How to Skyrocket Your SEO Performance with Topic Clusters
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This talk from BrightonSEO (Sept 2023) looks at the concept of topic clusters and how this SEO approach can transform your search visibility. With practical steps and real-world examples, you'll gain valuable insights into implementing successful topic clusters that captivate search engines and drive sustainable results.
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How to Skyrocket Your SEO Performance with Topic Clusters
- 1. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO How to Skyrocket Your SEO Performance with Topic Clusters Martin Hayman RankCaddy Slideshare.net/MartinHayman @MartinHayman
- 5. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO What Are Topic Clusters and Why Do They Matter?
- 6. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO They give your Audience the information they are looking for.
- 7. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO They help strengthen Topical Authority
- 9. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Are Topic Clusters the real deal?
- 10. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Google granted a patent titled "Ranking Search Results Based on Entity Metrics" Suggests that the search engine considers the comprehensiveness of a website's content around a specific topic when determining its ranking. 2015
- 11. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Patent titled "Website Representation Vector to Generate Search Results for the Website" (US Patent 9,760,487) Suggests that Google might determine the relevance of a website to a query by looking at the overall theme of the website. This could indirectly support the concept of topical authority ` 2017
- 13. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO First, we’re making it easier to explore and understand new topics with “Things to know.” Let’s say you want to decorate your apartment, and you’re interested in learning more about creating acrylic paintings. The search results page for the query “acrylic painting” that scrolls to a new feature called “Things to know”, which lists out various aspects of the topic like, “step by step”, “styles” and “using household items." If you search for “acrylic painting,” Google understands how people typically explore this topic, and shows the aspects people are likely to look at first. For example, we can identify more than 350 topics related to acrylic painting, and help you find the right path to take.
- 14. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Second, to help you further explore ideas, we’re making it easy to zoom in and out of a topic with new features to refine and broaden searches.
- 15. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Google's E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) principle is another indication that search engine values topical authority.
- 16. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO How do we build these?
- 17. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Step 1: Identify your topic (pillar page)
- 18. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Step 2: Identify your sub-topics (keyword research)
- 19. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Common sub-topics to cover Examples of [X] What is [X] [X] tips/ideas How to do/use [X] How to use [X] for [thing/activity/person] Benefits of [X] Alternative to [Y] [X] vs [Y]
- 20. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Step 3: Create high-quality content
- 21. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO For pillar pages …There are some options
- 22. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Shorter Form Longer Form
- 23. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO For cluster pages QUALITY QUALITY QUALITY
- 24. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO For cluster pages
- 25. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO For cluster pages
- 26. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Step 4: Add relevant internal links
- 33. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Step 5: Review & Improve
- 34. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Improve Improve Content More Content Backlinks
- 35. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Improve Improve Content More Content Backlinks Don’t Set & Forget
- 38. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Topic Clusters How to Build Effective Topic Clusters 10 Ways to Create Topic Clusters How to Create Topic Clusters in 2024 Step by Step Guide to Creating Topic Clusters
- 41. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Missed Internal Linking Opportunities
- 43. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Mistake 3: Lack of… Content Quantity Internal Links Quality
- 68. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Using AI to plan topic clusters
- 72. @martinhayman #BrightonSEO Slides will be available here: bit.ly/topic-clusters-brightonseo
Editor's Notes
- 3 quick things you may not know about me… I'm the co-founder of RankCaddy An SEO tool that turns your SEO data into actions We’re making it [more actionable… word this simply] [maybe even mention cheaper rank tracking?
- Just a very quick slide about me... I'm the founder of Wild Sprout (an online marketing agency for ecommerce businesses) and Nxt Level Ecommerce (ecommerce marketing events and also a free ecommerce newsletter) And I'm also the co-founder of Twylu (internal linking tool) and RanckCaddy (an affordable rank tracker with added tools and actionable insights)
- Just a very quick slide about me... I'm the founder of Wild Sprout (an online marketing agency for ecommerce businesses) and Nxt Level Ecommerce (ecommerce marketing events and also a free ecommerce newsletter) And I'm also the co-founder of Twylu (internal linking tool) and RanckCaddy (an affordable rank tracker with added tools and actionable insights)
- These, as the name suggests, involves creating content around a specific topic (you hub page) in a structured and strategic way. 2 main reasons for this…
- Starting with what’s important from a users point of view… They help give your target audience the information they need. Rather than having to dart around from site to site, they should be able to get all the info they need and are looking for, in one place.
- CREDIBILITY Firstly, and probably most importantly from an SEO point of view… But what is Topical Authority? Topical authority refers to the level of expertise and credibility (a website or content creator has) within a specific subject area or niche. By establishing topical authority, you signal to search engines that your content is, relevant, valuable, informative, and reliable and it becomes MUCH EASIER to rank content around that same topic. Clients: “Why are we writing this, it won’t convert? Answer: It helps with topical authority and may help to rank content around that same topic.
- When it comes to establishing topical authority… some of these terms may be familiar.
