Nov 25, 2022
Are you also tired of not generating enough reach with your content? Maybe it’s because you lack pillar content strategy for your business. Learn more about it here.
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Are you also tired of not generating enough reach with your content? Maybe it’s because you lack pillar content strategy for your business. Learn more about it here.
Using Pillar Content to Build Your SEO Approach
Introduction
Nearly every business these days will appreciate the importance of adapting an SEO strategy into their marketing approach, or indeed using SEO as central tenet of that approach. One of the biggest challenges, however, is staying up to date in what is happening in the world of SEO and not being caught behind the curve. The job of an SEO expert is to constantly remain innovative. Search engines such as Google are continuously improving the algorithms which trawl for keywords and relevant content, and the way in which data is recorded. The bottom line is that it becomes very easy to see costly marketing approaches fail to result in the desired traffic because it would be very easy to be using the wrong approach. What is the right approach I hear you ask? Well, increasingly, savvy content marketers are turning to an innovation called pillar content. Here’s what it is and how it works. The Best Tool for SEM & SEO - Try It Now for Free - SEMRush
What Is Pillar Content (and How Long Has It Been a Thing)?
The issue at hand is how to build a content strategy, and the content, that remains relevant, even with all of these changing parameters. Is there a way you can ensure that your content remains attractive to search engine algorithms over a period of time, without worrying that your content becomes uninteresting almost as soon as it is published? The answer to this question is a resounding ‘yes’. The secret, which is not so secret to those who have been utilizing this approach for some time, is to produce foundational content that stands the test of time. This is what we can call a content pillar, or cornerstone content (both names are used within the industry). The thing is, pillar content is not a new concept. It was mentioned on blog forums for marketing experts as long ago as 2013, and was even the focus of a detailed article by author Yaro Starak as far back as 2006. So what is it? At its most basic, a content pillar is an all-encompassing article or page that sets out everything that your business is all about and the relevant information that a potential customer is likely to look for when running a search for a business akin to yours. A ‘how to’ article, for example, would be a fantastic means of approach as it sets out to answer all of the questions which would lead to someone finding your business on a web search through a search engine. It is vital that you emphasize all of those critical functions that your business concentrates on and you want to be known for. Not only does it seek to answer all potential queries, but it remains relevant to a search for an unlimited amount of time, which is crucial.
What Does a Pillar Content Look Like?
As previously mentioned, pillar content will usually take the shape of a long-form article, for example, or a well-positioned web page which is not hidden beneath layers (you want this to be accessible to everybody, so don’t hide it behind a form that needs to be completed first). Identifying what the theme will be to this content pillar is perhaps the most essential task you will complete in your whole marketing strategy. Not only must the theme stay forever (in marketing terms anyway) relevant, you ideally want it to be a topic that can be easily broken down into sub-topics which can be addressed in equal detail using all the regular content channels such as videos, infographics, email marketing, blog posts, social media posts and so on. “The central idea behind this strategy, of course, is that from this one pillar, all you other content approaches can be supported - hence the name ‘pillar’ or ‘cornerstone’,” points out Russel Windsor, an SEO manager at BritStudent and WritemyX.
What Are the Benefits of Pillar Content?
It’s a pretty easy premise with regards to a content pillar – it is all about your business getting found on a search engine. Not only that, it’s about your business getting found on a search engine consistently over time, without constantly needing to be updated and worrying about if you are staying on message and staying relevant in terms of SEO. So, in effect, getting your content pillar right will save you a lot of headaches in the form of lost time, money and productivity, in the long run. Another point to make is that not only should a content pillar support your content marketing plan, it has to be the cornerstone of it – once again reinforcing the fact that the name is befitting of the purpose.
