In the ever-evolving world of content marketing, the strategic use of pillar pages has become indispensable for brands seeking to establish authority, boost SEO, and engage their audience with comprehensive information. This comprehensive guide aims to explore the diverse landscape of effective pillar page types, unraveling strategies, purposes, and real-world examples to empower businesses in crafting compelling content pillars tailored to their specific goals.

Unraveling Pillar Pages: Defining the Foundation

In recent years, a form of content organization known as the “topic cluster model” has emerged as the best way to help users find the specific information they’re searching for. It involves groups of related pages that link to and from a “pillar page.”

Pillar pages are what the topic cluster model is centered on. If these are the hubs of your clusters, the cluster pages are the spokes. Together, cluster pages and pillar pages from a resource hub of content to satisfy readers and Google.

What is a Pillar Page?

A pillar page is a long-form piece of content that covers one of your main topics in great detail. This type of resource will cover a lot of your main topic while still leaving room for more in-depth reporting in related blog posts. A pillar post will often consist of at least 2500 words.

Pillar pages provide valuable content for your readers and help your website rank higher on Google by making it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your website. 

Why are Pillar Pages Important for SEO?

Pillar pages are vital for SEO for a few reasons. Here are a few of the most important:

• Improves site organization

First of all, pillar pages improve your site organization, which improves the user experience. Rather than working independently, all of the pages within a cluster come together to present the user with a more comprehensive set of resources. They allow the visitor to not only learn from a comprehensive pillar page but also the other pages within the cluster if they want to go more in-depth on any particular topic.

Some brands even use pillar pages for lead generation. That’s because they tend to get higher amounts of traffic than other satellite pieces of content. This makes them a good place to identify new potential clients.

• Establishes credibility

Second, topic clusters show the search engine algorithm that you are committed to a certain topic. This is important for satisfying Google’s E-A-T factors (expertise, authority, trustworthiness). The more related content you create about a certain subject, the more Google understands that you have a specialization in a particular area, and the more trustworthy and authoritative you appear to the search engine.

• Enhances crawlability

Another benefit of pillar pages is that they make it easier for crawlers to find your content. As part of a cluster, each related piece of content receives a link from the pillar page. This guarantees that search engine crawlers find and index each page while giving users a sort of homepage where they can go to discover additional information on a subject.

When you improve the crawling process, you increase Google’s chance of seeing the value in your content. With more context and more in-depth content to analyze, search engines may rank your web pages better.

• Boosts link equity

Internal links do more than just make your pages easier for Google to find. They also improve what’s known as link equity.

Like inbound links, internal links can signal to Google that a page is important, just on a smaller scale. When a lot of internal links point to one page on your site, it says to Google, “Hey, this page is important.” Google considers this when it is ranking your page for relevant searches.

The Role of Pillar Pages in Content Hierarchies

Pillar content is a niche-focused content series. Content pillars include a comprehensive top page or asset that offers an in-depth overview of a broad theme or topic. From this authoritative long-form piece, offshoots are created as sub-pages that link back to the pillar page. Pillar content is the sixth level of the content marketing hierarchy.

Content pillars are highly effective for link-building and improving content ranking. Because topics are built around a specific set of search terms for the pillar page and supporting pages, this structure creates a web of relevancy, establishing your brand as an authority on that topic or theme.

When you’re selecting a content creator for pillar content, go with a seasoned multi-talented writer. Make sure this writer knows the topic well, has a solid handle on SEO best practices and understands how to structure the page appropriately.

An important (and exhausting) sidenote… pillar content has many name variations. Topic clusters, spokes-and-wheels, pillar pages, pillar posts, pillar blogs, content bundles, content series, cornerstone content, parent posts, content hubs, and core content.

The good news is that Google continues to reward those of us who are producing good content. Even if you’re a startup or marketing team with a shoestring budget, you still have a fighting chance. Pillar content is that chance to wave at Google and say: “Looky here, Google. We’re an authority on this topic and people value what we bring to the table.”

Here’s the deal. Longreads of 3000+ words get x3 more traffic, x4 more shares, and x3.5 more backlinks than articles of average length (901-1200 words). Meaning, content pillars offer a wealth of opportunities to make an impact.

• Rankings

Between your pillar page and your supporting sub-pages, you’re providing the best answers to an entire web of queries. When you are the topic authority for multiple search queries, your brand will rise in the search ranks — likely, above your competitors.

• Link-building

Link-building is another benefit. Because your pillar and sub-pages are masterfully interlinked, your internal linking structure is happily optimized. If your pillar content is useful to others, the external links will come in droves.

• Engagement

High shareability is yet another way your pillar content makes a bigger splash than a shorter, one-off piece. From a conversion perspective, it’s the same old song and dance. If you demonstrate that you are the expert, people will take notice when they are searching for a solution.

The Spectrum of Pillar Page Types: An Overview

From an SEO perspective, a pillar page will target a more general, often higher volume keyword, while the content it links to will target related but more specific keywords. Usually, that also means that pillar pages target more competitive keywords than the other posts in their content cluster.

In general, there are three main ways to create a pillar page:

1. The 10X content pillar page

The 10x content pillar page is often presented as an ultimate guide. It’s a long-form piece of educational content that is meant to rank well in search engines. It’s referred to as a “10x” pillar page because it aims to be 10 times better than whichever article is ranking first for the main keyword the page is targeting. 10x pillar articles offer a comprehensive overview of a topic.