- Although the patent doesn't mention the term 'content clustering' or 'topical authority' specifically, it provides insight into the mechanisms Google might use to assess a site's authority on a particular topic. This patent suggests that Google considers the comprehensiveness of a site's content around a specific entity (which can be a topic) when ranking search results.
- This could indirectly support the concept of topical authority, as a website with a clear and comprehensive focus on a particular topic could be seen as more relevant to queries related to that topic. These patents suggest that Google uses sophisticated algorithms to understand the content of a website and how that content relates to specific topics and queries. As such, developing topical authority by creating comprehensive, high-quality content around a specific topic could potentially improve a website's visibility in Google's search results.
- https://twitter.com/glenngabe/status/1227651891175329792
- These patents suggest that Google uses sophisticated algorithms to understand the content of a website and how that content relates to specific topics and queries. As such, developing topical authority by creating comprehensive, high-quality content around a specific topic could potentially improve a website's visibility in Google's search results.
- These patents suggest that Google uses sophisticated algorithms to understand the content of a website and how that content relates to specific topics and queries. As such, developing topical authority by creating comprehensive, high-quality content around a specific topic could potentially improve a website's visibility in Google's search results.
- Value authority around a particular topic.
- 5 Steps
- Broad topic (Competitive? YES! No reason not to) Depends on size of website We’ll look at some examples later
- Cluster pages Related keywords Questions (PAA) Popular filters (things like benefits, examples and so on) … I’ll show you a really quick way to find these ideas at the end
- Related keywords Questions (PAA) Popular filters … I’ll show you a really quick way to find these ideas at the end
- I used Midjourney to create a lot of the images for this talk. Other than this guy has an extra finger… What on earth is that meat meant to be? Anyway, this slide is meant to represent high quality so let’s pretend it looks nice.
- We have two types of content We have our pillar pages and we have our cluster pages For pillar pages, we have various options so let’s have a look at a couple of these.
- But there are other options too and we’ll look at some examples shortly. So topics may warrant a very indepth hub piece but I’ll show you some very competitive examples where that really doesn’t have to be the case.
- I’ll show you how to generate ideas using AI shortly
- I’ll show you how to generate ideas using AI shortly
- Internal links are really important. Especially for topic clusters. They’re also important for making the most of backlink equity you’ve been building (I mean earning!)
- And a few key things to think about here… We want to think about the quantity and quality of the links we need… And well as relevance (remember, really important)
- And a few key things to think about here… We want to think about the quantity and quality of the links we need… And well as relevance (remember, really important)
- Going back to this example, it’s much more relevant if you’re linking to a piece of content when the sub-heading above the paragraph you’re linking from is about that content.
- More content - in cluster? in blog? Etc. For example, Healthline rank 1st for ‘benefits of ginger’. They have 83 indexed pieces of content with ‘ginger’ in the title tag. Do you think they would be an authority on that topic if they just had the one piece about ginger? And this is actually one of the smaller topics they cover. By the way, I wouldn’t say Healthline use a topic cluster approach but they do cover topics very thoroughly and establish topical authority well so I thought that was worth a mention.
- More content - in cluster? in blog? Etc. For example, Healthline rank 1st for ‘benefits of ginger’. They have 83 indexed pieces of content with ‘ginger’ in the title tag. Do you think they would be an authority on that topic if they just had the one piece about ginger? And this is actually one of the smaller topics they cover. By the way, I wouldn’t say Healthline use a topic cluster approach but they do cover topics very thoroughly and establish topical authority well so I thought that was worth a mention.
- Before we dive into some examples… 3 common mistakes
- Confusing signals Confuses Google / search engines
- Confusing signals Confuses Google / search engines
- Old analogy from Bruce Clay Strict siloing involved linking down and up but never outside of the silo. Some people would get really strict with this and even change the navigation per silo. Problem with strict siloing…
- Historically, strict siloing means not linking in or out of that specific silo. Links from elsewhere may be very relevant.
- What you often end up with is something like this. And again we’ll look at some examples in a bit.
- To give you some food for thought, let’s look at some examples of topic clusters
- Good example of relevant link but siloing could have not allowed for this.
- Very small amount of content. 1 sub-heading and 2 questions in FAQ. Not the best page but GOOD HUB and will be helped by backlinks.
- Breadcrumbs All structured within the same URL hierarchy
- In content
- At the bottom of the content
- Right at the top of the content
- I mentioned I would show you a quick way to find cluster ideas
- Just a very quick slide about me... I'm the founder of Wild Sprout (an online marketing agency for ecommerce businesses) and Nxt Level Ecommerce (ecommerce marketing events and also a free ecommerce newsletter) And I'm also the co-founder of Twylu (internal linking tool) and RanckCaddy (an affordable rank tracker with added tools and actionable insights)
- Thank you… Feel free to follow me on Twitter (my DMs are open). I’m also on Instagram And my email is there too, I’m happy to answer any questions you might have. Thanks.