SEO Strategy 101: Pillar Content

One aspect of SEO strategy that doesn’t always get the respect it deserves, is Pillar Content Creation.

Pillar content is the foundational content on your site that serves to boost your topic authority, acts as a repository for great info, and pull a huge chunk of your site traffic. Without valid pillar content, your auxiliary content is going to be a lot harder to find.

Boost SERP with Pillar Pages

Pillar content is commonly found on “pillar pages.” These are the pages of your site that contain a lot of information around your core topic. While landing pages and blog posts are highly specified, and generally focus on a specific long-tail variation of your core keywords, your pillar page will focus on amalgamating resources, links, and content that relate to your topic, generally.

By creating a pillar page that links to reputable, related sites, has backlinks from the same, and includes a hefty amount of relevant, contextual information, you are signaling to search engines that you are an authority on this topic. This helps boost your related content, as your authority for your core and long-tail topics continues to increase. Build yourself some high-quality pillar pages, and watch your search engine result position (SERP) rise!

Pillar Page Best Practices

The best practices for pillar pages are actually quite similar to those for blogs and landing pages, with one big exception. As stated before, pillar pages are not meant to be “specific.” They’re meant to bring together information on many related topics, in an abbreviated, consumable form.

Start with an Outline

Choose the topics that you want to focus your pillar content on. You may end up with only one pillar page, or you may have a few different areas for which you want to be found. In any case, start by outlining the content that you want to include.

List your topic at the top of a new sheet of notes. Below, include all of the questions that you’ve heard people ask about that topic. This will help you pick out the themes that you need to address in your pillar content. You already have a good idea of your keywords and the content you’ve created or plan to create, and you should see those reflected in the questions you’ve listed. Your pillar page is the place to bring all of those parts together, and it’s the place for someone with one of those questions to start their search.

Identify Content Needs

Once you’ve outlined your pillar page, note any gaps in your content strategy that you’d like to fill. This is a great opportunity to list new blog ideas, and start sketching out the details that you’ll need to include.

Build

Like any website content, your pillar page should be easily navigable, intuitive, and appealing. Try to tell a story with your pillar page. Display a logical connection between your content, so that your reader and potential lead understands what your niche is. Include images and media, and let your reader rest their eyes with ample white space. Be sure to include descriptive headers and page titles! Don’t forget your basic on-page SEO rules. They are as important on these pages as on any other.

Get Linking

Your pillar page is only going to help you to its fullest if you keep your content linked together. Your pillar page should be linked to all of the related content that expands and deepens the information on the page. Link to your relevant blog posts and landing pages, and link those pages back to your pillar page.

You’ll also want to link to other reputable sites to build your topic authority. Are there other resources that corroborate your claims? Link to those pages, and give them credit. This is a great way to build a relationship with another outlet—but it might make sense to focus on sites that aren’t direct competitors. Reach out to them after linking, and see if you can get some extra social shares.

The benefits of linking to other sites also come back to you in the form of back links. The sites that you’ve linked to are a great place to start reaching out and asking for in-kind backlinks. You clearly have related content, and you’ve already connected with them about your links—they have double the reason to consider linking to your pillar page or to your specific blog posts.

Need help developing a content plan? Locking down links? Drop me a line, and let’s get started!