A good example is Qualtrics’s Employee Engagement page. It’s an “Ultimate Guide ” that’s supposed to take about half an hour to read. Every section goes deeply into a sub-topic and readers can navigate the guide using the table of contents.

2. The hub pillar page

The hub pillar page acts as a resource library that neatly organizes your content around a specific topic in one place. It’s usually light on text and because of that typically doesn’t rank well. However, this type of pillar page links to more in-depth (internal and external) content related to the hub page’s topic and as such helps to improve the site’s structure.

A good example is Qualtrics’s Employee Experience page. The intro of this page instantly makes it clear we’re dealing with a resource hub. It’s a “comprehensive and thorough selection of Employee Experience articles.

Other than this intro and a short closing section at the bottom, this page doesn’t contain any other text. It’s entirely made up of internal links to articles on employee experiences that are organized into different categories.

3. The hybrid pillar page

This type of pillar page is a combination of the 10x pillar page and the hub pillar page. It consists of long-form content that provides a thorough overview of a topic but also links to other resources within the same content hub. 

A good example is Drift’s Demand Generation page. It’s an extensive guide that links to other pages on the Drift website from within the content, but also from the “Featured Articles” section in the left sidebar that remains visible as users scroll through the guide.

Crafting Cornerstone Content: Building the Bedrock of Authority

In the digital landscape, cornerstone content is the bedrock on which brands build their authority and relevance, shaping the narrative around their expertise. This pivotal content piece serves not just as a foundational pillar in content marketing strategy but also as a beacon guiding search engines to the most authoritative pages of a site.

To excel in SEO, understanding how to develop and leverage cornerstone content is imperative for any brand eager to enhance its online presence. With the right blueprint, companies can construct cornerstone articles that stand the test of time and continually attract and engage their target audience.

Defining Cornerstone Content

In the vast digital landscape, cornerstone content serves as the anchor for a brand’s online presence—akin to the bedrock of a formidable structure. This introductory exploration will delve into the essence of cornerstone content, shedding light on its defining attributes and establishing a clear distinction from standard blog posts or articles.

With an emphasis on robust foundations, this content piece not only augments brand authority but also provides readers with valuable, informative text that cultivates an affinity with the company’s core message. Being essential for an effective content marketing strategy, cornerstone content fortifies the link structure of a site, ultimately enhancing search rank and user engagement.

At its core, Cornerstone content is identified as the quintessential material a brand puts forward to encapsulate its expertise and values. Often manifesting as in-depth articles, comprehensive guides, or foundational pieces, this content underpins the thematic substance of a website and serves to attract search engine attention along with the scrutiny of discerning visitors.

This Cornerstone piece, typically distinguished by its exhaustive nature on a particular subject, aims to attract an audience by providing clear, expert-level insights. The robust nature of such content encourages user retention and serves as a critical point of reference for both the primary domain and its interlinked subtopics within the site structure.

The Role of Cornerstone Content in SEO

In the digital age, the imperative of establishing a commanding online presence is paramount for a brand’s success. Enhancing site structure, and amplifying authority and expertise, alongside boosting organic search visibility constitutes the trifecta of benefits afforded by a solid cornerstone content strategy.

These foundational content pieces not only shape the navigational framework of a website but also signal to search engines the paramount topics and areas of proficiency a brand wishes to be known for.

As these cornerstones are carefully interwoven within the fabric of a website’s content ecosystem, they play a pivotal role in elevating a brand’s stature and visibility in organic search results, thus cementing its position in the competitive marketplace.

Cornerstone content serves as a foundational framework within a website’s architecture, guiding the formation of a coherent site structure that caters to user navigation and search engine algorithms. By systematically linking to and from these central pieces, brands create a well-defined pathway for site visitors, facilitating access to a rich repository of information.

This strategic incorporation of cornerstone content allows a company to project clear signals to search engines regarding the significance and hierarchy of its subject matter. When these cornerstone pages are linked with precision, they establish an organized network that boosts the discoverability and relevance of a brand’s digital presence:

Cornerstone Content	Influence on Site Structure	SEO Impact
Pillar Articles	Defines Main Navigation Paths	Enhances Topic Authority
Comprehensive Guides	Clusters Related Content	Increases Page Relevance
Foundational Tutorials	Serves as Entry Points	Boosts Organic Visibility

Establishing a strong cornerstone content strategy inherently bolsters a brand’s perceived expertise and authority within its field. By consistently delivering thorough and insightful cornerstone pieces, a brand effectively elevates its status as a thought leader, cultivating trust and credibility among its audience.

Such authority is further reinforced as cornerstone content resonates with the search engines’ preference for authoritative sources, leading to improved search engine results page (SERP) rankings. This enhanced visibility not only attracts a higher volume of organic traffic but also reinforces the brand’s reputation as a reliable repository of knowledge.

Crafting Your Cornerstone Content Strategy

Embarking on the development of a cornerstone content strategy requires a methodical approach, grounded in precise objectives and a thorough assessment of the brand’s existing content repertoire.

This phase is critical for establishing a baseline from which to build a cohesive long-term content development plan.

It necessitates setting clear goals that align with the overarching content marketing objectives, conducting meticulous evaluations to identify gaps and strengths within current resources, and strategizing for the sustained creation of content that will continually reinforce and elevate the brand’s domain authority.

The following explorations delve into how organizations can sculpt their content foundation with deliberate and strategic precision.

