Last week, we looked at the changes in SEO and content when it comes to your marketing strategies. This week, we’ll go further into how to create and organize your content so it draws your audience in the new search landscape. To get the most out of the new search tools, you need to better structure your content to totally embrace search marketing.

How? Well, back in 2017 new buzz words quickly took over the marketing world:

• Pillar Pages
• Topic Clusters
• Linking structure

Most of your audience will begin their searches for a remodeling company by using common terms. Let’s use “Remodeling” as an search term example. Take a look at your website and see what type of content you’re focusing on.

Let’s say you take inventory and you have the following information available to attract potential new prospects to learn about what services you provide.  

Content Pages:

• Bathroom Remodeling
• Kitchen Remodeling
• Exterior Remodeling
• Whole Home Remodeling
• Basement Remodel
• Additions
• Projects Portfolio
• Cost vs. Value 2018 Report by Service/Market Area

Honestly, having these eight content pages available is a great start.  

Now ask yourself:  

• Do you showcase all of your services?  
• Is there any content missing from your website?
• Is it easy for your website visitor to navigate the different pages?  
• Are you offering helpful resources for each of the core pages?

Here are some examples of content pieces you may be missing:

• eBooks or guides
• Remodeling a House, Creating a Home
• Kitchen Design Guide
• Beautiful Bathrooms: Remodeling for ROI
• Exterior Remodeling 101

Checklists

• 10 Questions to Ask When Considering a Remodeling Professional

Projects Portfolio Page

• Showcasing the objective of the remodel, highlighting the challenges and how your team helped convert the space to make your clients happy. Show before and after imagery, and a rendering to create a helpful visual for any website visitor

Thinking about how your audience searches will help you identify topics you want them to find on your website or blog. Taking inventory of the content you currently show on your website will help you identify any holes (content you don’t currently have) and take steps to create that content.

Pillar Pages & Topic Clusters

The Pillar page is your basis for all Subtopics. It covers the aspects of your topic on a single page. This can be a longer blog post or a content page on your website. In this example, the pillar page is “Rochester Remodeling.”

To create a Pillar page, think through all the topics you want to rank for on a Google search. A Pillar page should answer your searcher’s questions and allow them — through links — to find more detailed information on the Subtopic page.

A Topic Cluster is comprised of a Pillar page and Subtopic content you’ve compiled for each of your core topics (or services as outlined in the “Remodeling” example above).

The following subtopics are a part of the Pillar:

• Remodeling Costs
• Exterior Remodeling
• Kitchen Remodeling
• Interior Remodeling
• Remodeling Process
• Additions
• Home Remodeling Resources
• Bathroom Remodeling

Pillar page + Subtopics = Topic Cluster

A Topic Cluster should contain about six-eight Subtopics that address specific questions your “remodeling” searchers want answers to, related to the Core Topic of your pillar page.

Pillar Page: Kitchen Remodeling Subtopics:

• Kitchen Design
• Kitchen Cost
• Kitchen Style
• Kitchen Appliances
• Kitchen Storage
• Kitchen Cabinetry
• Kitchen Flooring
• Kitchen Countertops
• Kitchen Hardware
• Kitchen Project Portfolio

Here’s a helpful article from HubSpot that provides a more detailed explanation around each of these new content strategy optimizers.

This is what we’re using as a Pillar page about Remodeler Marketing — this is what a core topic and relevant subtopics look like for us.  

Core Topic: Remodeler Marketing

Subtopics:

• Search Engine Optimization Tactics
• Website Traffic
• Lead Conversion
• Content Creation
• Social Media
• Inbound Marketing Tactics
• Lead Generation
• Sales

This Pillar page highlights helpful and relevant articles the user can click on to do their research on their own time, such as:

• Marketing Case Studies
• Resources, such as eBooks and Blogs
• Remodeler Marketing Articles
• Remodeler Content Marketing Articles
• Remodeler Social Media Articles
• Remodeler Sales Articles

Structuring your content around one core topic at a time will help you organize for the new way people search. Having six to eight relevant core topics strategically linked to and from your Pillar page provides a good user experience — which means Google RankBrain will reward you by showing your content in search results. Plus, your content will be coming up in more searches, your business will get more attention and — ultimately — you’ll get more leads.

Consumers have changed the way they look for information and Google has adapted. With Google RankBrain, search marketing now favors companies that make it easy for the user to find information quickly. With that, it’s become important to think about how to best organize the content you want your potential client to find.

Instead of focusing on specific keywords, you need to create Pillar content about a Core Topic and link to and from the Core/Pillar to relevant subtopics. This enables your prospective customer to quickly find all the answers they need and connect with you. Their positive user experience and the appreciation of the helpful content you gave them will combine, creating a feeling of trust — exactly what you want when a prospect is choosing a remodeler.

If you missed last week’s installment, catch up here.