johnny witnesses Miguel and Kyler fight in front of the convenience store. Miguel got Kyler busted with a fake ID, so maybe he should have known that would only instigate Kyler further.
“What went through my mind, I remember, is that I wanted to hurt him even more,” Seo said on Kicking It with the Koves. “More because there’s no reason for him to instigate him. As in, he’s not a cop. He shouldn’t be there at the liquor store telling him that I shouldn’t be buying drinks because that’s my fake ID or something. So I had to give him a reason.”
As the actor playing Kyler, Seo explored his character’s anger and the personality that made him react with violence. Seo said he couldn’t play the Cobra Kai scene just to be a villain, so he came up with the internal motivation.
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‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5: Mary Mouser Prank on Jacob Bertrand Got Unexpectedly Serious
“There’s no reason for him to do that unless he didn’t like me,” Seo said. “For me, it was like what the hell is your problem? Why do you have to do that? This is me and my boys. We just wanted to have a few beers before our wrestling meet. It’s something that we just wanted to have fun doing, chill, whatever, but you just messed up everything for us. Look what you did. All right then, you want to get into my business? I’m going to get into your business. That was my mindset. I had to think of a reason.”
Johnny was the bully in The Karate Kid but Cobra Kai made him sympathetic. Perhaps Kyler will have his day. For now, Seo just made the most of his scenes.
“That was not in the script but that was a reason for me to try to hurt this kid that tried to ruin my fun,” Seo said. “I was just like nah, this is not going to happen. Not today. I would’ve gotten even more violent just thinking about it. It was something that was going through my mind playing and hopefully it came out well.”

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How to create cross-functional SEO and PR teams for enterprises – Search Engine Land

