Mastering Content Clusters to Build Topical Authority 

Whenever you want to learn the latest news about your favorite hobby or interest, which site do you go to first? Regardless of your choice, you clearly view the website as having topical authority on the subject, meaning you consider it to be a trusted source of information.  The way topical authority works on Google’s search rankings is very similar.  When a website covers a particular topic in great detail (typically with content clusters, but more on this in a bit), Google will start to view it as an authority on the subject, and its topical authority will increase.  This heightens the chances that Google will start ranking the site’s content in top positions for lots of keywords related to the topic due to the established trust.  So, where do content clusters enter the picture? A content cluster is a series of content pieces that all cover the same topic, albeit in slightly different ways.  Content clusters are amazing for building topical authority on Google because they involve creating lots of content for the same topic (and targeting topically relevant keywords for each cluster page).  Topical authority is a powerful currency in SEO, as it leads to higher rankings and a large amount of it can often outrank larger competitors. In this article, we’ll teach you how to completely master using content clusters to increase your website’s topical authority, and you don’t want to miss it! 

Understanding How Content Clusters Work 

A content cluster is a group of thematically related pages that flesh out a topic in great detail.  They consist of pillar pages (i.e., the main theme) and cluster pages (supporting content that’s related to the main theme).  Content clusters are not only great for building topical authority with search engines, but they’re also enormously helpful resources for your target audience.  As mentioned in the intro, topical authority can also apply to your users. The more that you publish content on a topic, the more trust you’ll build with your potential customers, causing them to flock to your website to learn the latest developments in your industry.  The cherry on top is adding internal links to your content clusters. This ensures that:

1. Google’s algorithm can clearly discover the thematic connection between each page. 
2. Your users have quick access to cluster pages for further reading, which is a great way to keep them engaged in your website’s content loop (and more likely to make a purchase). 

Here’s a quick example of a content cluster using financial planning as an example: Pillar page: Financial Planning in 2025: Building a Secure Future Cluster page: Debunking Common Financial Planning Myths  Cluster page: Financial Planning: The Importance of an Emergency Fund  Cluster page: Financial Planning for Buying a Home: What You Should Know  Cluster page: Financial Planning for Generational Wealth  As you can see, each cluster page builds off the theme of the pillar page to form a cohesive and in-depth overview of financial planning.  SEO-wise, content clusters are a great way to approach massive topics that you can’t possibly cover in a single article targeting a single keyword.  Also, each additional piece you create on financial planning creates the opportunity to rank for more related keywords. So, instead of writing one post that targets the keyword ‘financial planning,’ you create 5 posts that all share similar keywords (like financial planning myths, financial planning for generational wealth, etc.). This boosts the SEO value of your content since you’re casting a wider net with your keywords.  Speaking of the net analogy:

How Google uses content clusters to infer subject matter expertise 

To Google, websites that produce high-quality, comprehensive content are more authoritative than sites that take a ‘one-and-done’ approach to covering topics. Before introducing the Hummingbird update back in 2013, Google’s algorithm had no way of gauging topical authority, and its main ways to rank content was based on keywords and backlinks (among other factors). Google has continued to prioritize topical authority with its updates since Hummingbird, most notably with the Helpful Content Update in 2022 that added an extra E to Google’s E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) acronym.  Websites that exhibit E-E-A-T in their content are considered high-quality by Google, and publishing content clusters is one of the best ways to demonstrate expertise and authoritativeness.  Having said that, nobody outside of Google truly knows how it measures topical authority since they don’t publicly disclose this information. 

Why Content Clusters Matter for SEO 

While the way topical authority works is a mystery, years of doing SEO and running experiments have taught us that:

1. Consistently publishing content about the same topics boosts topical authority. 
2. Interlinking content clusters covering similar themes helps Google’s algorithm understand your expertise on a subject. 
3. Strong topical authority can cause lesser-known websites to outrank more established players (like Amazon and Wikipedia). 

Another reason why content clusters are important for SEO is they help you rank for broader topics and more long-tail keywords.  Since Google will start to view you as an authority for a certain topic, it’ll start ranking you for semantically related keywords – even if you didn’t target them outright. You’ll also rank for more topics that are directly related to your areas of expertise, extending your online reach even further. In short, content clusters are pretty easy to produce and can yield extraordinary SEO benefits, so they’re definitely worth experimenting with if you haven’t already.  If you’ve been having a hard time establishing a strong presence on Google and other search engines, focusing on content clusters is a great way to rapidly expand your influence. 

Pro tip: Long-tail keywords are search phrases that don’t contain high search volume, and tend to be longer in nature. However, despite their low search volume, these types of keywords boast high conversion rates and are incredibly common. In fact, 92% of all Google searches are long-tails. So, it’s incredibly advantageous to rank for lots of long-tail keywords, which is another reason why content clusters rule.

