{"id":130122,"date":"2022-07-25T11:41:26","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T11:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/?p=130122"},"modified":"2025-04-02T17:53:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T17:53:36","slug":"topic-clusters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/marketing\/content-marketing\/topic-clusters\/","title":{"rendered":"Topic Clusters: The Practice of Building Topic Hubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who\u2019s a better authority on a subject: someone who wrote one article about it or someone who wrote ten?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a trick question.<\/p>\n

More content on a specific topic gives you more credibility and increases your authority with search engines.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean start writing a ton of articles on the same topic. In fact, please don\u2019t do that. Rather, it means structuring your content in topic clusters. This model shows Google and other search engines that your website has a lot of knowledge on a subject and that the knowledge is organized to provide website visitors with all the information they need with a smooth and easy browsing experience.<\/p>\n

Using this structure can give you an almost instant boost in your SEO<\/a>. If that sounds like something you could use, (who are we kidding, we all can\u2026) then keep reading to find out how to create content clusters that will help you land that top spot in SERPs.<\/p>\n

What is a topic cluster?<\/h2>\n

A topic cluster is a bunch of related content all grouped together. Generally, a topic cluster is thought of as a wheel with spokes – in fact, this is also known as a \u2018hub and spoke\u2019 content strategy. The wheel, or hub, is the main topic \u2013 the one your website is an authority on \u2013 and the spokes are the cluster pages, different articles that relate to this topic. The spokes are connected to the wheel with hyperlinks that allow website visitors to navigate to relevant articles, and search engines to crawl and understand your site\u2019s structure.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For example, let\u2019s say you have a website that reviews electronics. Your main topic could be entertainment systems and then your supporting topics would all be related content such as TVs, stereo systems, video game platforms, etc. Having all of these different articles connected together shows Google that the website is a true authority on entertainment systems. You will likely want to create multiple clusters for your website. In this example, you might also create a cluster of electronic appliances, headphones, and more.<\/p>\n

Simply put, organizing your content into topic clusters requires three elements:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Main Topics<\/li>\n
  2. Supporting Content<\/li>\n
  3. Hyperlinks<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To organize your content into clusters, you should create a lobby or a few pillar pages<\/a> with your main topics. All the supporting content pages will be linked to the relevant main topic page.<\/p>\n

    Why are topic clusters good for SEO?<\/h2>\n

    Let\u2019s start with a story. Once upon a time in 2015, expert marketer Anum Hussain<\/a> created an experiment to figure out how to improve organic SEO. One of the experiment\u2019s findings was that more links to a page improved SERP ranking. Sounds obvious?<\/p>\n

    Anum broke it down further, showing that internal links<\/a> were almost as effective as external links at improving SEO. This was a pretty big revelation in 2015 and started the revolution of \u201cTopics over keywords.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Answer searchers\u2019 questions<\/h3>\n

    Google\u2019s main goal is to provide searchers with the answers to what they are looking for. The search engine is constantly improving its algorithm to be more helpful and provide users with the best content.<\/p>\n

    In 2020, Google announced<\/a> that its AI algorithm now understands subtopics. This means that if someone searched for something broad, Google could understand their search intent and related subtopics to ensure that the searcher finds what they need.<\/p>\n

    The following year, Google made another improvement to its algorithm<\/a>, saying that it now understands how people generally explore a topic. This is referred to as search intent and these are some pretty huge advancements in how Google displays search results.<\/p>\n

    If you can cluster your content to provide people with the information searchers are looking for, Google should thank you with a better SERP ranking.<\/p>\n

    Improve your website\u2019s E-A-T<\/h3>\n

    Topic clusters ensure your website provides a comprehensive overview of a subject, which contributes to a website\u2019s E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, and Trust).<\/p>\n

    If Google sees you have multiple interlinked articles about a certain topic, this is a good indication that your website is an expert on the subject, so Google will be more likely to show it to searchers looking for information on that topic.<\/p>\n

    Boost your engagement metrics<\/h3>\n

    If you do topic clustering well, your website engagement metrics<\/a> should improve too, which again is a good signal to Google.<\/p>\n

    For example, if someone lands on your main topic page and sees the relevant links to related content, they are less likely to bounce<\/a>. They\u2019ll probably click on a link or two, improving your average session duration<\/a> and pages per session.<\/p>\n

    Topic cluster examples<\/h2>\n

    Today, most websites are already using topic clusters to organize content. Let\u2019s take a look at the way we organized our content into clusters at Similarweb. A great topic cluster example is our B2B Sales<\/a> topic cluster. If you click the link, you\u2019ll see our main topic page for B2B Sales. There are 31 articles (supporting content) related to B2B Sales, covering different concepts including lead generation<\/a>, sales techniques<\/a>, marketing tactics<\/a>, and more. All of the supporting content is linked to the main topic page, and many of the articles are interlinked with each other.<\/p>\n

    \"Example<\/p>\n

    Another great topic cluster example is our Business benchmarking<\/a> cluster. Here we have 43 articles covering every aspect of business benchmarking, from how to benchmark<\/a>, different types of benchmarking<\/a>, and specific benchmarks our readers might find useful.<\/p>\n

    \"Benchmarking<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    We cluster our topics to help our website visitors find the information they need. It also helps us understand if we are missing any content relating to a specific topic so we can write new posts about it. Of course, we also do it to improve our own SEO strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    How to create a topic cluster content strategy in 8 steps<\/h2>\n

    Step 1: Check your competitors<\/h3>\n

    When you start with any new strategy, it\u2019s always a good idea to analyze your competitors<\/a> and see what they\u2019re doing. Take a look at your content competitors\u2019<\/a> websites to see how they structure their content. Are they using clusters? What are their main topics?<\/p>\n

    You can also dive in further to see which topics your competitors appear to be authorities on and which topics might include gaps. Topics with gaps could present good opportunities for your main topics that you can be the top authority on.<\/p>\n

    Step 2: Choose your main topics<\/h3>\n

    Decide the topics your clusters will center around. How you do this will depend on how much content you\u2019ve already created for your website.<\/p>\n

    If you already have a ton of content and you\u2019re just looking to organize it into clusters, start with the content you already have. List your content and sort it into different topics. You might find that you already have a ton of related content that just needs some restructuring.<\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re starting from scratch, this step takes brainstorming. Think about what topics are related to your business that you could be an expert in. For example, if your website offers healthy recipes, you might create clusters around healthy appetizers, healthy main dishes, healthy desserts, and healthy breakfasts.<\/p>\n

    Look at each topic idea<\/a> and make sure it is broad enough for multiple articles.<\/p>\n

    Step 3: Create personas and understand their intents<\/h3>\n

    Who are the people who will be interested in your content? You should create several personas<\/a> defined by the common attributes of your target audience<\/a>. This takes some research, start by:<\/p>\n