Pillar Pages Tips for SEO which Improve Search Engine Rankings
In terms of SEO, there are always people who seek out ways of improving their online visibility through search engines. One approach that has been successful in recent times is the use of pillar pages. However, the question that arises here is, what exactly are pillar pages and how will pillar pages help your search engine rankings?
we'll go into details about the concept of pillar pages, the importance of pillar pages for SEO, and how they will improve your ranking on search engines such as Google.
All Points
Key Points to Remember
What Is a Pillar Page?
Why Create Pillar Pages?
How Can You Create Pillar Pages?
Choose Topics That You Want to Rank for
Perform a Keyword Research to Structure Your Content
Create Your Pillar Page and Content
Build Links to Your Pillar Pages
Examples of Pillar Pages to Inspire Your Strategy
Rover
NerdWallet
Amazon
Key Takeaways
Pillar Pages: They are comprehensive discussion on any topic, containing links to other relevant articles or pieces of content.
Increase SEO: They help in creating a more structured or hierarchical architecture on your site. This helps search engines in crawling your content.
Content Clusters: They help in linking other relevant articles (content clusters) on your site, which will show search engines the topical authority of your pages.
Good Approach: It is better to find out right topics, keyword research, and link building.
What Is a proper Pillar Page?
Pillar pages are those long central pages in your website where a broader topic is discussed in-depth and linked to other pages about smaller topics. Consider this as a center to arrange all the content around a series of topics that are related so that the users and search engines may know about the topic area where your website is an expert.
For instance, the fitness website may contain a pillar page about "Healthy Living." The page would include an overview about all the aspects and link to various clusters like "Nutrition Tips," "Workout Plans," and "Mental Health."
Why Should You Use Pillar Pages?
The pillar page helps to improve SEO because it ensures that there is an integrated website experience that can be easily crawled and analyzed by search engines. The user will also benefit from such a structure since he will be able to move through the website in an organized manner and have interactions with similar topics.
Benefits include:
Increased user engagement: Users engage longer, as they navigate to related articles.
Improved Crawlability: Search engines crawl and organize content more easily when it has a clear organization.
Increased authority: When you link multiple pages on a topic, you create a better sense of being an authority on that topic.
How to Create an Effective Pillar Page
In short, proper planning, organizing and structuring of content in a way that is logical, flows and creates a good user experience while maintaining relevancy to search engines are needed for a successful content pillar page.
Here is a step-by-step process you can follow to develop pillar pages that will help improve search results.
Step 1: Choose the Topics You Want to Rank For
You should select a broad topic which revolves around your business and by applying the use of pillars, you will be able to add sufficient sub-topics for creating a pillar page for that broad topic. Some examples:
In case you have a travel blog, and your broad topic is Adventure Travel, the pillar page for Adventure Travel can lead to links for Hiking Trails, Adventure Gear, and Travel Tips for Thrill-Seekers.
In case you have a digital marketing blog and the broad topic is content marketing, then the pillar page for it can be linked to topics like SEO basics, email marketing, and social media strategy.
2: Use Keyword Research to Organize Your Content
After selecting the topic for your pillar page, there is an additional step which entails conducting keyword research in order to identify the ranking phrases on your chosen topic. The chosen keyword should be related to the theme or content of your pillar page (e.g., "How Pillar Pages Will Help Your Search Engine Rankings"). Subtopics will be covered by your chosen keyword.
Subtopics included in your cluster pages are those that are related to your keyword. This will involve grouping keywords to ensure that each one of the pieces in the support page has a keyword or subtopic that is related to that keyword.
3: Create Your Pillar Page and Supporting Content
Your pillar page needs to provide an overview of your main topic and serve as an introduction to all of the topics which are related to your main topic.
Include Proper Headings and Sub-Headings: Proper headings and sub-headings make your content readable, but it also tells the search engines which parts of the content are more important.
Provide Value: Your content must be able to answer the reader's questions properly. It should also provide the necessary information in an easy-to-consume manner for the benefit of the reader.
Internal Linking: Internal links need to be added from the pillar page to the cluster pages of the main topic.
4: Build High-Quality Backlinks to Your Pillar Pages
After the creation of the pillar page is done, it’s now time to think about getting backlinks. Good backlinks help establish authority for the page and enhance its potential ranking capabilities.
Find Related Websites: Look for websites with relevant information and request backlinks.
Publish Guest Post: Publish guest blog posts on popular websites which include a link back to your pillar page.
Promotion: You can promote your pillar pages and drive traffic through social media.
Examples of Pillar Pages to Inspire Your Strategy
These are some excellent examples of pillar pages that were successfully used to increase their search engine ranking and user experience.
1. Rover
The pet service provider, Rover, made its pillar page on "Dog Care" which included information about "Dog Nutrition," "Training Tips," and "Health Essentials." This type of structure will be helpful for people who own dogs because it can help them learn more about how to take good care of their pets. It can be beneficial for Rover to notify the search engines that it is a relevant piece of content and that they are its authors.
2. NerdWallet
NerdWallet utilizes pillar pages when it comes to personal finance. The website's "Credit Cards" pillar page leads to "Best Credit Cards," "Credit Score Tips," and "Card Comparisons," becoming a pillar page associated with all credit cards' information.
3. Amazon
Pillar pages are successfully used by Amazon for different categories of goods it offers, including "Electronics" and "Home & Kitchen." Every single page serves as a centralized source for links to all subcategories and items within this particular category.
Optimizing Your Pillar Page for Search Engines
Target Keyword Usage - Be sure to use the term "How Pillar Pages Will Help Your Search Engine Rankings" within the title, meta description and in the body of your post.
Meta Description and Alt Text - Create a compelling meta description and ensure that you use the target keyword within it. Add some alt text within the images used in the content to get more SEO advantages.
Visuals - Using relevant images, diagrams and infographics in your content will make it more appealing and visually attractive.
Creating pillar pages is definitely one of the best methods of improving the SEO of your website and user experience. Creating relevant content around certain topics and linking those topics to other relevant topics will help you navigate through the website easily. At the end of the day, it will help boost your ranking on search engines.
