How do you create an ecommerce topic cluster?

Intro

Developing a strategy for your ecommerce website’s search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the various keys to succeeding in online sales, regardless of what products you sell. To take your online store’s SEO to the next level, mastering the art of topic cluster creation is your secret weapon!

In this article, we explain what topic clusters are, the benefits they offer ecommerce sites, and how to create your own ecommerce topic cluster in just a few steps.

Topic clusters: Definition and ecommerce benefits

A topic cluster is a content strategy framework where a single “pillar” page broadly covers a main topic, and multiple related “cluster” pages focus on specific subtopics. These cluster pages link back to the pillar page, improving both user navigation and the website’s SEO by structuring content around related themes.

As the owner of an online store, you’ll find that topic clusters can play an important role in bolstering your ecommerce SEO strategy, as they provide the following benefits:

• improved relevance in your niche,
• opportunities to stand out from the competition,
• appearance in the search results for new keywords,
• optimization of your use of long-tail keywords,
• fortified internal links,
• boosted current rankings,
• more people visiting your online store, and
• increased product sales.

With a well-implemented topic cluster strategy, you can boost your brand’s authority in your field, augment your search engine visibility, and strengthen trust with your existing and potential customers alike!

Creating an ecommerce topic cluster in 7 steps

1. Determine your main topic

The first step of creating an ecommerce topic cluster is to decide what your main topic is going to be so that you can create your main page. This pillar page is typically going to address the most commonly searched user queries, targeting competitive keywords with high search volumes.

Note that it’s best to choose a topic that’s broad enough to generate sufficient related questions and intents, avoiding overly specialized subjects. You can structure your topic cluster around various kinds of content on your online store, such as a product page, product category page, shopping guide, or blog.

If you sell art supplies, for example, you might decide to create a product category page focusing on “watercolor painting” as a pillar page.

2. Look for related search intents

Once you’ve picked out a main topic for your topic cluster, you’ll need to start looking for search intents that relate to this primary subject.

These intents are the subsidiary questions people pose about your main topic, commonly beginning with who, what, why, when, where, and how. To help you find related search intents to include in your topic cluster, there are various tools at your disposal.

For instance, using the watercolor painting example, you can type this term in the search bar on Google and see what questions appear in the “People also ask” section of the page.

You can also avail of the Google Suggest feature, by typing one of the question words and your keyword in the search bar, seeing what predictive text shows up.

To determine which queries are likely to be most useful for your topic cluster, don’t hesitate to use keyword research tools like Yourtext.guru, Google Trends, AnswerThePublic, the Free Keyword Generator by Ahrefs, etc. Based on your analysis, search volumes, competition, and your specific goals, you’ll be able to determine how many pages to create for your topic cluster, keeping in mind that the aim is to only create content that will actually be of value to your audience.

3. Find associated topics

Now, if you discover that the results from the previous step are too narrow or that you need to create lots of pages for your topic cluster due to there being quite a significant amount of competition for your pillar page’s keyword, you’ll want to search for additional topics related to your main topic.

Returning to the watercolor painting example once more, associated topics could include canvas, brushes, drawing, flowers, sketchbook, landscapes, portraits, etc.

An easy way to locate associated topics is to simply search for your main topic on Google and glance through the results. After you’ve come up with a few ideas for associated topics, you can use the tools mentioned above in the same way to look for new related search intents (e.g., “what to clean paint brushes with,” “how to paint landscapes,” “what is the best sketchbook,” etc.).

4. Structure your topic research

You can increase your chances of success with your ecommerce topic cluster by making organization a priority during the brainstorming process and structuring your topic research.

Feel free to do this in whatever way works best for you, whether that means writing your ideas down with pen and paper, creating a spreadsheet in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, or even getting fancy with a Canva template.

One tool that’s particularly useful for this task is MindMeister, a solution that allows you to design online mind maps to better visualize your ideas. With this easy-to-use tool, you can keep track of the different search intents you found, separating those for your main topic from those for associated topics.

5. Add internal links

Internal linking is crucial in developing a topic cluster, represented by the connections among various content pieces on your site. This involves adding links from subtopic pages back to the pillar page as well as links to other related subtopics when relevant, creating a tightly-knit network that boosts SEO and user navigation.

Effective internal linking enables the distribution of PageRank—or “link juice”—maximizing the strength delivered to each page within the cluster. Note that PageRank is fundamental to Google’s algorithms, serving as a measure of a page’s relative importance.

6. Create your content

You’re now ready to get to work on creating the content for your topic cluster’s various pages, still keeping SEO at the forefront of your mind, of course!

When it comes to producing SEO-friendly pages for your ecommerce site, aim to craft content that addresses your target keyword queries comprehensively, incorporating these terms naturally in titles, headings, and throughout the body. In addition, ensure that your blog articles are well structured, using headers to break up text and facilitate easy reading.

You can improve visibility in search results by optimizing meta tags and descriptions to improve visibility in search results. As previously noted, incorporating internal links is crucial to related content to enhance site navigation and increase page views.

It’s also important to verify that your content is mobile-friendly and loads quickly, as these factors also impact SEO rankings. Lastly, if your pages feature any images, be sure that they’re optimized as well.

7. Publish your topic cluster

With your content created, it’s time to publish your ecommerce topic cluster and share your content with the world.

You can opt to publish your pillar page first and then sequentially release the related subtopic articles, but publishing all the content you have ready to go at the same time will save you the headache of trying to update your internal linking with each new batch of posts.

Remember to promote each piece across social media and email newsletters to drive traffic and engagement. Then, be sure to continuously monitor performance metrics, like page views and bounce rates, and adjust your content and links based on insights to optimize your topic cluster’s overall effectiveness.