How to Build It - Topic Clusters and Sub-Topics
So how in essence do you go about producing pillar content? In the same way that you should be going about any content marketing strategy – by understanding your audience and customers. Failing to do so will see any marketing approach fail, and producing content pillars is no different. So, who are your potential customers? The answer to that question is the same as who are the people who will benefit from your product and service. What is it exactly that they need: what are they looking to do? How will your business work? How does the product or service work? How will your product or service add value? “The more detail you can provide in answering the questions pertaining to your audience, the better your pillars will be. And the better they are, the more relevant and effective they will remain,” states Anne Bellow, a tech blogger at 1day2write and NextCoursework. From here you can set about identifying your central, or core, topic, for which everything else resolves – think of this as the sun and everything else becomes the planets revolving around it. If you are uncertain, utilize the old-school but still-relevant practice of keyword research to tell you. Once you know the first thing that your potential audience types into a search engine, you can start to think deeply about everything that is connected to that central theme. And, of course, try to be as innovative with those keywords as possible so you are not just clogging up an already saturated space. So, you need to be innovative as always, but the point is that this innovation will continue to set you apart for a significant amount of time to come. This will simply generate more traffic to your site, which in turn you can seek to engage and then convert. Once you have your core topic – the sun – you can begin to create the sub-topics – planets - that revolve around it. It would be important here to ensure that these are strong enough topics to stand alone themselves, but always links back (both literally and figuratively) to that core principle. From here you just simply repeat the process, and of course you can create sub-topics – moons – around the larger sub-topics – planets. This is where topic clusters come in. Topic clusters are, as they sound, areas of intense information regarding a certain subject. If you have done the job effectively – built a strong content pillar page with a number of sub-topics linking back to that central theme, search engines will then start to identify that pillar as a place of authority on that given subject. The result? A better search ranking. So, your topic cluster becomes the basis to be more successful when it comes to SEO. And the beauty of it is, you’ve probably done a lot of the hard work already in producing videos and blog posts and so on – now you just need to build the layers around that central pillar to maximize the effect. Another consideration is the fact that it is unlikely you will have just one content pillar – you should essentially build several around all of your key concerns as a business. From here, you can identify your sub-topics relating to that central idea.
The Relationship between Pillar Content and Your Content Strategy
As previously alluded to, pillars are the basis of your content marketing approach. They should always be the focus of what your business offers to its audience and potential customers, and so are the starting point for all other content, not the other way around. Everything that you then do should be to raise awareness of your pillar – for example, social media posts linking to it, or producing ‘how to’ videos based on the ideas expressed in the central pillar. And, of course, the job is never done – you will continue to produce content related to that pillar, and continue to effectively utilize all of your channels to draw attention to that pillar. But the pillar itself in the concept, never changes. The only concepts you need to create are to continually grow your content clusters in the form of your pillar content. Recommended: A Step by Step Guide to Develop a Content Marketing Strategy that Will Supercharge Your Business
Conclusion
It may be that you have been doing most of what is spoken about here, but just never knew it was called content pillaring. Or it may be that you have everything in place, you have just never arranged it to look like this (and have therefore never created a content cluster which attracts search engines). Or it may just be that this gives you the focus to build, or rebuild, your SEO approach. The Best Tool for SEM & SEO - Try It Now for Free - SEMRush
Read the full article
Using Pillar Content to Build Your SEO Approach
Introduction
Nearly every business these days will appreciate the importance of adapting an SEO strategy into their marketing approach, or indeed using SEO as central tenet of that approach. One of the biggest challenges, however, is staying up to date in what is happening in the world of SEO and not being caught behind the curve. The job of an SEO expert is to constantly remain innovative. Search engines such as Google are continuously improving the algorithms which trawl for keywords and relevant content, and the way in which data is recorded. The bottom line is that it becomes very easy to see costly marketing approaches fail to result in the desired traffic because it would be very easy to be using the wrong approach. What is the right approach I hear you ask? Well, increasingly, savvy content marketers are turning to an innovation called pillar content. Here’s what it is and how it works. The Best Tool for SEM & SEO - Try It Now for Free - SEMRush
What Is Pillar Content (and How Long Has It Been a Thing)?
The issue at hand is how to build a content strategy, and the content, that remains relevant, even with all of these changing parameters. Is there a way you can ensure that your content remains attractive to search engine algorithms over a period of time, without worrying that your content becomes uninteresting almost as soon as it is published? The answer to this question is a resounding ‘yes’. The secret, which is not so secret to those who have been utilizing this approach for some time, is to produce foundational content that stands the test of time. This is what we can call a content pillar, or cornerstone content (both names are used within the industry). The thing is, pillar content is not a new concept. It was mentioned on blog forums for marketing experts as long ago as 2013, and was even the focus of a detailed article by author Yaro Starak as far back as 2006. So what is it? At its most basic, a content pillar is an all-encompassing article or page that sets out everything that your business is all about and the relevant information that a potential customer is likely to look for when running a search for a business akin to yours. A ‘how to’ article, for example, would be a fantastic means of approach as it sets out to answer all of the questions which would lead to someone finding your business on a web search through a search engine. It is vital that you emphasize all of those critical functions that your business concentrates on and you want to be known for. Not only does it seek to answer all potential queries, but it remains relevant to a search for an unlimited amount of time, which is crucial.