What are the Benefits of Implementing Content Clusters?

Before we go any further, let’s take a closer look at the primary benefits associated with publishing content clusters.  That way, you’ll know for sure if adopting them is the right strategy to meet your SEO goals. 

Improved SEO performance 

Content clusters are simply amazing for SEO, period. Not only do they boost your topical authority and lead to higher rankings for existing keywords, but they also make the crawling and indexing process easier for search engines.  This is because content clusters are neatly organized into similar themes and are all interlinked. Internal links are how search engine algorithms discover new content on your site, so content clusters are picture-perfect for this.  Besides that, they’ll help you rank for more keywords related to your niche due to your perceived expertise on the subject, which is a fantastic way to broaden your brand’s reach and introduce your products and services to new audiences. 

Better user experience and engagement 

Your target audience also benefits from your clusters, assuming that you are truly producing high-quality, helpful content.  Content clusters are excellent for your user experience and engagement because:

1. Each cluster page covers a different subtopic, ensuring that your content is broken into digestible chunks instead of one giant mega-article. 
2. Since your pillar pages link to your cluster pages, users have a way to remain engaged in your content loop for extended periods of time. 
3. Your audience has the chance to educate themselves, learn new skills, and solve their problems with your in-depth content. 

Establish serious credibility and topical authority 

Lastly, websites that have strong topical authority rank on Google, and they rank well.  In fact, it’s not uncommon to see smaller websites outrank major competitors due to the strength of their topical authority alone.  Here’s an example.  If we search for the keyword ‘car detailing equipment’ on Google, this website ranks in the #1 organic position: They’re called Detail King, and they’re outranking juggernauts like Amazon and Chemical Guys (a major provider of detailing equipment).  If we look at their SEO metrics using Ahrefs, we can see that they have a meager Domain Rating (DR) of only 56.  This is surprising since Amazon and other websites have much higher Domain Ratings (well into the 70s and 90s): So, how did Detail King outrank these major websites despite having inferior metrics? They did because they have very strong topical authority.  One look at Detail King’s extensive blog section confirms this: They have countless blogs all covering topics related to car detailing, which has established them as an authority on the subject.  If you have competitors that are difficult to outrank due to sky-high DR scores, content clusters can be your secret weapon! 

5 Steps for Creating Effective Content Clusters 

Okay, now it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty and learn how to create a content cluster of your own.  We’ve organized the process into 5 steps:

1. Finding core topics 
2. Doing keyword research 
3. Developing pillar pages
4. Creating supporting cluster pages 
5. Employing a strong internal linking strategy 

Let’s take a closer look at each step. 

#1: Identifying core topics for content clusters 

First, you need to uncover fresh topic ideas for content clusters, and there are multiple ways you can do this.  One of our favorite methods is to use Google Trends to discover what our target audiences are searching for at the moment. This helps us develop content clusters that we know our audiences are interested in.  For example, you can start by entering a general industry term related to your niche, like ‘digital marketing’: While seeing the amount of interest in your niche is helpful, the real value lies in the Related Queries tab beneath: If you set this to Rising, it will show related terms that are increasing in popularity, making them viable topics for content (and clusters).  Another method is to brainstorm topics that are relevant to your industry and target audience, but it’s important to back them up with research (see step 2).  If you’re lacking inspiration, you can always check out the types of content clusters your competitors are creating. You can either:

1. Examine their blog to find content clusters (i.e., pillar pages that link to sub-pages that cover the topic in more detail) 
2. Use tools like Ahrefs to examine their related keywords. 

Step #2: Conducting keyword research 

Next, you need to research keywords that are directly related to your pillar pages.  You can use our free keyword research tool to make this happen, but subscription-based platforms like Ahrefs and Semrush will also work (if you have the budget).  In particular, Ahrefs has some useful features for finding keyword clusters.  Head to its Keyword Explorer tool and enter one of the topics you brainstormed from step #1 (we’re using financial planning for this example): Select Related terms to see some semantically related keywords, but we want to organize them by parent topic: Also, select Clusters by Parent Topic at the top of the page: This will provide you with clusters based on the parent topic you entered:  topic of sales qualification: Crucial metrics to pay attention to for each keyword include its Search volume (SV) and Keyword difficulty (KD). Ideally, you want to find keywords that have high search volumes but low keyword difficulty scores. 

Step #3: Develop your pillar pages 

Now that the background work has been done, you can get started crafting your pillar pages.  The most important thing to remember here is to outline your pillar pages with the internal links to your cluster pages in mind.  Here’s an example of what that looks like:

• Pillar page title: Financial Planning in 2025: Building a Secure Future 

• Subheading 1: Touches on financial planning myths and links to the cluster page that goes into more detail. 

• Subheading 2: Briefly mentions the importance of starting an emergency fund, then links internally to the cluster page on the topic. 

