Keyword clustering is a process in which similar, thematically relevant keywords are grouped together (clusters). Optimal use of this method can lead to a higher ranking in search results.
Keyword clustering and page optimization for clusters can help websites rank for more keywords and keyword variations in search results.
Keyword clusters are groups of keywords that represent searchers with similar purchase intent. This method is an important component of... SEO Search Engine Optimization.
For example, “linen curtains”, “linen window curtains” and “white linen curtains” are different keyword phrases, but they represent all searchers who want to buy linen curtains.
Let's say your brand sells linen curtains. If you only try to rank for the first keyword, you'll limit your market share.
If, instead, you optimize your website for your main keyword and its long-tail variations, as well as related subtopics, your site will often rank for 10-20 times more keywords and generate significantly more traffic. This is a crucial step in the search engine optimization (SEO) of your website.
To harness the power of keyword clusters, it is important to know that this strategy requires much more time and resources than a one-off approach to website optimization.
It requires more keyword research, more content creation, and more work for your SEO and marketing teams.
Ultimately, creating topic clusters will make your website more Google-friendly and user-friendly.
The advantages of keyword clustering include:
Here you will find a brief explanation of how to conduct keyword clustering and build a content strategy around these clusters.
Keyword clustering begins with keyword research.
There are several ways to document your keyword research, but the simplest solution is to use spreadsheets.
Make sure to include the organic difficulty, search volume, and cost-per-click metrics for the keywords in your list.
These metrics will help you prioritize which keywords have the greatest economic value and should be the "core" keywords in your clusters.
Some SEO professionals identify thousands of keywords during their research. However, if you're just starting out with this strategy, a hundred keyword phrases are likely sufficient to identify several different topic clusters that you can develop on your website.
When creating your keyword list, pay attention to the importance of relevance and search intent.
You should only include keywords that bring the right kind of searchers to your website, namely those who are actually interested in the products or services you offer and are likely to convert.
Once you have a comprehensive keyword list, you will begin to notice patterns in your keywords.
You might notice the same words, phrases, synonyms, or subtopics that users employ in their search queries. These patterns offer you the opportunity to form and cluster keyword groups.
Below are the criteria you should use to divide these keywords into groups.
It is important that the keywords in your clusters have a similar search intent.
If you try to optimize a landing page for too many different keywords, the content will become less readable and confuse Google regarding the actual content of your page.
The most important keywords in your clusters should have a reasonable search volume. They should also have conversion potential (CPCs indicate their economic value).
Whether you include keywords with a higher organic difficulty level in your clusters depends on your website authority, your backlink profile, and your website's establishment. Only include keywords in your clusters for which your website can realistically rank.
Once you have found the main keyword for a cluster, combine it with complementary keywords.
For example, you can add long-tail keywords, keywords with lower difficulty or lower search volume, or those that are easy to win if you provide enough information about them on the landing page.
Let's apply these basics of keyword clustering to the keywords for our software platform.
Why do these keywords form a good cluster?
Because they share a common semantic relevance. These searchers are all looking for a product that helps with interview planning.
The main keyword “software for planning job interviews” has the highest value, and we have paired it with complementary keywords with lower search volume and solid CPC.
Semantically speaking, these keywords imply a slightly different search intent and therefore belong in a separate cluster. These searchers are more interested in a tool that supports them in conducting virtual job interviews.
Our main keyword is somewhat more competitive, but we have filled the cluster with keywords that are less difficult and have a high conversion potential.
If you feel confident in your niche and understand keyword metrics and the nuances of search intent, you can manually group your keywords.
There are also keyword grouping tools that automate this process. They can group your keywords for you.
When segmenting, remember that not all keywords in your list need to end up in your clusters. The keywords with the highest value are the most important for inclusion.
A high CPC, high search volume, and relevant search intent make a keyword valuable for your brand.
Once you have grouped your keywords into clusters, these provide a roadmap for creating, optimizing, and organizing the content on your website.
Essentially, your keyword clusters represent the core topics of your website.
These are also known as "pillar pages".
To properly conduct our keyword clustering, we need to create landing pages that are targeted to each of these keyword clusters.
One landing page should focus on the platform's interview scheduling feature. The other landing page should focus on the virtual interview tool.
The pillar pages for your keyword clusters should include proven on-page SEO strategy. One of my favorite strategies is using a content optimization tool to help you optimize your content more effectively.
To improve the ranking potential of your pillar pages, you should prioritize the following areas:
To improve the ranking and content authority of your pillar pages, you can create blog content that reinforces your primary keyword clusters.
These blogs can target longer-term keyword phrases, subtopics, or questions related to your main keywords.
As you develop further content, these web pages will form "topic clusters" on your website.
The profile of the internal links in this content will play a major role in which landing pages of your website rank in Google.
Your blog posts should be linked to the relevant pillar page to increase your chances of ranking for these higher-value keywords.
If your company offers multiple products or areas of expertise, you can set up more clusters on your website.
If you only sell one main product or service, the number of keyword clusters you can identify will be smaller. However, by researching your main topic areas with plenty of useful content, you can outrank your competitors in a shorter amount of time.
Building clusters also offers more opportunities to add internal links to your website.
This not only increases the amount of time users spend on your website, but internal links also ensure a higher PageRank and help Google understand which pages of your website are most important.
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