• Setting Goals for Your Cornerstone Pieces

Establishing clear-cut objectives is the bedrock of any cornerstone content strategy. This endeavor involves pinpointing key performance indicators, such as increased brand awareness, improved search rank, and heightened user engagement, which are critical in measuring the effectiveness and reach of the content produced.

A successful content piece must resonate with both search engines and intended audiences, therefore goals should extend beyond mere creation, encompassing consistent updates to ensure the content remains relevant over time. This approach guarantees that the cornerstone content not only secures a prime spot in search results but also sustains a solid connection with readers, ultimately leading to conversion and customer loyalty:

Cornerstone Content Goal	Target Outcome	Longevity Strategy
Brand Awareness Amplification	Elevated Search Visibility	Ongoing Content Refreshment
Search Rank Improvement	Top SERP Positioning	Continuous Keyword Optimization
User Engagement Increase	Enhanced User Interaction	Regular Content Updates

• Evaluating Your Existing Content

Embarking on the path to refining cornerstone content begins with a thorough review of the content landscape that currently exists within the brand’s digital territory. This examination uncovers the extent to which current content aligns with the brand’s strategic goals and reveals any areas that may necessitate enhancement to serve as true cornerstones of the domain.

Through this analytical lens, organizations can dissect the performance metrics of existing content, scrutinizing engagement rates, bounce rates, and conversion statistics. Such data becomes instrumental in pinpointing where adjustments are warranted, ensuring that every content page is calibrated for maximum impact and is poised to exhibit cornerstone qualities.

• Planning for Long Term Content Development

Developing cornerstone content is an iterative process, not a one-off project. As the digital climate fluctuates and evolves, so must the content that forms the bedrock of a brand’s online identity. A sustainable plan requires a commitment to periodically revisit and revitalize cornerstone pieces, ensuring they maintain relevance and continue to reflect the latest industry insights and search engine algorithms.

To keep cornerstone content performing optimally long-term, brands should integrate an editorial calendar that schedules regular reviews and updates. This commitment to content maintenance ensures that each cornerstone piece not only stands the test of time but also adapts to the shifting trends, technologies, and user behaviors, remaining a reliable beacon within the brand’s content marketing strategy.

Examples of Successful Cornerstone Content

Cornerstone content examples include introductory blog posts, frequently asked question pages or other pertinent information like warnings or instructions. Anything a new visitor should know about your niche, product, or service should be featured as cornerstones.

Here are seven tips that will help you get started:

• 1. Determine what keywords should be used

As with most SEO strategies, your keywords should be based on the words your target audience uses during search. Once you’ve decided on the target keywords, focus your content around them.

• 2. Use keywords in your metadata, including your title and meta description

Both the title tag and meta description appear on search engine results, so it’s imperative to make them eye-catching. They should also reflect the content of the post.

• 3. Examine the competition for cornerstone content examples

Sometimes, a competitor won’t have strong cornerstone posts, which gives competing brands a chance to gain traffic. However, you’ll need to get creative if your competitor has excellent content. Setting yourself apart from the rest is possible with a dynamic linking strategy among cornerstones.

• 4. Attract readers’ attention with intriguing stories, special offers, or explanations of what your content offers

It’s difficult to get the attention of busy readers, so make sure your introductions are strong.

• 5. Break up your content and add visual appeal by using subheadings and bullet points

Readers often prefer long-form content, but it must be readable.

• 6. Illustrate your points using bullet points, infographics, and photos

Not only do they add color and creativity to your posts, they also capture the viewer’s attention.

• 7. Analyze your content regularly

Don’t forget to update posts to keep them current and relevant. In fact, Google prefers newer content over older posts. So, analyze your content metrics on a regular basis.

Resource Pillar Pages: Curating Comprehensive Guides

Resource pillar pages are curated collections of links to helpful resources for a topic and its subtopics, with commentary. Like 10x pages, they focus on a broad topic and briefly cover all the major subtopics around it with links to more focused resources for each subtopic.

However, unlike 10x pillar pages, instead of in-depth explanations, they provide blurbs with lists of links to other resources. In some cases, each resource will have a thumbnail preview and/or its own blurb.

Resource pillar pages can be internally-focused and/or externally focused. For example, the link-building pillar page above focuses exclusively on internal links. Other pages may curate a collection of external links to resources on other websites plus some internal links to its own content.

This may be a good option if you want to write about a topic that has already been covered thoroughly by other websites. The downside is that you must update the links regularly to make sure everything is up-to-date.

If the goal of a 10x pillar page is to attract traffic and maybe get a few potential customers to download a PDF version, the goal of resource pillar pages is to get bookmarked.

Resource pillar pages are reference tools. Like a good librarian, they save readers the time and energy of hunting down helpful content for research. They can also score backlinks from writers who want to point readers toward learning resources.

Pillar pages are great for search engine optimization for five main reasons.

1. They make your content easier to crawl

Google uses algorithms (or crawlers) to scan your page to learn what your content is about. If Google knows what topics and subtopics your content covers, it is more likely to recommend it to searchers. This is especially true in the age of “semantic search,” where Google’s algorithm is able to make sophisticated connections between words and topics across the web.

A well-organized pillar page makes it easy for Google and other search engines to crawl.

While crawling, search engines will follow links in your pillar page to related pages, which will give it an even better idea of how your content relates to other pieces of content (about your topic) on your site and other sites.

