Search has always been the backbone of inbound marketing. It‘s how brands get found online, attract relevant audiences, and ultimately drive traffic, leads and revenue.
Consider these statistics:
- Google processes over 5.6 billion searches per day
- 53% of all website traffic comes from organic search
- 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine
But in recent years, both searcher behavior and search engine algorithms have undergone massive shifts. As a result, many brands are finding that their content strategies are no longer delivering the organic results they once did.
Here‘s the hard truth: SEO has undergone seismic changes in recent years. So why aren‘t content creators keeping up?
To succeed with organic search moving forward, content marketers need to fundamentally rethink their approach. You need to move beyond just chasing keywords to building topical authority with high-quality, comprehensive resources.
In this post, we‘ll take a deep dive into how search has evolved and share a new content playbook to help you adapt and win in this new era of SEO.
The Search Landscape Has Transformed
It‘s no secret that how people search has changed significantly over the last decade. Mobile and voice search have exploded in popularity, leading to fundamental changes in the types of queries people make.
For example:
- Over 20% of all Google searches are now done by voice
- 70% of all queries are long-tail keywords
- Searches including the phrase "near me" have grown by over 900% in the last few years
Rather than just typing in a few broad keywords, today‘s searches are longer, more specific, and more conversational.
Here are a few examples of how search queries have evolved:
| Then | Now |
|---|---|
| "restaurants boston" | "best italian restaurants near me open now" |
| "content marketing" | "how to measure content marketing roi" |
| "shoe stores" | "where to buy red nike running shoes size 10" |
Data Source: HubSpot Research
At the same time, the sheer volume of content being published online has exploded. Over 7.5 million blog posts are published every day, making it harder than ever to stand out in the SERPs.
The problem is, while the quantity of content has skyrocketed, the average quality has not. Much of what‘s being published is thin, repetitive, or fails to comprehensively cover the topic at hand.
In fact, a study by Moz and BuzzSumo found that 75% of all online content gets zero inbound links. It‘s simply not good enough to be link-worthy or rank-worthy.
As a result of this content saturation, search engines like Google have had to get much smarter about how they evaluate and rank content. They‘ve rolled out a series of major algorithm updates designed to better understand search intent and identify the most relevant, authoritative content on any given topic.
How Google‘s Algorithms Have Evolved
Google‘s mission has always been to "organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful." But as the internet has grown in size and complexity, their algorithms have had to evolve to keep up.
Over the last decade or so, Google has moved far beyond just looking at keywords to understanding the semantic meaning and intent behind queries. They‘ve gotten scary good at figuring out what searchers are really looking for and serving up the best answer.
Here are a few of the biggest algorithm updates that have transformed SEO:
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Hummingbird (2013): This update marked Google‘s shift towards semantic search, with a focus on understanding the context and meaning of queries vs. just individual keywords.
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RankBrain (2015): RankBrain is Google‘s machine learning algorithm that helps interpret searches and serve the most relevant results. It was a big step in Google being able to understand the intent behind queries.
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BERT (2019): BERT is a deep learning-based update focused on better understanding the relationships between words in a query, especially for longer, more conversational searches.
So how do these algorithms actually work? In a nutshell, they use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to break down the semantic meaning and relationships between the entities in a query.
Rather than just looking for pages that contain the right keywords, they‘re analyzing factors like:
- The context and meaning of query terms
- How words in the query relate to each other
- The implied intent behind the search
- The relevance and authority of potential result pages
The end goal is to surface the most relevant, high-quality content that comprehensively addresses the searcher‘s needs.
As Google‘s VP of Search, Pandu Nayak explained: "The most fundamental way we‘ve evolved Search is to go from matching keywords to understanding meaning. It‘s a shift from ‘strings to things‘ — from matching strings of letters in your search to understanding the people, places and things you‘re looking for."
Why the Old Content Playbook No Longer Works
So what does this mean for content creators? Put simply, the old playbook of churning out high volumes of keyword-targeted content is no longer effective.