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Search Engine Land » SEO » How to create cross-functional SEO and PR teams for enterprises
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In an era influenced by powerful algorithms, the intersection of SEO and PR is crucial but often overlooked by enterprise leadership.
This partnership has its challenges. PR may not always acknowledge the intricacies of SEO. While SEO, focused on shaping the customer experience, may overlook the human stories conveyed by PR.
By harnessing the methodical prowess of SEO and the storytelling of PR, the enterprise can orchestrate an integrated marketing campaign that resonates in a way that influences behavior. Here’s how.
Combining SEO and PR is woefully untapped in a corporate setting.
McDonald, an active expert contributor to the SEO community (as a guest speaker, author, award judge and podcast guest), deeply understands contemporary SEO practices and operates in an enterprise environment.
SEO and PR can influence the growing online media landscape of news, search engines (Google, YouTube, etc.), blogs, podcasts, webinars or social media.
Integrating SEO and PR will amplify the results of both because:
At any stage of the buyer’s journey, from learning they have a problem to purchasing, the audience can use search engines to answer their questions.
Search engines are 86% effective at finding answers online, the Hubspot Consumer Trends report found.
However, a corporate PR team has its own goals, and ranking improvement is not a top priority.
Dig deeper: 6 steps to a winning enterprise SEO strategy
Digital marketing teams face challenges when integrating SEO and PR:
As Dana Tan, director of SEO at Under Armour, pointed out:
When different team members across functions work together around a common goal, they become a cross-functional team.
A cross-functional team has its dysfunctions, regardless of whether it is SEO or PR.
Behnam Tabrizi, who teaches Leading Organizational Transformation at Stanford, studied 95 teams in 25 corporations and identified four elements to avoid a dysfunctional cross-functional team:
How realistic is cross-functional SEO for enterprise SEO teams to execute?
So, what is a cross-functional SEO team?
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See terms.
CFSEO is a temporary or long-term cross-functional team focused on reaching business or marketing department goals using search engines and other media.
A CFSEO team is measured by impact on business results and not leading metrics like ranking or count of Jira tickets submitted, for example.
The CFSEO team can be a collaboration between any internal team: digital marketing, SEO, PR, content, developers/engineers (this is the most common in corporate) and leadership.
When digital marketing managers work with content marketing to request content around a topic, they optimize it for search engines; this is cross-functional.
When an SEO professional optimizes the content to integrate keywords, this is cross-functional.
These teams can be strategic and powerful tools to reach business, departmental or team goals.
The CFSEO framework aligns the PR and SEO teams to accomplish key business results. The framework is a process to align various tools and models to reach the common Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).
This step finds a reason for SEO and PR to collaborate. It does this by setting shared objectives and key results to which both teams are accountable.
Identify the positioning of content messages in the minds of an archetype customized to the media and medium (i.e., who is saying what about your content/company and where).
Identify the asset, then test various media and messaging that resonate with the audience. The technique should include on-page, search engines, and media placements (news, podcasts, blogs, etc.).
Determine actions to take against each technique based on the test results.
The CFSEO alignment map is a tool that simplifies the connection between the four stages.
This map can be used for any strategic collaboration for SEOs, but the tool needs additional sub-elements when working with PR.
Below are the steps for using the map:
Set the objective based on a quarterly planning cycle. Ideally, the team lead should be exceptionally well-versed in SEO and PR. This lead could be an SEO product manager.
Use objectives and key results that both SEO and PR are accountable to. OKRs are a popular tool to align a team with the business or functional goals in a human way.
These objectives should align with the business or marketing department’s goals, according to Goode.
A CFSEO team working with PR and SEO can be a powerful tool to build customer funnels. Set objectives for users and not ranking improvements.
Design a strategy from a situation analysis of where the consumer is and what they are talking about with respect to the stage in the customer journey. Identify what the audience is interested in learning and where they go to learn about the solutions.
This strategy framework works well for SEO and PR collaborations, but select an appropriate framework for your company or situation. The frameworks should integrate the channels and not silo them completely.
A hybrid strategy should cover these areas.
Identifying joint resources and risks that require the team to collaborate is critical after the strategic activities are identified.
Here are a few useful frameworks or tools when brainstorming strategy:
Integrate existing strategic frameworks like the influential asset marketing (IAM) strategy that leverages the company’s helpful assets (e.g., research, tools or processes) to secure media placements.
Set key results once you understand how the customer is learning about the solutions and the strategy is identified, then set the key results. Selecting the key results after a situation analysis will produce realistic goals.
However, sometimes, a test project will provide insights into improving the accuracy of the goals; thus, you see step 4.1 as an optional step after the hypothesis test.
Select a technique and hypothesis to test, then measure the impact.
A technique comprises of:
Your hypothesis is how you expect these techniques to impact the key results.
However, each test doesn’t have to drive all key results alone. Several techniques work together to drive the overall results and objectives.
Run as many focused tests as possible in a single quarter.
Expect your test to fail the first several attempts each time you run a test.
Do a post-mortem after a test to understand and refine the next test, Goode advised.
Use the ERMS model to simplify evaluating the technique’s result and prioritize an action plan. ERMS stands for
Without changing the assets, test messaging, media, and the medium with the ERMS system.
The challenges of finding a reason to create this union, creating an integrated strategy, developing tests and building joint actions are not without major challenges.
Facilitate collaboration with the CFSEO alignment map and deepen the strategy with tools like influential asset marketing (IAM) to find successful results.
Dig deeper: How SEO and digital PR can drive maximum brand visibility
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
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YouTube Launches New RSS Feed Integration For Podcasters – Search Engine Journal

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Study: $1 in podcast ads = $4.90 in increased sales – Podnews

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Spend $1 on podcast advertising, and get back $4.90 in increased sales. So says media agency OMD and podcast company Acast, after a study in Sweden of more than $192mn of adspend. At 4.9%, podcast advertising gives the highest long-term return on ad spend (ROAS) of any media tested, including ads on social media and radio, according to the study with OMD’s analytics division Annalect.
Is your work in Descript being used to train generative AI tools – and could it leak out in other forms? Writing in The Squeeze, Skye Pillsbury notes that a major investor in Descript is OpenAI, a company which has been keen to grab as much training data for its tools as possible. Does that include your content in Descript – even the stuff that doesn’t make it to your final podcast? The company says no, but is there more to the story?
Blubrry has introduced AI-generated podcast episode art for its customers. The tool can automatically generate images, including show titles and host names.
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