• 2. They satisfy search intent

Search intent interrogates what someone is trying to “do” when conducting a particular search, whether it’s finding answers, buying something, or something else entirely. Most “content” satisfies a searcher’s intent to learn, so a comprehensive pillar page should serve that function as the best place to get answers and cover a topic from every angle.

Google’s algorithm tends to reward content that is helpful to readers by ranking it higher on search result pages and/or by letting it appear more often. As a result, satisfying search intent pleases both searchers and algorithms.

• 3. They enhance user experience

User experience (UX) refers to the ease with which a person can interact with a site or use a product. Great UX means a minimum of hassle or “friction” for users. Google uses many factors to judge websites and web pages. Most of them boil down to providing a great user experience or satisfying search intent. Great pillar pages help you do both.

On a macro level, organizing content with topic clusters makes it easier for readers to find what they need on your site.

On a micro level, a well-formatted pillar page is broken up into sections and subsections, which makes it easy to skim. Pillar pages also provide a table of contents which allows readers to skip to the section they most want to read.

Great organization makes for a better user experience.

• 4. They’re full of internal links and invite backlinks

If your pillar page becomes a great resource for potential customers and other professionals in your industry, you might be able to earn backlinks.

Backlinks are links from other web pages to yours. They show Google and visitors that other websites trust you. If reputable sites trust you, Google assumes that your site must be reputable, too, and this can help your pages rank higher in search results.

Pillar pages connect your content together using internal links. Links are a pipeline for “link juice,” another name for that digital social credit that your pillar page scores by getting backlinks and doing well in search results.

This link juice travels from your high ranking page to every internal page connected with it, helping raise the reputation of the entire topic cluster.

• 5. They help structure your content strategy

In order to create topic clusters, you must audit your existing content and identify the topics most important to your business.

By auditing your content, you can identify what important topics you haven’t written as much about. This can help you organize existing content and plan future content that will interest your ideal customer.

Resource pillar pages are not the same as regular resource pages. Resource pages typically do not contain content like definitions, introductions, or blurbs. Usually, they group content by topics and subtopic, rather than the needs of the visitor.

Resource pillar pages, on the other hand, group resources by which problem they help a visitor solve.

Resource pillar pages: designed to educate the reader about a topic and gather internal and external resources for them to use.

Successful Resource Pillar Page Examples

Learning how other companies have used pillar pages may be helpful before creating your own. We’ve rounded up ten pillar page examples to get you started.

• 1. Social Media Marketing Strategy Guide by Hootsuite

The Social Media Marketing Strategy Guide outlines building a strategy from scratch.

Why we like it:

• The guide is comprehensive. The article provides eight steps to create a social media strategy.
• The table of contents outlines each step.
• The guide showcases related resources at the end of each section. And the content varies. Hootsuite includes links to blog posts, YouTube videos, and downloadable templates.

• 2. The Beginner’s Guide to SEO by Moz

The Beginner’s Guide to SEO explains how SEO works and what marketers can do to increase rankings and traffic.

Why we like it:

• The introduction explains how to use the guide and who should use it.
• The table of contents enables readers to jump between sections.
• Each chapter is comprehensive and formatted for readability.
• Readers will find links to additional resources at the end of each section.
• The guide ends with a glossary that corresponds with each chapter. It also highlights related resources to help visitors learn about a specific term.

• 3. Systems Management 101: An Ultimate Guide by Zapier

Systems Management 101: An Ultimate Guide introduces systems management and how to implement it.

Why we like it:

• The pillar page starts with a clear and engaging introduction.
• The content uses headings, subheadings, bullet points, and imagery to help break up the text.
• Includes links throughout the content and suggests related reading at the end to encourage readers to explore more.

• 4. How to Embrace Remote Work by Trello

How to Embrace Remote Work provides an overview of how best practices for remote teams.

Why we like it:

• The table of contents is always visible and allows readers to navigate between sections easily.
• The main page includes an introduction to each chapter. Visitors can click “read more” to learn about a specific section. This format breaks up the content to keep readers engaged.
• At the end of each chapter, Trello introduces related content to encourage more exploration.

5. How to Start a Podcast: Complete Step-by-Step Guide [2023] by Buzzsprout

How to Start a Podcast: Complete Step-by-Step Guide [2023] directs you through developing a podcast idea, recording, and marketing.

Why we like it:

• Buzzsprout features the guide on its navigation bar on its website.
• The guide uses images and callouts to break up large sections of text.
• Anchor text helps organize hyperlinks to related content.

6. Video Marketing Strategy: The Ultimate Guide (2023) by Lemonlight

Video Marketing Strategy: The Ultimate Guide (2023) is a useful tool for anyone interested in video marketing.

Why we like it:

• It starts with a strong introduction about the rise of video marketing and why it is essential in 2023.  
• The guide is long. At over 9,000 words, the pillar page provides a comprehensive overview of video marketing.
• Easy to scan, with related resources highlighted throughout the guide.

7. The Ultimate Guide to Sales Analysis Reports by Databox

The Ultimate Guide to Sales Analysis Reports shares how to use metrics and reporting to increase sales.

Why we like it:

• The guide makes it easy to navigate with links to chapters and sub-sections.
• Databox uses anchor text and callout boxes to highlight additional content.
• The guide ends with a “you may also like” section. Databox highlights three other pieces of content to encourage more reading on analytics and reporting.

8. The Complete Guide to Site Selection by Placer.ai

The Complete Guide to Site Selection explains how to use foot traffic analytics to choose a location for a business or office.

