If you’re an avid GrowTraffic blog reader – hi again – you may have heard me say this before… content is king! If you haven’t, have you been living under a rock?! In the content marketing world, after multiple algorithm updates, we are experiencing a spotlight on valuable and helpful content. As part of an in depth content marketing strategy comes pillar content for blogs. Pillar content continues to get significant attention – and for a great reason. Many people ask “What is pillar content for blogs and how do I create it?” If you are one of those people, you’re in the right place! This blog aims to explore exactly what pillar content for blogs is and how to create it.

What Is Pillar Content For Blogs?

Creating pillar content for blogs, which can sometimes be referred to as cornerstone content, is a strategic approach to creating high quality, comprehensive, evergreen content that builds the foundation of your blog or website.

This type of blog content not only serves your audience but it greatly boosts your website’s SEO. Anything that improves SEO – we love talking about it! So let’s dive right into pillar content, why it’s so important and how you can create it.

Pillar content is arguably the most authoritative piece of content on a specific topic within your industry. This type of content, generally speaking, is longer and more in depth than a regular blog post. They tend to take the form of comprehensive guides, offering more detailed explanations on a broad subject.

The key characteristics of pillar content include:

  • Comprehensiveness – this type of content tends to be all encompassing. It usually provides thorough and detailed exploration.
  • Evergreen – pillar content should be evergreen. What we mean by this is it should have timeless relevance, remaining relevant for an extended period. You can learn more about the importance of evergreen content in this article.
  • Authoritativeness – pillar content needs to shine a light on your expertise, pacing you as a leader in your field.
  • Linkable – this is almost a branch of evergreen content. This blog post needs to be relevant for a long time, meaning that other articles and elements of your website can link back to it as a foundational resource.

Why Is Pillar Content Important?

Pillar content for blogs is a super important element to feature on your website. Here’s why:

  • Improved SEO – pillar content is a great way of improving your website’s rankings. This type of resource tells search engines that you are an authoritative figure within your industry, which tends to be rewarded with higher rankings. When creating pillar content for blogs, you in turn deepen your keyword strategy, boosting your search visibility.
  • Improved User Experience – your audience is more likely to spend time engaging with pillar content as more comprehensive posts tend to do a better job at answering their questions, in more detail. When questions are answered – users are happy!
  • Increased Authority – when readers find valuable information, from industry leaders, they are more likely to trust their recommendations, returning for more!
  • Lead Generation – when pillar content for blog is well optimised, it can attract a steady stream of organic traffic which is great for lead generation and generating more customers over time.

How To Create Pillar Content For Blogs

Enough about what it is and why it’s important, let’s get into the meaty stuff – how do you create it? Creating pillar content for blogs is no doubt important, but it requires careful planning and execution.

Let’s jump into a step by step guide to help you get started.

  • Choose a Relevant Topic – selecting a broad topic that is relevant and interesting is the first step to creating great pillar content. Remember that content (whatever type it may be) should be helpful to the user. Conduct thorough keyword research to help identify topics that are worth writing about.
  • Outline your Content – before jumping in head first, create a detailed outline that covers all aspects of the chosen topic. Break it down – this makes it easier for you to produce and for your audience to digest.
  • Write High Quality Content – crafting pillar content is no mean feat. This piece of content needs to stick around for a while so ensure that it is written with clarity, readability and a deep bank of information. Making it engaging with infographics and images – this can also help break up some wordy content.
  • Linking – content that is static and stand alone can all be relevant to a certain extent. Ensure that your pillar content for blogs is rich with an internal and external linking structure, creating a web of interconnected content that can add value to your audience.
  • Optimise – as with any content you produce for your website – optimise, optimise, optimise! Pay attention to on page SEO elements that will help your content go that extra mile. Take close care in ensuring your content is well optimised by featuring appropriate keywords, meta tags and schema markup.
  • Promote – now it’s written and optimised – share the hell out of it! Promote this content on your social media channels, email newsletter and other marketing platforms. This can also be really useful for promoting others to link to the content as a valuable resource, deepening your backlink profile and in turn bettering your off-page SEO efforts.

Creating Pillar Content For Blogs With GrowTraffic

Creating pillar content for blogs can be a really powerful tool in a content marketing strategy – elevating your website’s SEO, authority and improving your relationships with your audience.

Our step by step guide on how to create it is a great start for you to get stuck in, but if you need an extra helping hand, why not get in touch with a member of our content marketing team?

You can reach us by calling 0161 706 0012 or emailing info@growtraffic.co.uk.