It is difficult to find a content strategy which allows you to increase traffic on a website and to stimulate user engagement. And yet, There are pillar pages (Or pillar pages in English). This type of technique has existed for years but have never really been generalized because it has many risks. Poorly executed, they can even harm your SEO. However, if they are well done, The pillar pages can gbother more traffic, no more conversions and a user experience significantly improved. In other words, they really help to improve your SEO. In this article, we will come back in detail to what are The pillar pages and how they are useful for SEO.
What is a pillar page?
A pillar page is an element of content which serves as a basis (or pivot) on which other related pages are built and connected by internal links. It covers all the essential points that your target audience must know on a subject.
The pillar page therefore refers to other pages that we call “grouped pages”. These pages offer more detailed coverage of certain aspects of the subject and refer to the pillar page. Thus, the grouped pages focus on one of the elements of the subject of the pilot pageR and offer a deep dive into this subject.
For a more concrete illustration, imagine your main page as a table of contents. In this sense, the grouped pages are their chapters. For example, your main page could relate to SEO in general. You cannot expect to examine the subject in depth in a single article. But you can approach the subject of technical referencing and create a link to content that addresses it in depth.
Here are some of the characteristics ofA typical pillar page ::
- It targets the parent subject and the associated keywords and keywords
- It provides basic responses on the parent subject
- The pillar pages are generally long content of more than 2,000 words.
- They are linked to grouped pages, which refer to the main page.
- A pillar page is an element of evolutionary content that you must update from time to time.
Why use pillar pages?
We will divide our response into two parts:
To start, the pillar pages allow you to organize your content by themes and direct visitors to pages where they can find the most information. This facilitates navigation and exploration of your website, both for users and for Google.
A pillar page is the way to ensure that your pages lead to the objective on which you are focusing the most. More importantly, it determines the orientation of your website. Define the pillar page and the group pages amounts to deciding on the general orientation of Your website.
Then the pillar pages present many Advantages in terms of SEO. When you organize your content topically, you improve your ranking in search engines. Indeed, in terms of content, quality always prevails over quantity. Google algorithm strives to get around this problem by favoring websites offering a clear user experience and logical hypertext links.
If Google can say what each element of your content deals with, you will get a better classification. In other words, The more you approach a given subject On your site, Better you will be classified for this subject.
The choice of the right subject for Your pillar page is an integral part of strategy success. Keywords are always essential in SEO, but targeting of subjects has become more and more important since search engines have updated their algorithms. The search engines reward the content that is organized by theme, not by keywords.
Here is Key steps that you must follow to choose a pillar page which will be successful.
1. Choose a relevant solution
It may seem obvious, but you can never say it enough. Some referers are so attached to find the right keywords Let them forget the overview. In the same way as for the search for keywords, think about the solutions and subjects that your product resolves.
This is where the BUYER PERSONA What does your buyer look come into play, and what questions could he ask themselves along the way?
Once you have a list of possible options, choose a subject wide enough to be able to create “grouped pages” around. A request that only offers an answer by “yes” or by “no” will not suit this strategy.
For example, “What is communication?” »» is a too large subject, and ” Communication between a colleague and a boss ” is too specific. On the other hand, the question “What is an effective communication at the workplace?” »» is wide enough to allow the writing of a long text, but it also offers the possibility of establishing links with other areas of communication in the workplace which are more specific.
2. Analyze the Serp
We often forget how useful SERP can be to identify related queries. Enter the subject of your pillar page in the search bar and examine the results.
What kind of questions are asked in the “People ask” section? Is there a star extract? Are there targeted advertisements on related subjects? These are all excellent indicators that you have chosen the right subject. If the subject of your pillar page does not bring any of this, it might be more judicious to make it a grouped page, or it is not at all the right subject for you.
“People also Ask” requests Can also be very useful for the structure of your pillar page. Would it be wise to answer these questions on your pillar page as H2 or H3? Search engines often give us the answer to our own questions, especially when it comes to related subjects.
3. Assess your content
Your content audit May seem to be an insurmountable task, but it is crucial in the pillar pages strategy process. It is difficult to start writing new content without knowing which content you already have-you would not want to end up with duplicated content and thus be in competition with yourself.
Classify your existing content by themes. From there, you can identify the pages that are similar. Can you redefine the priorities of the existing content to adapt it to this strategy ? Can you combine two content elements together? At the end of your content audit, you should be able to identify the main gaps thereof.
This is where the new content will intervene. This process will also make it possible to eradicate any duplicated content, so that the Reorganization of your content will be ready to hope for the best results.
For the strategy of the pillar page She herself, you can use a Google Sheet, with several tabs: a first for the existing content which must be optimized, another for the new content which must be written, and a third for the structure of the pillar page as well as the current rankings of your pages.