Why we like it:

• It starts with a clear introduction about why foot traffic matters.
• The author breaks up content with charts, maps, and graphs that showcase how the product works.
• The table of contents is visible throughout the guide to help readers navigate the content.
• The guide includes more in-depth resources related to the topic, such as the Retail Site Selection Guide.

9. What is SEO? (A Fluff-free Definition + Basics Explained) by Semrush

What is SEO? (A Fluff-Free Definition + Basics Explained) explains what SEO is and why it matters.

Why we like it:

• The text is easy to scan with headings, subheadings, bullet points, and images.
• Clear anchor text drives the audience to related reading.
• The article ends with FAQs to summarize key points.
• The “More on this” section directs readers to additional resources.

10. How to Build Your Digital Banking Strategy by Alloy

How to Build Your Digital Banking Strategy provides an overview of the digital banking industry and combines content from its banking technology pillar.

Why we like it:

• The guide starts with a strong introduction about why digital banking matters.
• Clear anchor text directs visitors to learn more about a sub-topic.
• Resources vary—links to blog posts, ebooks, and webinars encourage engagement.

Navigating SEO Challenges for Product Pillars

By employing this refined four-pillar approach, teams can navigate the corporate landscape with expertise, forging a path to continued success in the ever-evolving world of SEO.

Pillar 1: Mitigation – Channeling the power of technical SEO

This pillar focuses on error management and technical SEO. As an SEO manager, a significant portion of the team’s time is spent identifying issues after launching a project. From the beginning, the technical SEO team can save time, effort and money by working closely with engineering teams, project managers, and product managers. 

Education is vital, ensuring everyone understands SEO nuances and can make informed decisions. Imagine embarking on an epic quest through the digital landscape, where technical SEO reigns supreme. 

Equipped with our SEO superpowers, we bravely crawl through websites, identifying hidden issues that demand immediate attention. The technical SEO team forms alliances with engineering teams, empowering them with SEO knowledge to make intelligent decisions that eliminate the need for future fixes. 

From conquering accessibility challenges to optimizing page speed, they confront server codes and errors, engaging in front-end and back-end engineering. They aim to ensure a flawless online experience from search to results.

Pillar 2: Analysis and reporting – Unmasking SEO insights

Within this foundational pillar, the SEO team engages in calculating assumptions and presenting reports on achievements. Recognizing the influence of SEO on vital performance indicators such as traffic and revenue is paramount for any company. However, reporting can prove intricate due to the requirement of tracking keywords from Google organic search. 

To address this, having a dedicated SEO expert or team handling reporting fulfills the necessity of gathering data from Google Search Console and other analytics reporting tools, facilitating the creation of a holistic overview. 

By precisely measuring and reporting SEO performance, the entire SEO team and relevant stakeholders can discern successful strategies, areas that warrant enhancement, and novel prospects.

In SEO, analysis becomes our trusty sidekick, guiding our every move with unwavering precision. 

Equipped with the transformative powers of data, the SEO reporting team embarks on a profound expedition into its enigmatic realms. Their odyssey begins within the realms of Google Keyword Planner or other similar keyword analysis tools, where they unveil the latent growth potential by intertwining it with click-through and conversion rates. 

Through this amalgamation, they can discern and predict the impact of our SEO endeavors with remarkable precision. Regular reports become their secret weapon, allowing stakeholders to compare estimations with actual results and reveal their success. 

The SEO team can set clear goals for every fiscal year, quarter, and month, ensuring their path is paved with measurable success. 

Equipped with analysis and reporting power, the SEO team fears no uncertainty in their heroic quest for SEO glory.

Pillar 3: Growth – Igniting the flames of SEO triumph

This pillar involves determining growth and managing projects for SEO. While addressing and reporting on existing SEO work is essential, the team must also identify upward search trends and fill any gaps in their current efforts. 

A project manager (or product manager) in SEO plays a vital role here, overseeing initiatives that impact significant portions of the website. This can involve overhauling design and content on specific pages or driving an internal linking plan affecting various site aspects. An effective SEO product manager will lead to substantial revenue growth from SEO.

This is where the SEO super-team unleashes its true might. Through meticulous analysis, they discover hidden opportunities that serve as stepping stones to victory. The team will embark on daring projects, wielding power to increase impressions, clicks (traffic), and the ultimate treasure: revenue. 

Their journey takes them to keywords hungering for content improvement and new keywords yearning for attention. The SEO product manager synergizes with other teams to conquer the ever-evolving SEO landscape. 

Even in technical SEO, they seize positions, click-through rates, and revenue with unrivaled skills. With growth as their guiding star, the SEO team will emerge as the mighty heroes of the digital realm.

Pillar 4: Championing – Building strong relationships through communication for SEO

The final pillar revolves around championing SEO to stakeholders and other teams. Building relationships across the organization is crucial to SEO success. Once initiated with the first three pillars and the team works well, the SEO team can focus on relationship-building. 

This can be done by the SEO team’s manager or director or by instilling this mindset in each SEO team member. The goal is to engage with engineering, creative, legal, and public relations teams and other areas to gain support and buy-in for SEO initiatives, leading to overall SEO and company growth.

The pinnacle of triumph, where relationships are forged and bonds are unbreakable. The SEO dream team rises above the rest by building alliances with other teams. The team communicates openly, extending their unwavering support, for they understand that unity is the key to victory. 