What Does a Pillar Content Look Like?
As previously mentioned, pillar content will usually take the shape of a long-form article, for example, or a well-positioned web page which is not hidden beneath layers (you want this to be accessible to everybody, so don’t hide it behind a form that needs to be completed first). Identifying what the theme will be to this content pillar is perhaps the most essential task you will complete in your whole marketing strategy. Not only must the theme stay forever (in marketing terms anyway) relevant, you ideally want it to be a topic that can be easily broken down into sub-topics which can be addressed in equal detail using all the regular content channels such as videos, infographics, email marketing, blog posts, social media posts and so on. “The central idea behind this strategy, of course, is that from this one pillar, all you other content approaches can be supported - hence the name ‘pillar’ or ‘cornerstone’,” points out Russel Windsor, an SEO manager at BritStudent and WritemyX.
What Are the Benefits of Pillar Content?
It’s a pretty easy premise with regards to a content pillar – it is all about your business getting found on a search engine. Not only that, it’s about your business getting found on a search engine consistently over time, without constantly needing to be updated and worrying about if you are staying on message and staying relevant in terms of SEO. So, in effect, getting your content pillar right will save you a lot of headaches in the form of lost time, money and productivity, in the long run. Another point to make is that not only should a content pillar support your content marketing plan, it has to be the cornerstone of it – once again reinforcing the fact that the name is befitting of the purpose.
How to Build It - Topic Clusters and Sub-Topics
So how in essence do you go about producing pillar content? In the same way that you should be going about any content marketing strategy – by understanding your audience and customers. Failing to do so will see any marketing approach fail, and producing content pillars is no different. So, who are your potential customers? The answer to that question is the same as who are the people who will benefit from your product and service. What is it exactly that they need: what are they looking to do? How will your business work? How does the product or service work? How will your product or service add value? “The more detail you can provide in answering the questions pertaining to your audience, the better your pillars will be. And the better they are, the more relevant and effective they will remain,” states Anne Bellow, a tech blogger at 1day2write and NextCoursework. From here you can set about identifying your central, or core, topic, for which everything else resolves – think of this as the sun and everything else becomes the planets revolving around it. If you are uncertain, utilize the old-school but still-relevant practice of keyword research to tell you. Once you know the first thing that your potential audience types into a search engine, you can start to think deeply about everything that is connected to that central theme. And, of course, try to be as innovative with those keywords as possible so you are not just clogging up an already saturated space. So, you need to be innovative as always, but the point is that this innovation will continue to set you apart for a significant amount of time to come. This will simply generate more traffic to your site, which in turn you can seek to engage and then convert. Once you have your core topic – the sun – you can begin to create the sub-topics – planets - that revolve around it. It would be important here to ensure that these are strong enough topics to stand alone themselves, but always links back (both literally and figuratively) to that core principle. From here you just simply repeat the process, and of course you can create sub-topics – moons – around the larger sub-topics – planets. This is where topic clusters come in. Topic clusters are, as they sound, areas of intense information regarding a certain subject. If you have done the job effectively – built a strong content pillar page with a number of sub-topics linking back to that central theme, search engines will then start to identify that pillar as a place of authority on that given subject. The result? A better search ranking. So, your topic cluster becomes the basis to be more successful when it comes to SEO. And the beauty of it is, you’ve probably done a lot of the hard work already in producing videos and blog posts and so on – now you just need to build the layers around that central pillar to maximize the effect. Another consideration is the fact that it is unlikely you will have just one content pillar – you should essentially build several around all of your key concerns as a business. From here, you can identify your sub-topics relating to that central idea.
