Contributors include: Matthew Barby, Anum Hussain, and Cambria Davies.
The search engines that are influential have changed their formula to favor topic based content. A new method of linking related content is being explored by websites. The report serves as a primer for marketers in the field of search engine marketing.
Many companies are quietly reconfiguring their websites in the background while you browse the web. What's the reason?
The search engine results are very competitive. New best practices have been adopted by websites focused on content. The topic cluster model is now being used for search engine results.
The main hub of content is a singlepillar page. There are multiple pages that are related to that topic. The action signals to search engines that the pillar page is an authority on the topic, and over time, the page may rank higher for it.
A topic cluster model is a way of organizing a site's content pages using a cleaner and more deliberate site architecture.
The source is Matt Barby.
You can watch the video to learn more about the topic.
The process of changing a site's structure is not done to get ahead of consumer behavior. They are being forced to do so because search engines have changed the way they do things.
People used to pose questions to search engines to find answers. People want an accurate and timely answer when they ask search engines more complex questions.
Many different phrases are used when searching for a specific answer. Search engines are able to recognize the connections between queries. They can understand the context behind the search intent, tie it back to similar searches they have encountered in the past, and deliver web pages that answer the question.
The first big shake-up related to this change happened with the Hummingbird update from the internet giant. The search engine began to focus on more than one thing. Hummingbird is believed to be the official switch from a title to a topic.
The next big step was the RankBrain update. The RankBrain machine learning algorithm was launched in 2015. It compares past searches with similar themes to find the best results.
The topic cluster experiments were launched in 2016 in light of the changes. They found that the more interlinking they did, the better the placement in search engine results pages. The number of links they created made a difference.
The source is Anum Hussain and Cambria Davies.
The structure of the website was similar to the image below.
The source is Matt Barby.
The home page is hosted by the master URL.
It is possible to see the spread of web pages. Because there is no uniform linking in place, the structure of the blog pages is more complex. It's hard for search engines to crawl through all the pages quickly.
Many similar businesses that invest in content find themselves with hundreds of web pages that cover the same topics. All of these pages are competing to get found by search engines.
A more orderly, thoughtful arrangement is needed to prevent this from happening. The pages related to that topic can be grouped together.
A website can be rearranged to look similar to the image below. There are clusters of content that link to a central pillar page that outlines the topic.
The source is Matt Barby.
Content marketing is an example. Group your existing pages by topic. If necessary, create a pillar page that captures all the key aspects of the topic in one page.
The topic is content marketing.
It is important that pillar pages broadly cover the topic you are focusing on so that you can link all related content pages to it in a sensible way.
Just one area on the pillar page should be the focus of your cluster content. A cluster content page would detail how to improve your site architecture for search engines if you have a pillar page.
Think of your content assets as topics you want your business to compete on. The topics are the umbrella under which your strategy operates.
The art of choosing topics for clusters is summed up by the author.
“When considering whether something should be called a pillar page or not, ask yourself this: Would this page answer every question the reader who searched X keyword had, AND is it broad enough to be an umbrella for 20-30 posts?
A good sniff test here is — if you’re trying to get the page you’re working on to rank for a long-tail keyword, it’s not a pillar page. If the page you’re working on explores a very narrow topic in great depth, it’s not a pillar page. If the page you’re working on touches on many aspects of a broad topic, it’s probably a pillar page.
”
If you wanted to own the term "inbound marketing," you would need to research related topics, create content on those topics, and link back to an inbound marketing pillar page.
Update the links in the related content pages you have identified to form a cluster around the pillar page. A search engine knows that a post is part of a topic cluster if it is linked to at least once with the same anchor text.
The pillar page needs to be monitored over time. You can link out to a related topic when you have grown your authority on the topic.
The next step in the content marketing process would be to create content that converts.
If your company has an extensive archive, choosing a topic to audit existing content can be very difficult. There are a few suggestions for organizing and creating topic clusters.
A sheet like the one below can be used to keep track of content in a topic cluster. Some of the categories may not be needed depending on the topic and the number of pages you are linking to.
The categories are listed below.
Tools are being developed to help marketers organize their content. MarketMuse is a point solution that can help you organize and improve content by topic.
This is the image source.
You can use the content strategy tool to create, execute, and measure content.
Machine learning can help marketers identify the topics that their target personas are most likely to look for. There will soon be more ways to help marketers maximize their content strategies.
Image Source
There are links for products and services.
The post was updated in 2022.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