The SEO lead (manager or director) cultivates connections with stakeholders, leadership, and engineering, laying the foundation for a harmonious existence. These relationships garner support for SEO initiatives and amplify the team’s efficiency. 

Liberated from the chains of constant persuasion, they devote more time to collaboration, working hand in hand with others. Together, they form an unstoppable force, an SEO dream team like no other! Overall, the industry has seen a shift in how corporate structures visualize SEO. 

Some companies are moving toward subject matter expert (SME) or individual contributor (IC) roles within engineering, content/creative, reporting, and marketing teams. They then come together periodically to communicate updates for SEO. 

This new structure allows for better revenue reporting, project prioritization, and effective communication up the chain. The changes in corporate structure and visualization for SEO benefit both the companies and the industry as a whole. 

Adopting these four pillars of enterprise SEO into your SEO strategy and adapting them to your organization’s needs can create a solid approach and build a successful team.

Tailoring Pillar Pages to Showcase Products

Now that you’ve seen various pillar page examples, it’s time to consider incorporating this powerful content strategy into your digital marketing plan. Before diving in, consider the following steps to ensure success:

1. Identify a relevant core topic: Reflect on your target audience and their needs. Choose a broad subject closely related to your industry where you possess a wealth of knowledge, allowing you to produce valuable insights and information.
2. Perform keyword research: Identify appropriate long-tail keywords with high search volume and low competition around your core topic. This will help guide the creation of subtopics for your pillar page.
3. Organize content into multiple topic clusters: Develop comprehensive subtopics based on the keywords identified earlier, ensuring they are logically connected to your core subject.
4. Create engaging content: Write compelling and informative content for the main pillar page and each cluster within it, providing users with an immersive experience that keeps them returning for more.
5. Link interconnected pages: Ensure all relevant internal links connect both subtopic pages (clustered) with the main pillar page – enhancing navigation while boosting SEO value through link-building strategies.
6. Optimize with best practices: Adhere to SEO guidelines when working on title tags, meta descriptions, headers (H1-H4), images (using alt text), body copy (short sentences), and other on-page elements essential for ranking well on search engines like Google or Bing.
7. Promote your masterpiece: Once your impressive pillar page is complete, share it across social media platforms and email campaigns, or even utilize guest blogging as part of outreach efforts – driving traffic and growing awareness of its existence.

With these steps in mind, take inspiration from the exemplary pillar pages discussed earlier in this article: tailor approaches depending on objectives such as data visualization or storytelling, focus on design elements like navigation and typography, and look for creative ways to engage audiences. Remember, a pillar page is an investment in your digital marketing strategy. Take the time needed to create something exceptional that will resonate with your audience and elevate your content.

Incorporating high-quality, well-organized pillar pages into your content strategy will enhance user experience and strengthen SEO performance. With the right approach and inspiration from these stellar examples, you can confidently forge ahead on this exciting journey toward creating successful pillar pages for your website.

Examples of Effective FAQ and Problem-Solving Pillars

An FAQ (frequently asked questions) page answers the most common questions customers and other website visitors have. It provides information related to products and policies, allowing people to source answers independently, without support.

FAQ pages differ from About Us pages, which contains the story behind your brand. But both often act as a first point of contact for shoppers and help build trust with your customers.

Shopify’s FAQ page answers questions from those considering using the platform and people who want to learn more about Shopify tools.

Alongside first-time visitors, FAQ pages can benefit customers across the purchasing journey—whether they’re in the consideration phase looking to understand how you source your product, or an existing customer troubleshooting a problem.

In ecommerce, the goal of an FAQ page is often to reduce the anxiety of purchasing online, convincing on-the-fence customers to push the Buy button.

1. Skinnydip London

Women’s clothing and accessory brand Skinnydip London has a great branded FAQ page example on its site, categorized by payment, delivery, orders, refunds, product and stock, and account. Users can click through to more specific questions, and it’s easy for them to navigate and find extra help if needed.

2. United By Blue

Sustainable goods retailer United By Blue also categorizes its FAQ page. The difference here is everything is on a single page. Answers are thorough and often include links, so users can easily take the next step. If you don’t see your question, you can chat with the brand during its listed business hours. 

3. National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery’s FAQ page has a long list of questions, which are also categorized by general information, facilities, ticketing, and other relevant topics. Each category gets a separate section, so users can easily see where to find their answers. Scrollability is aided by the page design, with questions housed in clickable blocks.

4. Colorado Crafted

Colorado Crafted keeps things simpler than the National Portrait Gallery. Its list of questions is on the shorter side, so as not to overwhelm users with too much information. The brand also adds a bit of fun: “Hey, where’s all the chocolate?” one question asks. It’s a legitimate question, but written in a conversational and playful tone.

5. Roody

Roody has a unique product: custom swag boxes. As such, Roody has room to get creative with its brand voice, which you can see demonstrated across the website. Roody also uses this voice on its FAQ page, and keeps questions specifically related to its product and audience. You can tell it has carefully considered which questions to put here—being a unique product, it has not-so-conventional Q&As.

Balancing Evergreen Content with Timely Analysis

Creating SEO content that attracts and engages your audience is a challenge, especially when you have to consider the different types of content and formats that suit your goals and niche. You may have heard of the distinction between evergreen and timely content, and how they can affect your ranking and traffic. But how can you balance them effectively and strategically?