The Relationship between Pillar Content and Your Content Strategy
As previously alluded to, pillars are the basis of your content marketing approach. They should always be the focus of what your business offers to its audience and potential customers, and so are the starting point for all other content, not the other way around. Everything that you then do should be to raise awareness of your pillar – for example, social media posts linking to it, or producing ‘how to’ videos based on the ideas expressed in the central pillar. And, of course, the job is never done – you will continue to produce content related to that pillar, and continue to effectively utilize all of your channels to draw attention to that pillar. But the pillar itself in the concept, never changes. The only concepts you need to create are to continually grow your content clusters in the form of your pillar content. Recommended: A Step by Step Guide to Develop a Content Marketing Strategy that Will Supercharge Your Business
Conclusion
It may be that you have been doing most of what is spoken about here, but just never knew it was called content pillaring. Or it may be that you have everything in place, you have just never arranged it to look like this (and have therefore never created a content cluster which attracts search engines). Or it may just be that this gives you the focus to build, or rebuild, your SEO approach. The Best Tool for SEM & SEO - Try It Now for Free - SEMRush
Read the full article
Apa Itu Konten Pilar Dan Beberapa Manfaatnya Untuk Bisnis
Konten pilar adalah fondasi dasar dari konten kita yang mampu memberikan jawaban detail pada setiap pertanyaan yang diajukan atau dicari oleh audiens. Lebih khususnya hal ini didesain untuk memberikan value kepada audiens dan pada akhirnya berakibat pada kenaikan peringkat pada mesin pencari seperti Google. Rand Fishkin dari Moz mendefinisikannya sebagai konten yang 10 kali lebih baik dari rangking tertinggi suatu keyword.
Dasar dari konten pilar ini cukup sederhana - Ini harus menyelesaikan masalah atau memberikan jawaban secara komprehensif dan akurat - Hal ini sangat jauh berbeda dari segi kualitas dengan konten yang memberikan hal sama - Hal ini merupakan kombinasi dari kepercayaan, berguna dan menarik Dalam kaitannya dengan dunia menulis, konten pillar bisa juga didefinisikan sebagai yang menggambarkan bisnis kita dari sisi yang baik. Di antaranya adalah post yang akan diberikan kepada konsumen dan akhirnya menjadi bermanfaat dalam waktu yang lama. Postingan pada blog dan artikel adalah contoh yang baik dari penggunaan konten pilar yang ideal, namun tetap tambahkan sesuatu yang menarik seperti infografis, video menarik dan informatif lainnya untuk mendukung konten pilar tersebut. Banyak hal yang kita dapatkan ketika menggunakannya dalam kegiatan marketing kita. Di antaranya adalah memberikan edukasi secara tidak langsung kepada audiens mengenai produk dan servis kita dan juga sebagai alat untuk mendapatkan kepercayaan mengenai kapabilitas kita dibandingkan dengan lainnya. Lebih lanjut, berikut adalah keuntungan dari memanfaatkan pillar content: - Semakin bermanfaat dan berkualitas konten kita, maka waktu audiens untuk berada di website dan platform kita akan semakin lama. - Ketika kita memberikan konten yang baik dan konsisten melakukannya, besar kemungkinan website kita akan menjadi tempat utama untuk mencari informasi sehingga distraksi dari pesaing akan bisa kita atasi dengan sendirinya. - Konten yang baik akan mendapatkan dua hal: direferensikan oleh website lain atau dipromosikan oleh audiens kita kepada circle-nya. - Pillar content biasanya akan menghasilkan konten yang evergreen, sehingga konten tersebut tidak akan lekang oleh waktu. - Pada akhirnya, dengan semakin banyak pengunjung, semakin banyak direferensikan, maka akan semakin mudah konten kita berada di halaman depan pencarian. Menarik bukan? Tapi ternyata tidak semua orang bisa melakukannya dengan baik. Nah, untuk kalian yang mau tau bagaimana formula rahasianya, berikut adalah 5 tips dan trik yang bisa kalian implementasikan dalam membuat pillar content:
1. Mengerti Siapa Audiens Kita
Membuat sesuatu yang unik memang menjadi satu kekuatan untuk bisa terlihat di mata audiens kita. Tapi sebelum melangkah lebih jauh, pastikan kita mengetahui dengan jelas siapa audiens yang ingin kita targetkan. Konten yang baik tidak hanya sekedar berkualitas, tetapi juga sesuai dengan apa yang memang disukai oleh target audiens. Sebagai gambaran, Glenn Fredly mungkin adalah salah satu penyanyi terbaik di Indonesia. Tetapi jika menghadirkan Glenn Fredly kepada para penikmat musik dangdut, mungkin mereka tidak akan sependapat dengan kita.
