planning-topic-clusterslisted

# Planning Topic Clusters ## Overview Random blog posts are dead in 2026. Both Google's algorithms and LLM retrieval systems reward **topical authority** — the demonstrable depth of coverage on a single subject — and the cleanest way to build it is the **pillar + spoke** architecture HubSpot popularized [1][2]. The 2026 evidence is hard: clustered content drives ~30% more organic traffic and **3.2× more AI citations** than standalone posts; sites with hub-and-spoke linking see pillar AI citation rates jump from ~12% to ~41% [3][7]. Topic clusters are no longer an SEO nicety — they are the unit of content strategy. This skill takes a clustered keyword map (output of `researching-keywords-pre-launch` or `finding-underserved-keywords`) and produces a publishing plan: pillars, spokes, URL slugs, link graph, calendar. ## The Cluster Anatomy - **Pillar page** — the comprehensive 3,000–5,000-word guide on the broad topic. Lives at the top of the site at `/pillar-topic/`. Defines the entity. Links **down** to every spoke [4][6]. - **Spoke pages** — 1,500–2,500-word deep dives, one per sub-question. Live at `/pillar-topic/spoke-slug/` (mirrors information architecture, gives Google the hierarchy for free) [4][6]. - **Internal link graph** — every spoke links **up** to the pillar with descriptive anchor text; the pillar links **down** to every spoke; spokes link **laterally** to 2–3 sibling spokes in the same cluster. Bi-directional linking alone increases LLM citation probability