SEO 101: Using Pillar Pages
October 31, 2017
As many of you are aware, creating content that’s rich in keywords is a popular method website owners’ use to improve organic search rankings. As we all know, search engine algorithms constantly update their ranking factors and change the way we approach SEO. One of the latest updates relates to pillar pages and how websites structure their content.
For years, content strategists, copywriters, and even bloggers have centered their content around popular keywords circulating the internet. From writing new content related to the latest SEO buzz words to highlighting current best practices, writers have focused on the power of keywords to boost traffic to their domains.
What are Pillar Pages?
Pillar pages are one of the latest ways companies are organizing the content on their websites to provide relevant information to visitors. They are structured around broad topics related to a website and are used to provide a comprehensive source of information to readers.
These pages are then linked to supportive content like blogs to create a valuable source of information for visitors searching for a specific topic. This helps create a seamless search experience for users and breaks away from the traditional keyword focused content strategies that have been popular among industry experts and researchers.
Benefits of Pillar Pages
For years, as keywords and popular topics changed, companies and content writers simply updated their content and pages as needed with the hope of seeing growth. The trend was to create content related to popular keywords, not topic/ideas visitors are actually searching for.
Pillar pages are a new approach to delivering content to your readers. Instead of creating content around popular keywords that may become antiquated in a few months, pillar pages allow you to create content around a central theme/topic and support that content through updates like blogs, case studies, and even press releases.
You could describe this approach as an inside-out method that starts with defining the goal of your content strategy and then creates a dedicated page around a topic that supports that goal. For example, if your goal is to create more leads for your site by highlighting services, you could create pillar pages and dedicated content for each service.
This allows you to create visitor focused content that’s relevant to topics related to your business that your visitors will always be searching for, unlike temporary keywords.
How are Pillar Pages created?
Building Pillar Pages for your website requires a few essential steps that start with assessing your long-term goals and content strategy. The first thing you should do is sit down with your management team and discuss which topics/ideas you want to highlight and support with content.
For companies that offer unique services like HVAC maintenance or physical therapy, pillar pages can be formed around topics related to different services your company offers. At VIG we offer web design services, print & fulfillment, and a few other key services that have their own dedicated pages on our website.
Once you’ve decided what topics/services you want to support with pillar pages, you can start brainstorming ideas about specific content you can tailor around these topics. This includes blogs related to keywords for the topic, case studies of projects related to that area, and other content that can help users who are researching for your pillar page topic find more information.
The graphic below provides a good visual example of how a company established a core topic for their website, found wrote content about subtopics that provide additional information about the main topic, and linked everything together using hyperlinks.
Developing an effective content strategy and optimizing your website for search engines is an ongoing challenge for businesses across the globe. It doesn’t matter if you have a static landing page or a multi-million-dollar e-commerce site, the way you portray your content is pivotal to long-term growth.
Do you think the content on your website could be working harder for you? Maybe its time to talk with the experts at VIG!