Advanced pillar page
Everything you need to know about pillar pages
This template is itself a pillar page about pillar pages, built with the Pro modules: A table of contents that follows the reader, boxes in the text, a score meter and a calculator.
Table of contents
Topics of this topic cluster
Chapter one
What a pillar page is
A pillar page is the page that owns a topic. It answers the whole question from end to end and links out to the articles that go deeper on each part. Search engines and AI assistants read it as the page to quote when someone asks about the subject.
On a website that means one page you keep current instead of a dozen posts that quietly go stale. The cluster around it does the rest: Every article links up to the pillar, and the pillar links back down.
What it is not
It is not a long blog post, and it is not a landing page. It lives in the menu, it has no campaign end date, and it carries a review date so the reader knows it is current.
Anything a reader could ask as its own question. If the answer needs more than a paragraph, it is a chapter; if it needs more than a section, it is an article in the cluster.
Rule of thumb
If a paragraph starts with «by the way», it belongs in a box like this one.
The short version
One page that owns the topic, a cluster that links up to it, and a review date so everyone can see it is current.
Chapter two
Why it works
A visitor who lands on a thin post leaves to find the rest. A visitor who lands on a page that answers everything stays.
Before and after
A topic with and without a pillar page
Twelve thin posts
- Each one answers a tenth of the question
- Readers leave to find the rest
- Twelve pages to keep up to date
- No page an assistant can quote
One pillar page
- One page answers the whole question
- The cluster feeds it, and rises with it
- One page to keep up to date
- The page that gets cited
One page to write well, one page to keep current, one page to be cited.
Chapter three
How to build one, in four moves
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01
Decide the topic
Wide enough to fill a page, narrow enough that you can own it. -
02
Map the cluster
List the questions underneath. Each one becomes an article. -
03
Build it from sections
A text section, a comparison, a set of steps: Each part its own module. -
04
Link both ways
Every article links up, the pillar links down to each.
Score your page
Four things a good pillar page does
A score meter used as a checklist. The values are an example: Score your own page honestly.
Example page
84/ 100
Example values
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Answers the whole question 90
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Links down to the cluster 85
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Updated this year 80
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Readable without the images 82
What to fix first
- 1Answer the whole question on the page, not in a download
- 2Link down to every article in the cluster, and back up again
- 3Put a review date on it and keep it
- 4Make each chapter readable on its own
The lowest bar is almost always the one worth an afternoon.
Calculator
What is one good page worth?
An example calculator: Put your own numbers in, and everything is calculated in your browser. Inputs, results and formulas are fields in the module.
Your numbers
Rough figures are fine. The point is the order of magnitude, not the decimals.
Pipeline from this topic, a month
–
Visits × lead rate × lead value
Leads a month
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The same twelve months on
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A month, with the growth you expect
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Your own estimate, not a promise
Estimates. Your own numbers will differ.
Chapter four
How to keep it alive
Put a review date on it. When the subject moves, the page moves with it, and the date at the top tells the reader it is current.
Questions
What people ask about pillar pages
How long should a pillar page be?
As long as the question. A shorter page that answers everything beats a long one that repeats itself.
Which modules is this template built from?
A short hero, the table of contents twice (floating and as cards), separators, a Text section with boxes, text and media, before and after, steps, a score meter, a calculator, a question list and a call to action.
Should it be a blog post or a page?
A page. It is the reference, not news, and it belongs somewhere stable in the menu.
Next step
Build your own pillar page from this template
The free theme has the sections. OMNI Pro adds the table of contents, the boxes in the text, the score meter and the calculator on this page.