How to Pick Your Pillar Content

Bigger isn’t always better. And the pressure to keep producing content doesn’t necessarily translate to better results. If anything, you improve your chances of increased site traffic, more downloads, and earned media by sharing focused, consumable content. Simply put—focus on pillar content.

So let’s go over the benefits of this strategy and how you can identify your site’s pillar content.

What is Pillar Content?

Also known as 10x content, pillar posts refer to the type of content that provides straight answers to readers’ questions. It focuses on delivering value to the reader while allowing your content to rank high in search engines. These are the four main characteristics of pillar content:

1. Combines interest, value, and trust
2. Focuses on solving problems or answering audience questions
3. Shares an informative, comprehensive, and accurate perspective
4. Varies in scope or detail from other content on the subject

Given its relationship with blogging, you can define pillar content as posts highlighting your website’s best work. You want new visitors to spend time on these posts, and you know they’ll continue to be valuable long after posting them.

While articles and blog posts are the main examples of pillar content, you can also include videos, reels, and infographics.

Top Benefits of Pillar Content You Can’t Ignore

Focusing on pillar content on your website comes with the following advantages:

1. Opens You up to Valuable Leads

Focusing on creating pillar content allows you to attract qualified leads. As your readers go through all your published material, they learn more about your business and find answers to their questions. They see value in your website, helping them to convert into paying customers.

2. Enhances Your Website’s Authenticity and Reputation

Build your website and business’ reputation by creating quality pillar content. Readers know they can turn to you for in-depth, reliable content. It shows your expertise and field knowledge, making you an industry force.

People like to be associated with experts — pillar content allows you to be one. The more people flood your website, the higher the chances of search engines identifying your platform as authentic and reputable, leading to a higher SEO ranking.

3. Earns More Backlinks

Backlinks and SEO go hand in hand. When other people can link to the content on your site, Google will interpret that as a sign of authenticity and value, leading to better placements. Focusing on pillar content increases the chances of other sites linking to your site. The more backlinks you have, the merrier.

4. Improves User Experience

Having people flood your website is not enough; you want them to stay. The more readers engage on your site, the more they become familiar with your brand. Anyone who associates with your business can easily be converted to a paying client, which is the goal of most companies.

Pillar content allows your leads to remain engaged on your site, given that it answers all the questions that they may have. Improved user experience also affects how your site ranks in SEO.

How to Identify Your Pillar Content

Knowing the benefits of pillar content is one thing. But understanding why and how you can benefit from it is another ballgame. Here are some tips to help you identify your website’s pillar content:

Breakdown Your Audience

Understanding your audience has to be the main factor in identifying and deciding your pillar content. You want to create a pillar that will serve your readers’ best interests. If you don’t already know who forms your audience, start by identifying the people who usually buy your products and services, then check out what characteristics they have in common.

After identifying their common interests and success gaps, think about what type of content will suit their needs, answer their questions, and address their concerns. Think about what they would love to see on your page. What kind of presentation would they want?

Identify Topics and Corresponding Keywords

Your company’s brand and SEO data are the best places to find insights and inspirations for your pillar content. Using these, you can easily identify your main topics and keywords. They also give you competitive knowledge of today’s market trends. Ask yourself:

• What highlights your brands?
• Which topics can you address to rank well and succeed?
• What specific high-value keywords do you need?

For example, if you run a company that caters to small businesses, you’ll want to be their go-to option on as many relevant topics as possible. You can address common issues and current events, along with the necessary keywords like managing debt, how to start a new business, online banking, etc.

Compare Your List and Determine Priority

Listing your pillar post topics will leave you with so many topics to cover. You can compare the items on your list and determine which ones need your immediate attention.

Focus on the issues that resonate with your core values, ones you want your website to be identified with. You can categorize your list into “must-do,” “should-do,” and “nice-to-do.” As you move forward, incorporate the items based on their importance and order of priority.

Assess Your Competitors

What types of pillar content do other content creators in your field have? Do you even know?

Unlock your writer’s block by taking a peek behind their curtain. You can do this easily using competitive analysis tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush. The thing is, as long as you share the same audience, the chances are that your competitors’ audience has the similar interests to yours.

Remember to only seek inspiration and not copy. Even if you’re inspired by something they do, make sure to twist your approach.

Audit Your Existing Content

If you’re not starting out with a completely clean slate, auditing your existing content can help determine your pillar posts. It allows you to identify your brand’s focus, contributing to your main topic. Alternatively, you can repurpose or restructure your existing content to match your current focus and goals. Paying attention to your existing content also prevents the possibility of repeating content topics.

The Key Takeaway on Pillar Content

Having pillar content allows you to market your brand effectively, wringing out every last ounce of value from your campaigns. But achieving this means figuring out what your audience wants, answering their questions, and being their absolute go-to. If you’re still stuck, Reason & Watson can help you decide what to post. Creating and publishing will probably take a little more time—but it’s worth it.