Pillar page

What a pillar page means

A pillar page is a broad, central page on a topic that links out to more detailed pages and receives links back from them. It gives a complete overview and acts as a hub for the cluster. For a service business, the pillar is often the main service page. For a publisher, it might be a comprehensive guide.

Seen in practice

A conveyancing firm creates a pillar page on buying a home, covering every stage from offer to completion, with short sections linking to detailed pages on searches, mortgage offers, exchange and Stamp Duty. The pillar becomes the page clients are sent to first, and it starts to rank for broad searches about the process.

Why it matters for your content

A good pillar page gives visitors a clear starting point and a logical route to more detail. It also concentrates internal links on the page you most want to rank. Many small sites have the detail pages but no strong hub, so their best content is scattered.

Checking your own pages

Ask which page you'd send a new customer to for an overview of each main service. If you can't name one, or the page you'd choose is thin, that's your gap. Check that the pillar links to the detailed pages and that they link back to it with clear anchor text.

Traps to avoid

• Making the pillar so long that it covers everything in full and leaves the detail pages pointless.
• Writing a pillar for a topic you have no supporting content on.
• Hiding the pillar deep in the site where nothing links to it.
• Treating "pillar page" as a format to copy rather than a role a page plays.

Related content terms

• Content cluster: A group of related pages linking to a pillar topic page.
• Topical authority: Perceived depth and coherence of content on a subject.
• Internal linking: Links between pages on the same site that help users and distribute crawl paths.