Under the old model, you could identify relevant keywords, create content optimized around those terms, and stand a decent chance of ranking and getting traffic.
But in today‘s world of semantic search and intense content competition, that‘s no longer enough. Content that is too narrowly focused on just one keyword is unlikely to align with today‘s more conversational search queries or searcher intent.
Even if you are getting some organic traffic, your content probably isn‘t fully meeting the needs of searchers. And Google is getting better every day at identifying and rewarding content that does.
Here are a few of the biggest problems with a keyword-focused approach in 2023:
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It leads to narrow, fragmented content: When you focus on individual keywords, you end up creating lots of overlapping content around slight variations of terms. This dilutes your topical authority and provides a poor user experience compared to one comprehensive resource.
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It ignores searcher intent: Keywords alone don‘t tell you what a searcher is really looking for or what type of content will best meet their needs. You need to understand the intent and expectations behind the search.
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It results in thin, low-quality pages: Trying to stretch one keyword into an entire blog post often leads to thin, fluffy content that doesn‘t say anything substantial. Google would much rather see fewer, high-quality pages than lots of low-value ones.
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It‘s not scalable: As more and more brands pump out keyword-optimized content, it becomes near impossible to compete on every relevant long-tail variation. The competition is just too high.
At best, the old-school keyword approach will get you incremental organic traffic. But it‘s not going to build your brand authority or get you any big SEO wins. You‘ll be stuck on the content hamster wheel, cranking out more and more posts just to tread water.
Introducing the Topic Cluster Model
To adapt to this new era of search, content marketers need a new playbook. One that‘s focused on building topical authority with comprehensive, high-quality resources organized into topic clusters.
Here‘s how the topic cluster model works:
- You identify the broad topics you want to rank for, based on your product/service offering and audience needs
- For each topic, you create one comprehensive resource page (called a pillar page) that covers all the core subtopics
- You create additional content pieces focused on specific long-tail keywords and subtopics (cluster content) that all link back to the main pillar page
- You develop an internal linking structure that connects all the related subtopic content to the pillar page and to each other
Visually, it looks something like this:
Image Source: HubSpot
The topic cluster model has a number of big benefits:
- It aligns with how people actually search and consume content today
- It establishes broader topical authority vs. just ranking for one specific keyword
- It provides a better user experience, with all the information a searcher needs in one place
- It‘s more efficient and scalable than chasing every individual keyword variation
Most importantly, it works. When HubSpot first tested this model on its own blog, it saw a 13% increase in organic traffic and a 20% increase in organic leads in just two months.
Since then, many other brands have seen similar success by structuring their content this way. For example:
- Townsend Security saw a 500% increase in organic traffic after implementing topic clusters
- Firefly Partners doubled organic traffic to its website within a year of adopting the model
- Typeform increased organic traffic by over 200% and boosted leads by 150% with topic clusters
If you want to dive deeper into the details of HubSpot‘s topic cluster strategy, I highly recommend this deep-dive case study.
Putting the Topic Cluster Model Into Practice
Okay, so how can you actually implement a topic cluster strategy for your own brand? Here are the key steps:
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Do topic research: Identify the main topics you want to rank for based on your audience needs, keyword research, and competitive analysis. These should be broad enough to warrant a pillar page (e.g. "content marketing").
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Map out subtopics: For each core topic, identify 5-10 relevant subtopics to target with cluster content (e.g. "content marketing ROI"). Use keyword research tools to find related long-tail variations.
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Audit existing content: Look at your current content to see what can be repurposed or updated to fit into topic clusters. You may find that you already have pillar page candidates or cluster content that just needs some optimization.
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Create pillar pages: Develop comprehensive resource pages that cover each core topic in depth. These should be long-form (2000+ words), well-structured, and link out to relevant cluster content.
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Develop cluster content: Create blog posts, landing pages, videos, etc. targeting specific subtopics and long-tail keywords. Aim to cover the topic in depth and include strategic internal links back to the pillar page.
