Pillar content is a topic or key theme a brand covers comprehensively and regularly to establish topical authority and trust with an audience.
It is a foundational part of content strategy — hence, the term ‘pillar’ — and often refers to pillar pages on a company’s website.
In this comprehensive overview, learn about what content pillars or pillar pages are. Plus, discover the top benefits of creating pillar content as the foundation of building topic clusters.
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A pillar content page serves as a content hub or cornerstone for a given topic, covering several aspects of an overall topic.
Pages covering related subtopics (cluster pages) can link to and from the pillar page. Together, the cluster topics and pillar page provide comprehensive coverage of the subject.
Example: A marketing software company might want to create a pillar page for digital marketing agencies since agencies are their target audience. In this scenario, pillar content about digital marketing agencies and digital marketing could engage the audience and establish the brand as an authority in the content niche.
As pillar page content is designed to act like a content hub for cluster pages or blog posts, there are some things to keep in mind when creating each type of content.
Let’s take a comparative look with examples:
A pillar page will have a comprehensive title focused on the pillar content and is often an overarching title including, “What is,” “How to,” or “Complete Guide.”
For an example, let’s draw on our previous scenario of creating a digital marketing agency content pillar. In this case, the pillar page might have a title like: “The Complete Guide to Digital Marketing Agencies.”
However, depending on your brand’s strategy, the title could incorporate more long-tail keywords. In this case, the title would be more detailed: “The Complete Guide to Digital Marketing Agencies: The Services, Benefits, Costs, and How to Choose the Right Agency.”
The approach that’s best for your brand will depend on keyword research and overall content strategy goals.
Considering the pillar page is the hub, it will link to blog posts (cluster content) that expand on the pillar theme.
So, if you were reading a pillar page, the subheadings (H2s) on that pillar page should clearly define the subtopics that will comprehensively cover that core topic. Then, the content within these pillar page subsections will link to dedicated articles that offer an in-depth discussion of that subtopic.
Typically, cluster content will start with the basics and then explore related aspects of the pillar content without moving away from the overall search intent.
Building on our pillar page example of: “The Complete Guide to Digital Marketing Agencies.”
Example cluster content might include:
Depending on the particular content strategy, covering these subtopics might naturally lead to other topic clusters, such as SEO, social media, content strategy, metrics and performance, such as:
The pillar page, acting as a hub would provide an initial overview and then link out to the individual resources where readers can find more information.
Pillar and cluster content allows the creator to cover the main topic and engage the audience comprehensively. They also allow a company to include its services, benefits, and expertise as part of the customer journey.
There are several key advantages of including pillar pages in a marketing strategy.
Pillar pages are an opportunity to thoroughly cover a topic and express thought leadership on key subjects related to your core business. As long as the content is relevant, helpful, and people-first, exhibiting expertise builds trust with your audience, which in turn builds authority with search engines.
Comprehensive coverage of a helpful, relevant, and on-target topic for an audience is more likely to draw the attention of search engines and improve content optimization. On top of that, the internal linking between pillar pages and cluster content helps search engines understand your site’s structure and topic hierarchy — all of which can boost your relevance and authority.
Well-organized content provides a better experience for your audience. Pillar content's clear, logical structure, with clear branching off into other relevant and related topics, increases readability.
Site navigation benefits users, too, as they can find what they are looking for. Readers are more likely to engage with structured and organized content, especially if it is relevant to their needs.
Just as a user finds the content easier to read and engage with, the organization, research and planning that go into pillar content and clusters benefit the overall content strategy.
Designing in terms of pillars and clusters allows a digital marketer to think holistically and in detail about content strategy, quality, effectiveness and related decisions.
It streamlines the editorial process and creates content groupings to track and measure, which helps with future planning, too. By researching and strategizing pillar content and clusters, content strategy can be more closely targeted to a specific audience and more competitive.
Pillar content is aptly named because it establishes a structure for creating and strategizing content. It is the vehicle through which a brand establishes authority and trust by delivering comprehensive, educational, and engaging content to an audience.
That comprehensiveness extends and grows through the subtopics of content clusters, linking to them and enhancing SEO. Finally, the organization, planning and strategy of pillar content and clusters create a better user experience and a more targeted content strategy.
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