The term “Pillar Content” is frequently used when talking about blog or website content marketing strategies. The concept of it is pretty simple to explain. However, putting it into practice can be tough. Especially if you don’t know the exact route to take when creating it for your site.
So, in this article, I’m going to give you a quick guide to pillar content. Including the meaning of it, why it’s important, and how you can incorporate it as part of your market strategy.
What is Pillar Content?
Pillar content is content that focuses on giving a detailed overview of a specific topic. Its pages almost act like the main page for a specific topic. Readers can use it as a detailed resource that gives a lot of information. It covers every angle of the topic. However, the pillar content page can also be used to direct readers to other sources where they can learn more.
Typically, pillar content will be the longest (highest word count) articles on your blog. Which makes sense as you should be using pillar content pages to give an overview of everything about a particular topic. It doesn’t need to be super in-depth with granular details. Instead, pillar content should cover the most important points, However, make sure it offers a way for readers to find more granular information.
An analogy I like to use is to think of it as the trunk of a tree. The pillar content is going to make up the bulk of the topic you’re discussing (the trunk). But the page then provides links to other pages on your website (tree branches). These pages go more in-depth into specific aspects of the topic.
Why is Pillar Content Important?
To keep it short, it’s great for SEO. Pillar content is important as it can be used to attract a lot of traffic to your site. Then subsequently to many other linked pages on your sites. As mentioned previously, this page is almost like the main page for each topic with links to more detailed but related blog posts. Interlinking, where you create internal links to connect two pages on your website. It is a good strategy for SEO. Internal links work in a slightly similar way to backlinks.
Another reason why pillar content is great for SEO is that it allows you to target multiple keywords. Users will click on your page from a search engine to find all of the information they need.
However, it is also a great way to build authority in your field. As discussed in previous blogs, creating authoritative content is a great way to garner trust from readers. It also helps to improve your search engine ranking. Think Google’s E-A-T algorithm.
How to Create Pillar Content
Creating pillar content starts with you focusing on the topic that you want to discuss. For example, the topic you discuss might be SEO for beginners. Bear in mind that the topic will be a broad but still detailed overview of your chosen topic. For reference, your pillar content will generally be 2000-3000 words long at minimum (this largely depends on the topic you’re discussing).
Next, you’ll want to think about all of the aspects of SEO that beginners need to know. Carrying on with this example, you’ll need to consider what’s important and what’s too complex for beginners.
Pick Your Keyword
Before structuring the pillar content page, it’s a good idea to also research what the most important keywords are to include in your page. This way you know you’re not missing out on key subtopics that will be important for readers.
After you’ve decided on the most important thing to cover in your beginner’s guide to SEO, you can start structuring your page.
There isn’t necessarily a perfect structuring formula for these pages, however, it’s generally best to start with a tone-setting introduction to the topic, followed by a menu with quick links to each subtopic on your page.
Headings and Subheadings
You can then use headings to lay out a structure of the most important to the least important subtopics. Then move onto writing the content for each section.
The content in each subtopic section should be concise, informative, and give the information that most readers are searching for. However, you don’t need to be very detailed and in-depth in each subtopic section. You can go into more detail about a particular subtopic in a separate blog post and provide a link to the more detailed blog post on the pillar content page.
Think back to our pillar content page tree analogy. You should give an overview of the most crucial pieces of information about each subtopic (tree trunk), but for more details (branches and leaves), readers can follow links to other blog pages on your site to get a better understanding of specifics.
Once your content is written, it’s important to place necessary CTA (call-to-action) buttons. These are internal links to allow your readers to visit more in-depth blog articles on your website. The articles take a closer look into each specific subtopic they’re researching.
What’s Your Next Pillar Content Topic?
Finding pillar content topics should be relatively easy, but they do depend on the industry you’re working in. If you’re stuck, there’s no shame in looking for inspiration from related sites in your field. Maybe even other fields to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t. Then figure out how you’re going to set up your page.
It’s worth taking the time to build and craft your pillar content pages. Treat them as if they need to be a long-lasting, almost evergreen type of content that’s going to regularly attract visitors to your website.
For more tactics on how to build your content marketing strategy and information on how to grow your business, read through some of the latest posts on the Intentionally Inspirational blog.
Written by Lewis James