Topic cluster content strategy for SaaS: Mistakes and how to do it right

Intro

Hotjar has seen an incredible 50% surge in search volume in the last two years. And we're not talking about a few searches, but millions in traffic value. How did they achieve this?

Topic clusters.

With this strategy, Hotjar generated a whopping 80% of its overall traffic from organic search.

But beyond traffic, the cluster strategy has resulted in paying customers and translated into growth for the company.

Hotjar's SEO and Content Strategist, Sean Potter, said:

"We've seen a 70% increase in paying customers in the last few years and a 130% increase in organic signups as well.”

The Power of Topic Clusters

If you want to see long-term growth for your content, creating a few articles here and there won't cut it. That's why many content teams are turning to topic clusters.

This strategy involves creating a central pillar page that covers the major topic and several cluster pages that delve deeper into related sub-topics.

Focusing on one topic cluster at a time can compound your results across all your content assets.

Take Hotjar, for example. They create content in groups called "Guides," which have 5-8 articles designed to help buyers at every stage of the process.

Here is how Hotjar created a cluster for the broad topic “Customer Experience (CX Insights)”.

Top-of-funnel: Problem-aware (I need help understanding customer experience).

• What are CX insights?
• Benefits of CX

Middle-of-funnel: Solution aware (I need a tool that helps me improve customer experience)

• How to improve CX
• CX Trends

Bottom-of-funnel (product-aware reader searching for product alternatives)

• CX tools

When you cluster content like this, you're making it easier for readers to stay on your site and learn more. This reduces the chance that they'll wander off and check out a competitor instead.

Many B2B and B2C SaaS companies are already using topic clusters to deliver better content, but not all are doing it right.

Top Mistakes Companies Make When Creating Topic Clusters

#1: Following a Competitor-Led Strategy

Competitor-led topic clusters can be a problem because you may end up chasing after keywords that aren't relevant to your business.

Imagine you're looking at a competitor like HubSpot. If you copy their popular topics without analysis, you might end up with things like:

"The 100 Most Famous Quotes of All Time" or "What is Your Greatest Weakness?" on your website.

Those topics might bring in a lot of traffic, but they're not likely to turn into actual sales.

#2 Content Cannibalization

If you've got too many pages on your website talking about the same thing, you might run into a problem called "keyword cannibalization."

Keyword or content cannibalization means your pages compete against each other for the same keywords, which can hurt your organic traffic.

Check the SERPs to ensure that the keyword is not tied to the intent of another keyword.

You can automate this process using a keyword clustering tool like Keyword Insights. Conduct your keyword research, then upload the resulting CSV file to Keyword Insights, which will group all the matching keywords with similar intent.

The keyword with the highest search volume becomes the primary keyword, and the others become secondary keywords.

#3: Relying Too Much on keyword research

Using only keyword research tools can lead to ignoring your audience's needs.

An example is an HR tech company making clusters just because a keyword research tool suggests that "cloud computing" has a high search volume, even if it doesn't align with their brand or offer any unique value to their audience.

SEO tools can classify keywords as informational or transactional. The tool cannot provide insight into what difficulty the searcher is having.

Also, they won't tell you what features of your product would solve the problem.

You need to consider your product's use cases, and customer needs above trying to rank for random keywords.

#4: Poor Linking and User Experience

Topic clusters are great for improving the user experience on your site, making it easier for search engines to crawl your site.

But, linking related content requires careful planning and execution. If the content within a topic cluster isn't well organized and easy to access, it can lead to a poor user experience and hurt SEO efforts.

"I improved SEO for a client by building more internal links and refreshing old pages to align them with search intent," says Isioma Ogwuda, senior content marketer at Do Content Right.

#5: Limited Content Formats

Sure, blog posts are great and all, but if you want to connect with your audience, you need to mix things up.

Think about it - not everyone learns in the same way. Some people are visual learners, while others prefer to listen or read.

That's why it's crucial to diversify your content and create different types of media, like videos, infographics, eBooks, and even comparison pages. This way, you can reach people in different ways and make your topic clusters more engaging and accessible.

Ross Simmonds, founder of Foundation Marketing is a strong advocate of diversifying content.

Build a Topic Cluster Strategy that Works for SaaS- in 3 steps

Step 1: Research

Find out what your target audience needs and what problems they face.

Here are some tips:

• Speak directly with customers to learn about their needs and wants.
• Identify common questions your target audience has about your products or services and create content that addresses them.
• Ask your current customers for feedback to improve your offerings.
• Research with Google and SEO tools to find search queries related to your business. Tools like Ranktracker, Ahrefs and Also Asked can help you identify important keywords and topics.

Notice how SEO tools are last on the list?

Because SEO tools aren't meant to replace talking to customers and customer-facing employees.

Step 2: Plan Content

When planning content for your SaaS, start by grouping related keywords based on their topical relevance. Use synonyms, keyword variations, and related terms to create these groups.

It's also important to consider search intent. Each keyword group should have a clear search intent (informational, navigational, commercial, or transactional).

For example, "Sales CRM reviews" and "Buy sales CRM" should be on separate pages because they have different search intent.

Including all search intents within a topic cluster is a good idea to cover all your bases.

Once you've organized your topics, group them into different stages of the buyer's journey. This will help you tailor your content to the needs of your audience at each stage of the funnel.

If you need help generating relevant topics, you could use tools like Writerszen or SurferSEO to optimize your content.

Next, create content pillars that align with your business goals and serve as a framework for your content strategy.

Let's say your parent keyword is "Drift chatbot AI," your customer journey could look like this:

Top of the funnel: "What is chatbot AI?" (problem-aware)

Middle of the funnel: "Best chatbot AI” (solution-aware)

Bottom of the funnel: "Drift alternatives" (product-aware)

Step 3: Create Pillars and Supporting Clusters

To create high-quality content that aligns with your content pillars, use your content topics as a guide. Then create supporting clusters that link back to your pillar page.

Your pillar pages should cover a broad topic and target the most competitive keywords.

On the other hand, your cluster pages should target more specific keywords with lower competition and be located one step deeper in click depth from the main page.

This approach will help Google understand the connection and context between your pages.

“Ensure your topics are related and connected. This way you're showing Google your topic expertise, making it easier to rank,” says Jacob Rudnik, Content Marketing Director at ActiveCampaign.

Remember that you don't have to limit yourself to just blog posts. Consider diversifying your content with other formats, such as videos, podcasts, and templates. For instance, you can create how-to videos or go on podcasts to discuss your topics and interview other experts. The more diverse your content, the wider your audience’s reach.

Win with topic clusters

Once you create your first cluster, don't forget to distribute. Search engines are just a channel. Share your content at the different customer touchpoints.

The more you build clusters, the more you gain topical authority and win the attention of your readers.

And this will lead to more traffic, leads, and revenue.