Evergreen content is content that stays relevant and useful for a long time, regardless of trends, seasons, or news cycles. It typically covers topics that are fundamental, timeless, or educational, such as how-to guides, tutorials, definitions, lists, or tips. Evergreen content can help you build authority, trust, and loyalty with your audience, as well as generate consistent organic traffic and leads over time. However, evergreen content also requires regular updating and maintenance to ensure its accuracy and freshness.

Timely content is content that responds to current events, trends, or opportunities, such as news, opinions, predictions, reviews, or case studies. It usually has a short lifespan, but can generate a lot of buzz, engagement, and social shares in a short period. Timely content can help you showcase your relevance, creativity, and expertise, as well as attract new audiences and influencers. However, timely content also requires careful research, planning, and execution to avoid being outdated, inaccurate, or irrelevant.

How to balance evergreen and timely content?

There is no one-size-fits-all formula for balancing evergreen and timely content, as it depends on your niche, audience, goals, and resources. However, a general rule of thumb is to have a solid foundation of evergreen content that covers your core topics and keywords, and then supplement it with timely content that adds value, variety, and interest to your content mix.

You can also use tools like Google Trends, Google Analytics, or social media platforms to monitor what your audience is searching for, talking about, or sharing, and use that data to inform your content decisions.

How to use different content types and formats?

Another way to balance your SEO content is to use different content types and formats that suit your purpose, audience, and platform. For example, you can use blog posts, articles, or ebooks for evergreen content that provides in-depth information, education, or solutions. You can use videos, podcasts, or webinars for timely content that showcases your personality, opinions, or insights.

You can use infographics, charts, or images for evergreen or timely content that visualizes data, facts, or trends. You can use quizzes, polls, or surveys for evergreen or timely content that engages your audience and collects feedback.

Optimizing your content for SEO is essential to ensure that it reaches your target audience and ranks well on search engines. To achieve this, you should conduct keyword research and use relevant, long-tail, and low-competition keywords in your title, headings, URL, meta description, and content.

Additionally, you should write for your audience first, with clear, concise, and engaging language that matches their intent, needs, and preferences. To make your content easy to scan and read, use headings, subheadings, bullet points, white space, and media such as images or videos.

Furthermore, include internal and external links to relevant sources to provide more value and context. Lastly, update your content regularly and remove any outdated or irrelevant information. By following these tips, you can create a diverse and effective content strategy that boosts SEO performance and audience satisfaction.

The Role of Multimedia in Content Engagement

Multimedia refers to the use of various forms of media, including text, images, videos, audio, and interactive elements, to convey information and engage with users. It offers a powerful way to enhance content distribution and make it more appealing and engaging for the audience. By incorporating multimedia elements into your content, you can increase its reach, improve user experience, boost engagement, and ultimately drive more traffic and conversions.

1. Increase in Attention Span: One of the key advantages of using multimedia in content distribution is its ability to capture and hold users’ attention for longer periods. Research has shown that people have a shorter attention span when consuming text-only content compared to multimedia content. By incorporating multimedia elements like images, videos, and interactive elements, you can make your content more visually appealing and engaging, thereby increasing the chances of users staying on your page for a longer time.

2. Emotional Connection: Multimedia has the power to evoke emotions in ways that text alone cannot. Images, videos, and audio can create a more immersive and emotional experience for users, allowing them to connect with your content on a deeper level. For example, a well-crafted video can elicit strong emotions and resonate with your audience, leading to increased engagement and a higher likelihood of social sharing.

3. Improved Information Retention: Studies have shown that people have better memory retention for content that is presented in a multimedia format. By incorporating visual and auditory elements, you can make your content more memorable and increase the chances of your audience recalling key information. This can be particularly useful when delivering complex or technical information that may be difficult to grasp through text alone.

4. Enhanced Storytelling: Multimedia provides a powerful platform for storytelling. Whether it’s through videos, images, or interactive elements, you can bring your content to life and engage your audience in a narrative. By telling stories, you can captivate your audience’s attention, build a connection with them, and ultimately drive them to take action.

Example: Let’s consider the example of a fashion brand looking to promote its new collection. Instead of simply writing a blog post describing the collection, the brand could create a visually stunning lookbook featuring high-quality images and videos. By presenting the collection in a multimedia format, the brand can capture and hold the audience’s attention, evoke emotions through visuals, and create a more immersive and memorable experience.

Overall, incorporating multimedia elements into your content can significantly enhance engagement by increasing attention span, creating emotional connections, improving information retention, and enabling effective storytelling.

Successful Thought Leadership Pillars

“Thought leadership” is a term with a lot of baggage. People describe themselves as a thought leader. Companies insist they’re producing thought leadership content. But if you break it down to a simple definition, thought leadership is: have thoughts, be a leader. Companies get it wrong when they assume leader = fancy title.

Individuals get it wrong when they focus only on having thoughts, without building a following.

To be a thought leader, you need four elements to work together:

1. Credibility
2. Profile
3. Prolific
4. Depth of ideas

But, how do you start? How do you know if you’re making progress? How do you capture your ideas and personality to build a following? Read on for details on creating a baseline profile and tracking progress in each element.

Framing the Framework

Before we dive into the details, let’s set some context. Thought leadership is NOT just about being famous. That’s fame. The 4-pillar framework outlined below includes the following context:

1. Confined to knowledge workers: We’re not defining celebrities, entertainers, musicians, sports stars, or other “famous” people.
2. You need to have a thought: You need to be making improvements, executing in novel ways, or otherwise iterating and introducing something new or original.
3. Being good at your job does not make you a thought leader: The pillars have little to do with actual job performance. Plenty of people are smart, capable, and produce great results for their career/team/company. This is specifically about people who have potential to be thought leaders and credible external spokespeople.