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Optimize your site architecture: Make sure all topically-related content is linked together and easy for both searchers and search engines to navigate. The pillar page should act as the main hub linking to all cluster content.
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Update and expand over time: A topic cluster isn‘t a one-and-done effort. Continue expanding cluster content and updating pillar pages as you develop more topical authority. Look for content gaps and new opportunities.
Here‘s a real-world example of how one brand might structure a topic cluster around "instagram marketing":
- Pillar page: The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Marketing
- Cluster content:
- 10 Proven Strategies to Grow Your Instagram Following
- How to Create Engaging Instagram Stories That Convert
- Instagram Ads: A Beginner‘s Guide to Advertising on Instagram
- 15 Instagram Metrics Every Marketer Needs to Track
- 8 Tools to Help You Manage Your Instagram Account
Each of these cluster content pieces would link back to the main pillar page on "instagram marketing", boosting its page authority. The pillar page would also link out to each cluster post, forming a hub-and-spoke structure.
Over time, as you develop more and more high-quality cluster content, you‘ll start to rank not just for individual long-tail keywords but for your main overarching topics as well. That‘s the power of the topic cluster model.
The Secrets of Top-Performing Topic Clusters
Of course, it‘s not enough to just adopt a topic cluster model. To really get results, you need to be strategic about the topics you target and the content you create.
Here are a few best practices for developing high-performance topic clusters:
Focus on search intent first
Before you create any content, make sure you understand what searchers are really looking for when they search for your target topics and keywords. What type of content will best meet their needs?
Look at the current top-ranking results to get insight into search intent. Are most of the results how-to guides? Product reviews? Long-form blog posts? Use these clues to inform the type of content you create.
Prioritize E-A-T in your content
E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. It‘s what Google uses to assess content quality and how it ranks result pages.
To demonstrate E-A-T in your content:
- Have a clear expert author and cite their credentials
- Link to authoritative sources to back up claims
- Provide original research or insights vs. just rehashing other content
- Make sure your content is accurate and up-to-date
The more you can position your brand as a true subject matter expert, the more topical authority you‘ll gain in the eyes of searchers and search engines.
Develop 10X content
Creating content that‘s marginally better than what‘s out there isn‘t enough. To really stand out, your content needs to be 10X better than anything else on the topic.
What does 10X content look like? It‘s:
- Substantially more in-depth, well-researched, and comprehensive
- Exceptionally well-written, well-designed, and easy to navigate
- Highly actionable, with clear takeaways and next steps
- Includes unique insights, data, case studies, or examples not found anywhere else
Your goal should be to create the absolute best resource on the internet for your target topic. Don‘t publish anything that‘s less than exceptional.
Promote your pillars and clusters
Finally, creating great content is only half the battle. To get eyes on your topic clusters, you need a strong promotion strategy.
Some effective promotion tactics include:
- Sharing on social media and in relevant online communities
- Reaching out to influencers and thought leaders in your space
- Repurposing content into other formats (infographics, videos, slides, etc.)
- Promoting pillar pages via paid social and search ads
- Leveraging email marketing to drive traffic to key content pieces
Don‘t just hit publish and hope that your content magically ranks. Be proactive about getting it in front of the right people.
The Future of SEO Is Topical Authority
The days of gaming the system with keyword-stuffed content are long gone. In 2023 and beyond, brands that win at SEO will be those that establish true topical authority.
By organizing content into topic clusters and creating best-in-class resources, you can attract more organic traffic, better engage your audience, and build long-term credibility with search engines.
It won‘t happen overnight. Building topical authority takes time, effort, and a commitment to quality over quantity. But it‘s worth it.
If you‘re still relying on an outdated keyword-focused approach, it‘s time for a change. Audit your content strategy and start identifying opportunities to develop topic clusters around your core areas of expertise.
Remember, the goal isn‘t to rank #1 for every relevant keyword. It‘s to be the best answer for your target audience‘s needs. Do that, and the rankings (and traffic and leads) will follow.