What Are Pillar Pages, And How Do They Help Your SEO?

Many websites use SEO to appeal to the search engine algorithm to drive traffic to the site. However, the algorithm is ever-changing, and it can be challenging to keep up with what promotes good SEO and what doesn’t.

More and more companies are turning to pillar pages to boost their website’s visibility on search engines. What exactly are pillar pages, and how do they help boost SEO?

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What Are Pillar Pages?

A pillar page is a high-quality content page that gives internet users a broad summary of the information they’ll find on the website. The pillar page is the hub that connects the sub-pillar pages of topic clusters.

Hyperlinks are used on the pillar page to link to related content on another page within the same website. That second page links to another page on the same topic, creating a topic cluster.

Pillar pages are generally around 2,000 words or more. Each main pillar should have three corresponding sub-pillar pages.

The pillar page gives a broad overview of each related page. The linked content gives more detailed information about the topic. A pillar page is similar to a book’s table of contents.

Pillar pages have been shown to improve search engine rankings. How?

4 Ways Pillar Pages Help SEO

Having your website rank high in the search engine results is a goal of almost every website online today. There are over 1 billion websites; typically, only ten websites feature per results page. That’s not great odds. Over half of all internet users never scroll past the first results page.

Here are four ways pillar pages help those odds.

1. Structure

Search engines respond well to organized content. Pillar pages structure your website, making it easier for search engines to crawl. A search engine algorithm doesn’t look for individual pages on a searched-for topic. Rather, the algorithm looks for a cluster of related pages within one website.

By using pillar pages, you’re giving internet users all the information they seek in one place. How long someone stays on a website affects search engine rankings.

2. Keywords

Keywords are more important than ever when it comes to SEO. Instead of manually typing in their search query, many people use their phones or other devices to perform a voice search. As a result, search queries are getting longer.

Pillar and sub-pillar pages provide ample opportunities to populate the text with relevant keywords that might be unique to a longer search query.

3. Backlinks

The best link building services will tell you that backlinks are fundamental to good search engine rankings. There are several ways to use pillar pages to get backlinks. Guest posting on another website is one method. Another is to partner with a social media influencer and get them to backlink your site.

4. Authoritative

What search engines like even more than organization is authority. A pillar page with related sub-pillar pages will give you credibility with search engines. When a website has a series of cluster pages on the same topic, search engines tend to think of them as an expert on the subject and lists them higher in the results than other non-expert sites.

If you’re looking for a new method to improve your SEO, consider creating pillar and sub-pillar pages for your website.