How to Create Pillar Pages and Rank for High Volume Keywords

Pillar pages are cornerstone pieces of content focused on ranking for competitive keywords. Creating powerful pillar pages can help drive more organic traffic. Follow these best practices:

Choose Target Keywords Wisely

Conduct thorough keyword research to identify high-volume terms that align with your business. Look for keywords with strong search volume but reasonable competition. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush help uncover opportunities.

Build a Dedicated Page for the Term

Create an in-depth, dedicated page optimized specifically around the primary keyword you want to target. The URL should match the keyword as closely as possible.

Create Lengthy, Useful Content

Pillar pages need ample word counts between 2,500 - 5,000 words. Include detailed information sought by searchers so the page stands out as a definitive resource on the topic.

Optimize for the Keyword

Naturally incorporate the target main keyword and supporting keywords throughout the content in headings, subheadings, lists, and body text. Include related long-tail key phrases.

Enhance Page Elements

The title tag, meta description, image alt text, internal links and schema markup should also feature the keyword where applicable. This strengthens relevancy signals.

Promote the Page

Publish social shares driving visitors to the new pillar content. Seek backlinks from other authoritative sources referencing your page where relevant.

Measure Performance

Track organic traffic, rankings and conversions from the pillar page in Google Analytics. Fine-tune content and optimization to improve metrics over time.

With strong optimization both on and off the page, pillar content can become a key driver of organic growth, helping you gain visibility and traffic for competitive search terms.

Strategic steps are needed to create pillar pages. Find popular keywords that connect to your content. Create a thorough pillar page that serves as a main resource and covers the subject comprehensively. Make the information into cluster pages that each go into detail about a particular topic. Include relevant keywords, a clear structure, and internal links in your page optimization for search engines. Promote the information and update it frequently. This tactical strategy improves visibility, authority, and ranking for competitive high-volume keywords.

As with every area of SEO, there's conflicting views about pillar pages. Everyone believes they are important but when to start with one, especially on a new blog is controversial.

Some believe you do it early, while some say it's best to have a significant amount of content on your blog before going for a pillar post. This is because pillar posts usually target high competition keywords and work best when you have internal content to link them to 

In order to rank for high-volume keywords, you should conduct keyword research to identify relevant topics and phrases. Cover broad topics in depth with comprehensive pillar pages that incorporate target keywords naturally. Your pillar pages should be optimized for search engines with descriptive titles, meta tags, and internal links. In order to attract initial traffic to your pillar pages and to generate backlinks from authoritative sources, promote them through various channels. Ensure that your pillar pages remain relevant and authoritative, increasing their visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) for high-volume keywords.