Creating a Baseline Across the Four Pillars of Thought Leadership

The four pillars work together in tandem, and the goal is to move up in each pillar. I recommend “scoring” yourself using red (beginner/poor), yellow (making progress but needs improvement), and green (successful).

This is what a lot of founders or C-suite execs look like. They have the big, fancy title. And in most cases, their title lends them some credibility, but it’s limited to people who know them, or to a small sub-set of their field. But, since they’re busy people, they haven’t taken time to codify their ideas in a way that other people can learn and implement. They rarely write articles, speak at conferences, or engage on social media.

This profile is the epitome of the, “busy stakeholder”.

In contrast, this is what a lot of smart, capable practitioners look like. They’re aces at solving problems at a tactical level, and they might even be coming up with new strategies to iterate on the traditional approach. They’re often writing or speaking about it with other practitioners.

But since they don’t have a high profile, it’s hard for them to be credible outside their very small circle. They’re sharing a lot, but no one is listening. 

I don’t think you need to make it to the top of every pillar to be a thought leader or an effective spokesperson. You can have a lot of influence in your field and adjacent fields at these levels and moving from tactics into strategies.

Proof-points and Tactics for Each Thought Leadership Pillar

So, how do you know when you’ve moved from one level to the next within each pillar? And how do you keep making progress in each pillar?

Credibility is about whether people perceive you as an authority in your subject. As you think about the credibility pillar, you have to think about how the AUDIENCE views you:

Do people believe what you say? Do people think you’re knowledgeable? Do people trust you?

Credibility can be positional, such as a title, a practitioner with repeatable results or extensive experience in the field, or through formal credentials like education and licenses. You can accelerate growth in the credibility pillar by when pairing with a strong brand or another prominent thought leader in your field.

Profile is about how many people know you, and the nature of your connections. You’ve heard people joke that only their mom or their spouse sees their content? They’re signaling that they know they’re not well-known and they don’t get attention from high-reach outlets. They don’t have a profile.

One of the less obvious changes as you move up in this pillar is the nature of your network. For people who are just starting out on building a profile, they personally know most of the connections, either through past workplaces, attending college together, or meeting at an event.

But as you move up, you start to see the opposite: connections know you, but you don’t know them. Prestigious outlets feature you vs. you sharing links to those outlets. Conferences invite you to speak vs. you pitching to speak.

Being prolific is about how often you’re sharing your knowledge, and the prestige of the outlets where you speak or publish. This is closely tied with having a strong profile, because as your profile improves, so do your opportunities to share with bigger audiences.

Prolific people write blogs, speak at conferences, create videos, join podcast, share on social media, and engage with their audience. They create and share A LOT of content.

Sometimes people think being prolific means creating net-new content all day, every day, on every channel. Instead, re-purposing and re-framing and re-organizing are the keys to success. Yes, you need to be sharing different types of content in different places regularly to build your credibility and profile, and help people learn from your depth of ideas. But re-mixing existing content saves time and allows you to share your message with new and different audiences.

Depth of ideas is about codifying your insights into processes and frameworks that teach others how to replicate your success. Remember, it’s not just about being good at your job, it’s about codifying your expertise so that OTHER PEOPLE can learn, implement, and see success.

Share your ideas in a way that allows others to engage, build on, and apply them in their own context.

Thought leaders add to, not just change or disagree with, the existing conversation, best practices, and solutions.

You can be smart and impactful without being a thought leader. But to be a thought leader, you need to educate and empower others to achieve smarts and impact.

Examples of Effective Event-Specific Pillars

Let’s examine some accomplished examples. Here are some high-performing pillar page examples that showcase a variety of engaging elements:

Best Overall: The Ultimate Guide to the Best Productivity Apps from HubSpot

This exceptional example of a pillar page combines visually appealing design, well-structured content, and easily navigable sections for users. Their comprehensive guide on productivity apps addresses various user questions and provides valuable insights. To create your successful pillar page, consider integrating these features.

Best Data Visualization: Population Healthier from The Atlantic

Population Healthier stands as an exemplary example of data visualization in pillar pages. This engaging content showcases vital health statistics through interactive graphs and charts, making it easy to understand and fascinating for readers.

Best User-Friendly: A keto diet for Beginners by DietDoctor

With clear headings, key points, informative images, and videos embedded throughout the article, this pillar page is an invaluable resource for people wanting to try the keto diet.

Best Navigation and Text: The Complete Guide to Outsourcing Your Electronics Manufacturing from JJS

JJS Manufacturing presents information sequentially while allowing users to jump between relevant sections through convenient navigation. This approach simplifies complex subject matter without sacrificing depth or authority.

Best Guide: Everything you need to know about SEO Content Brief

A comprehensive guide on content briefs covering all the aspects: from what it is and its benefits to statistics and how to create and include it in the content writing process. Moreover, you can find infographics and videos, making it easier to understand the importance of content briefs. 

Conclusion:

In the orchestration of an effective content strategy, understanding and leveraging diverse pillar page types is crucial. This comprehensive guide has navigated through the spectrum of pillar pages, providing insights, strategies, and real-world examples to empower businesses in crafting compelling content pillars that resonate with their audience, enhance SEO, and establish long-lasting authority in the ever-evolving landscape of content marketing.