As you can see, each subheading quickly mentions each cluster topic before linking to it. 

Pro tip: If you need help creating pillar and cluster pages, our expert writers can knock it out for you via our blog writing services.

If you need help creating pillar and cluster pages, our expert writers can knock it out for you via HOTH Blogger. 

Step #4: Creating cluster content 

The next step is to create each cluster page while linking back to the pillar page every time.  Also, you should utilize a mix of evergreen and timely content to keep the content cluster relevant and fresh. The timely content will capitalize on trending searches while the evergreen content will stay relevant indefinitely – ensuring that your cluster never completely goes out of style (or stops generating traffic). 

Step #5: Implement a strong internal linking strategy 

This gets its own step because we can’t overstate how important internal linking is for content clusters.  Every pillar page should link to each cluster page, and vice versa.  Besides that, you should use contextual anchor text that aligns with user search intent.  Here’s a quick example:

• Anchor text on pillar page linking to cluster page: Emergency funds matter for financial planning. 

• Anchor text on cluster page linking to pillar page: Ultimate financial planning guide in 2025.  

Each snippet of anchor text A) lets users know what the next page is about and B) aligns with their search intent (i.e., to learn how to start an emergency fund and implement sound financial planning). 

Best Practices for Using Content Clusters 

Here are some expert tips to keep in mind when putting together content clusters:

• Keep content fresh with regular updates. You should regularly revisit your content clusters and update them with fresh insights, new developments, and data. This will help you squeeze the most SEO value out of the content that you’ve already created. 

• Enhance engagement with multimedia. Using visual content increases your sharing potential by 40x, so include images, videos, and infographics whenever you can. Also, using structured data will also make your content more visible in search result features (like knowledge bars and featured snippets). 

• Track your performance and optimize accordingly. Keep an eye on your Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console profiles to pick up fluctuations in your traffic. Heatmaps and engagement tracking are two useful ways to measure the effectiveness of your content clusters. If you aren’t seeing the results that you want after a few months, it’s a sign that you need to go back to the drawing board and retool your strategy. 

Common mistakes to avoid 

Conversely, here are some beginner pitfalls you should avoid at all costs:

• Overlapping content and keyword cannibalization. You need to ensure that every cluster page covers a distinct subtopic to avoid duplicate content (which throws off search rankings) and keyword cannibalization (which is where two pages try to rank for the same keywords, causing them to cancel each other out). 

• Poor internal linking structure. Internal links are the lifeblood of content clusters, so DO NOT forget to include them on all pillar AND cluster pages. 

• Ignoring search intent. Targeting a keyword is only one piece of the puzzle. You also need to align your content with the keyword’s search intent to find true success. Ignoring search intent will lead to irrelevant content that frustrates your audience, so always do your best to understand the ‘why’ behind each keyword you target. You can learn more about search intent in this thorough guide. 

Content Clusters: A Real-World Success Story 

Want to see proof of the effectiveness of content clusters? That’s not a problem, as the internet is filled with countless examples of successful content clustering.  A notorious example is Hubspot, as they restructured their entire blog years ago to follow the content cluster model.  For instance, they have a strong content cluster built around the topic of sales qualification: This pillar page contains a detailed outline that sets up all the cluster pages: Venturing further down the page reveals the anchor text and internal links for the cluster pages, like this one: Clicking on this link takes us to this cluster page: As you can see, it covers a similar topic but is still in the realm of sales qualification.  How did this content perform SEO-wise? A quick peep at the metrics of the pillar page reveals some impressive stats: They’ve generated thousands of backlinks and rank for over 100 keywords related to the topic, some of which are bound to be from Hubspot’s established topical authority. 

Content Clusters: Tools and Resources 

Before we wrap up, here’s a look at some helpful tools and resources that will make developing content clusters easier. 

SEO tools 

• Ahrefs and Semrush. These two platforms are invaluable for keyword research, organizing topics and keywords into clusters, and analyzing your competitors. 

• Surfer. This tool features a built-in writing editor that makes it effortless to include semantically related keywords in your content, which is a plus for clustering. 

• Google Search Console (GSC). When it comes to performance tracking, there’s no beating the mighty GSC. 

Content management and internal linking tools 

• WordPress + Yoast SEO. This combination is great for optimizing your pillar and cluster pages. 

• Link Whisper. Internal linking can be time-consuming, but Link Whisper lets you automate the process. 

Start Ranking Higher with Content Clusters Today 

To summarize, content clusters are one of the best ways to build topical authority, outrank competitors, and broaden your brand’s reach online.  They’re beneficial to both search engines and your target audience, and they can lead to more leads and sales for your business.  However, it’s important to adopt a structured approach to see sustained ranking improvements.  If you need help developing winning content clusters for your brand, HOTH X is the perfect service for you. It’s our managed SEO service where we completely take the process off your hands so that you can enjoy simple success.