It’s been another wild couple of weeks in content.

We’ve faced another huge core update in August. For the most part, our sites did well, but we didn’t come out completely unscathed this time around.

Now, we’re in the middle of another Helpful Content update.

Ahhh, the joys of being in content and riding the Google coaster.

As much as I want to stay unflappable in all of this, I do have moments when I wonder, will I ever get used to this?

But, then, I think about what I can control.

There are some fundamentals that I keep coming back to when it comes to keeping our publications growing.

While I never recommend making any major updates to your online content when a core update is happening, there are four things that I like to check to make sure we have the fundamentals covered:

1. EEAT Signals Done Right

2. Topical Authority

3. User Experience Basics

4. Quality Content Signals

Now, these are big, broad things to mention, but for me, this covers the basics of what a quality digital publication needs to do to survive.

While Topical Authority is a massive topic, I’ve been thinking a lot about the things in our control as content creators when building solid topical authority.

I like to think of Topical Authority as the big moat you get to build around your publication. It’s what can solidify your publication, but it’s not easy.

Remember those carefree, early days of website building when one viral-ish article could keep a site afloat and thriving?

Yep. Me too.

Those days are gone.

Today, we need to build solid clusters of content to build and maintain our topical authority. There’s just no way around it.

Content clusters matter.

If you have a publication with one powerhouse article keeping it afloat, you will want to start thinking about the day this house of cards might come tumbling down.

Content Clusters: The Good, The Bad, The Necessary

Building topical authority is one of the most important things you can do to secure an online publication.

It’s not easy. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it matters.

I know there are still lots of SEO folks who will say you can build a site full of one-offs as long as you do strong keyword research and create solid content… but the more data that I see, the more updates that happen, I don’t believe this to be true.

The Good

This past month, we wanted to catch a few trending topics on a couple of our sites. Knowing that these would be huge topics to cover if we got it right, we decided to go all in and create some content cluster packs and publish them all on the same day!

Because we were early to the jump and because we built a pack of topics to support a relatively big topic, we were able to take some top spots and saw some seriously nice bumps in traffic on our sites.

Content clusters can also help you (eventually) rank for more competitive terms because you build and bolster your digital authority on a specific topic.

I like to think of content clusters as the building blocks that support your big, important, hard-to-rank for goal topic posts supported!

Early tests in Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) also tell me that a variety of topical coverage will matter more and more to get eyeballs on our content as well. We have the potential to get more eyeballs when we attack a topic in many different ways, and I think that’s what’s going to happen with SGE. But, we’ll see.

Building into content clusters can be much easier in production as well. Researchers and writers can deep dive into one topical cluster, sharing learnings and experiences for several articles.

The Bad

Okay. Yeah. Building out a cluster of content can be a big job!

Building out 10-12 (or more) content pieces costs more than just one post. What if the entire cluster doesn’t rank or perform? We might have a dozen or more instead of just having one dud post.

Building out entire clusters of content means that someone needs to maintain and optimize the core pillar piece and supporting articles moving forward. It can become an overwhelming task as the site grows.

I’ve got an editor working on optimizing and improving our pillar pages as we speak. It will probably take him a few months, but it’s got to be done. The good news is that we often see the essential stuff grow as we build out more supportive content and then update the main pillar page.

Many people will worry about duplication when building out content clusters, but this fear is generally unfounded. Unless you have two posts that target the same keyword topic with the same intent, duplication is not something to worry about. There are so many ways you can cover one big pillar topic.

Brand or focus of the site changes does mean that you might have entire clusters of content that are no longer relevant. This is a downside as publications are living, breathing entities, and as the business changes, so can the topical clusters you want to cover.

The Necessary

If you want to build topical authority, I think content clusters are necessary.

Yes. It might take months to build out a proper cluster to support a tough topic, but it’s what content creators need to do.

Google looks for topical coverage. We’ve moved past keyword strategies for quite some time.

Having deep coverage builds trust and authority on our sites as well. Two key EEAT factors as well.

If you want to build a moat around your publication, you must dig deeper and start building that wall of content clusters!

Things to Read, Watch, and Ponder

This has been a huge week in SEO! Not only has Google been giving us one update after the other, they’ve made some changes to their recommendations. Instead of ‘created by humans for humans’ advice, they’ve removed ‘created by humans’. Interesting, huh? They’ve also released the ‘created by experts’ and updated it to include “created or reviewed by experts’ verbiage. Who knows where this will lead?

I love this content cluster article; keep the learning going here!

What can a small, scrappy content team do? A lot! I love this breakdown from Eric Doty of Dock on what’s working for them.

September is already going by way too fast! Next week, I’m flying over to Toronto, Ontario, Canada (my old stomping grounds) to meet my Operations Manager in real life! We’ve worked closely together for over five years, and this is our first real-life meetup! I’m super pumped.

I love that I live in a world where I can build real, strong teams and relationships digitally. It has really expanded my world and given me so many memorable experiences in my life.

This month, I got accepted to be a mentor for the Women in Tech SEO group, and I’m super thrilled! Mentorship is really important to me. I’ve had some life-changing mentors in my life, and it’s really humbling to be at a place where I get to help someone else.

We all need mentorship in this content space.

Here’s to another fun, exciting week in content.

Cheers! Amy

Some Bonus Newsletters You’ll Love

If you want to get into the weeds on these topics, here are a couple of newsletters to subscribe to.