Combine Tech SEO and Topic Clusters for maximum results

Jo says: "Have a TOP site, that is Tech and On-Page together. I find that, to achieve maximum results, it's about having both elements combined. When I was working on just on-page only, I found that some sites had very poor Tech SEO, which meant that they weren't able to achieve the results that they wanted."

What are the specific aspects of Tech SEO that typically stop sites from having the success that they should?

"The main problem areas are around indexation. You may have pages that are not being indexed, but need to be indexed and crawled, or pages that are indexed and crawled that you do not want. Another issue is what we callindex bloat. This is when there are too many pages from the site being indexed and it makes your site bigger than it actually is. For example, filter URLs or internal search URLs are crawled and indexed, which we would not want. You may also have sites that have product pages taking the category URL, and if that product is found in many categories this can lead to duplicate content issues."

Does this mean that you are confusing search engines, so that they don't know what pages to rank and are not confident that you are an authority in your niche?

"Yes. You want to make it as easy as possible for all search engines to crawl and index your site."

What are topic clusters?

"Topic clusters are the way we should be doing on-page SEO in 2021 and focuses more on topics instead of keywords. HubSpot Research talked about it back in 2017, but it seems to have gained more traction these past couple of years - with others talking about it in detail. Maret Reutelingsperger spoke about it at Turn Digi, and Authoritas' Tea Time SEO.

Topic clusters are a group of pages on your site around a certain topic. These pages link to a pillar page, which is the broad (and high search volume) topic. The topic cluster goes into deeper analysis and contain content that focusses on the longer-tail terms.

For example, if you have a site about baking cookies, one of your pillar pages would be 'chocolate chip cookies'. That's where you'll talk about the ingredients, the different types of chocolate chips - white chocolate, plain chocolate, dark chocolate, etc.

Then you will have the topic clusters that support that pillar page. The clusters are subtopics that offshoot from the pillar page and focus on the more specific, and longer-tail, areas around chocolate chip cookies. Those could be how to make the white chocolate chip cookies, how long they take, the ingredients involved, and so on. These cluster pages, or blog posts, interlink back to the pillar page."

Is this content all an early part of the customer journey, or could elements of a topic cluster target a customer further along in their buying journey?

"The pillar page is the broad topic, and it is supported by the subtopics that are written on the blog (or news section) of the site. These cluster pages focus on the longer-tail keywords. The 'top of funnel' terms are more informational queries, whereas the bottom of the funnel is further along the customer journey and will have transactional intent."

Can the issue of confusing the search engines occur on smaller sites, or is it most commonly found in big eCommerce-type sites with millions of pages?

"It can also be an issue for small sites with hundreds of pages. I think the main difference between the two is that with smaller sites it can feel a bit less overwhelming. It's easier for you to organise content more quickly on a small site than it is on a big eCommerce site."

What are the typical problems for smaller sites powered by WordPress?

"The issue with some smaller sites is the fact that not enough time has been given to the URL structures. Perhaps, for example, the products fit under the product page, but they also sit under the category page. There's a risk of duplicate content - although that can be found in big sites as well."

Can it be an issue of navigation with WordPress, where you've got tags as well as categories, as opposed to duplicate versions of pages or posts?

"Yes. One of the issues with tags is that many people thought that simply using tags would help the site, but actually you can be putting the same content under tags, categories, and products too. You can end up in a position where it's taking the URL from each tag, category, and product, which could result in duplicate content."

How do you build your topic cluster to begin with, and how do you identify what keyword phrases to focus on?

"If the site is already live, you should run it through a tool or platform. There are many such tools in the marketplace - like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Authoritas - where you can see what pages are ranking, and for what terms. This gives you a good vision of where you need to go next.

I like the keyword gap analysis in Semrush, it really helps you to see where the content gaps are. If you do not have a website, and you're starting from scratch, then you can start by looking at some of your competitors - what they are doing well and where they are not doing well. I also like to look at Google's search suggestions for specific terms.

Google Trends is a good one to use too, especially for new terms because you won't always find search volume for them. Whether it is for a new or current site, before starting the research, you need to decide as a business what topics you want to be known for and, in particular, what are the key pillar pages going to be for those terms."

Is it still important to focus on search volume when identifying keyword phrases to target, or do you need to use instinct and knowledge from within the business?

"It's important to find out what the business wants, and what they want to be known for. However, if there is no search volume, and there is a new product, then look at Google Trends and Google Suggest.

We work in an industry that is always changing - when the first iPhone was released there was no search volume foriPhone. It's the same for a lot of new products that are coming out, and you will still want to rank for those terms even if there is no search volume at the moment. If the site is already live, look and see what the queries are, and where you have impressions and clicks within Google Search Console. If you have Google Ads running, see what the impressions and clicks are there, too."

Is it easier to try to rank for phrases that do not already have search volume, because there is less competition?

"It can be easier to rank if there is less competition and your site is a TOP site (tech and on-page SEO optimised). You should look for the longer-tail search terms, where people may be searching for something specific - and therefore may be in more of a position to buy.

If we take the chocolate chip cookies example, I might recommend targeting phrases like:order your chocolate chip cookies ororder homemade cookies if you are offering home-made deliveries.

You can be more specific with the phases because it's not just about driving traffic, it's about driving the right traffic - the people that are going to convert on your site."

What sort of content do you recommend for these pillar pages?

"The pillar page is a broad topic. When coming up with the content for the pillar pages, you need to also think about the topic clusters as they will be interlinking with one another.

If we take the example of a SaaS product (We have seen an increase in the number of SaaS products over the past few years): you may want each pillar page to be a feature of that SaaS product and include a video of that feature, images, and written content for that feature.

The key is that you want to have as much information as possible for the consumer to then follow up with the next step, whether that's to sign up to the newsletter, to make a purchase, or to drill further into the site. The pillar page should link to the relevant individual topic cluster pages. These can sometimes sit under your blog or news section."

What can SEO consider moving away from to focus more time on their Technical and On-Page SEO?

"Some people want to be able to know where they're ranking on a daily basis, and they just want to tick that off the box. There's a lot more to SEO than just ranking."

In your experience, who do you find is too focused on daily ranking?

"It's a mix and it really depends on the team. There are some clients that focus too much on it because they don't know that much about SEO. It's when the clients don't know the different elements of SEO that they end up constantly asking for these ranking reports. You need to focus more on TOP SEO, which is Technical and On-Page."

You can find Jo Juliana Turnbull over at SeoJoBlogs.com.