Source : lean-labs.com
2. Mengetahui Urgensi dan Touch Point dari Target Audiens
Setelah kita mengetahui perkiraan siapakah orang-orang yang akan menjadi pengunjung, pembaca dan penikmat konten kita, perlu bagi kita untuk mengetahui lebih dalam mengenai apa permasalahan yang biasanya dihadapi, apa yang mereka harapkan dan bagaimana cara menyentuh emosi serta logika mereka. Itu semua yang akan menentukan topik-topik untuk konten pilar kita ke depannya. Untuk melakukannya, ada beberapa pertanyaan yang bisa diajukan: - Apakah kita berada dalam demografi audiens kita? Jika demikian, maka akan sangat mudah. Berkaca, refleksi dan tanyakan pada diri sendiri mengenai apa yang kita suka, kita inginkan dan gunakan itu semua sebagai pillar content yang bisa menjawab pertanyaan tersebut. - Apa yang biasanya audiens bicarakan atau cari di media sosial? Ternyata kita bukanlah bagian dari demografi audiens kita. Tidak perlu khawatir, kita tetap bisa memonitor melalui platform media sosial dan juga search engine. Lakukan analisis secara mendalam mulai dari hashtag, keyword atau melalui fitur advanced search dari media sosial tersebut. Dan dari sana identifikasi mengenai konten apa yang paling mendapat perhatian. - Bagaimana pillar content dari kompetitor kita? Cara lain dan paling mudah untuk dilakukan adalah dengan melihat ke dalam kompetitor kita sendiri. Karena pastinya mereka juga membuat konten yang bisa memancing target audiens kita. Gunakan prinsip Amati, Tiru dan Modifikasi (ATM) di dalam konten yang mereka buat. Lebih jauh, lihatlah pola konten di luar industri kita yang berhasil dan gunakan itu sebagai dasar untuk mengaplikasikannya pada konten kita. Ini sangat berguna untuk membuat kita menjadi berbeda meskipun menyajikan konten yang sama dengan kompetitor.
3. Jangan Lupakan Teknik Pancingan di Setiap Kesempatan
Setelah memastikan kita mengetahui konten apa yang mau kita buat dan kepada siapa kita akan berikan konten tersebut, saatnya melakukan eksekusinya. Dalam prosesnya nanti, tetap gunakan teknik yang bisa memancing orang untuk membaca dan berinteraksi dengan kita. Pastikan bahasa mudah dimengerti oleh mereka, buat layaknya percakapan dibandingkan dengan konsep pengajaran. Pada akhirnya, berikan kemudahan kepada mereka untuk bisa mendistribusikan konten kita melalui media sosial pribadinya. Beberapa poin yang menarik untuk diperhatikan: - Gunakan pancingan yang merangsang audiens untuk membaca lebih jauh seperti fakta menarik, pertanyaan terbuka dan study case. - Konsep cerita tidak akan pernah salah. Pastikan konten kita memiliki sisi humanis dan cerita yang membuat audiens nyaman untuk berlama-lama membaca. - Buatlah sesimpel dan sesederhana mungkin, hargai waktu audiens kita. - Selalu akhiri dengan Call to Action yang jelas. Berikan ruang dan waktu untuk evaluasi dan revisi sebelum akhirnya akan dipublikasikan.
4. Lakukan Promosi Secara Konsisten dan Persisten
Sebaik-baiknya konten yang dibuat, akan sulit jika tidak disebarkan secara konsisten. Terlalu banyak konten sejenis di luar sana, sehingga kita harus berpikir bagaimana cara terbaik agar konten yang sudah kita buat dengan sebaik-baiknya ini bisa dilihat. Beberapa hal yang bisa dilakukan: - Pastikan antar platform memiliki link yang saling terkoneksi. Kita tidak pernah tau dari mana audiens pertama kali akan mengetahui kita. - Sebarkan ke teman terdekat, jangan ragu untuk meminta evaluasi dan bantuan untuk menyebarkannya juga. Jika memiliki grup atau komunitas, lakukan hal tersebut secara konsisten namun hindari untuk terkesan spam di grup tersebut. - Jika memiliki budget, lakukan investasi melalui ads atau influencer untuk mengakselerasi konten kita dapat dilihat oleh lebih banyak orang lagi. - Jangan lupakan e-mail marketing untuk menjaga audiens tetap update dengan konten terbaru kita. Promosikan konten yang sama beberapa kali pada interval waktu yang tidak terlalu jauh untuk memastikan sebanyak mungkin orang melihat informasi tersebut. Secara keseluruhan, pillar content pastinya membutuhkan tenaga, pikiran dan waktu yang lebih lama untuk melihat keberhasilannya, dibandingkan dengan konten lain seperti artikel singkat atau postingan media sosial. Pillar content ibaratkan pertandingan maraton, bukan sprint, karena itu yang dibutuhkan adalah konsistensi dan kesabaran untuk bisa mencapai hasil yang diinginkan Read the full article