What Is Pillar Content — and When Should You Use It?

 

Website content is like a buffet. Just like taking and eating too much food, you can add too much content to your site.  This can fill your visitors up quickly, leaving them sleepy with information overload.  They become too full to really enjoy the experience.   

And just like a buffet, that’s been picked over, people may they leave hungry and head somewhere else to eat. In that sense, a website works the same way.   Visitors may  get a taste of content but not enough to satisfy.  They will leave and go somewhere else to find what they need..  

Website content needs to be just right. It needs enough variety to be useful, enough structure to be satisfying, and organized in a way that makes people want to come back for more. 

That’s where pillar content comes in.  It can dramatically improve search visibility, internal linking, and long-term organic traffic.

Pillar content is a comprehensive, central page on your website that covers a broad topic in depth. It operates as the main hub for a subject, with shorter, related pages (often called “cluster content”) linking back to it. 

Think of pillar content as the table of contents, and the supporting pages as individual chapters.   

For example,  pillar topics might include something like, “Email Communication for Public Organizations”.  From there supporting articles offer more information, that covers that topic. This could be, for example, analysis into a specific subtopic (i.e. Email Discussion Lists”)  and links back to the main pillar page. 

Pillar content helps both people and search engines understand your website better. 

Key benefits include: 

• Improved SEO -Today’s search engines reward websites that demonstrate authority on a topic. A strong pillar page, supported by related content, shows your site is knowledgeable and trustworthy. 
• Better site structure-Instead of dozens of disconnected pages, your content becomes organized and easier to navigate. 
• Longer visitor engagement-Visitors can easily move from a broad overview to specific answers, keeping them on your site longer. 
• Content longevity-Pillar pages are designed to be updated over time, making them long-term assets rather than one-off blog posts. 

Pillar content is especially effective when: 

• You offer ongoing services, not one-time products 
• You want to educate your audience (municipalities, nonprofits, associations) 
• Your website already has (or will have) multiple pages on related topics 
• You want to reduce repetitive questions by pointing users to one trusted resource 

For example, a township website might use a pillar page to explain “How Township Communications Work”, linking to pages about meeting notices, email alerts, ordinances, and public records. 

However there are common mistakes one can make with Pillar content. So avoid: 

Making it too long without structure -It should be comprehensive, not overwhelming. Headings, summaries, and internal links matter. 

Writing for search engines instead of people Keywords helps, but clarity and usefulness matter more. 

Letting it go stale. A pillar page should be reviewed and updated regularly. 

But Pillar content is not always necessary — and forcing it can actually hurt clarity. 

You may want to skip pillar content if: 

• Your website is very small (just a few pages) 
• Your content needs are highly transactional (hours, contact info, pricing) 
• Your audience wants quick answers, not deep reading 
• You don’t have the time or resources to maintain and update content 

In these cases, clear standalone pages may work better than a large, centralized pillar. 

Pillar content is not about writing more — it’s about organizing what you already know in a way that makes sense. 

When used correctly,  it strengthens your website’s authority, improves search visibility and helps visitors find what they need faster 

When used incorrectly, it becomes just another long page no one wants to read.