Whyte Gardens - Authoritative Content Strategy

Authoritative Content Strategy

Summary

The client should employ an authoritative content strategy in their blog posts to encourage Google to use excerpts from the site to answer informational queries. The aim of this strategy is to boost the overall site authority and increase overall site rank. This document describes the process of creating a pillar page for each topic category, along with subtopic pages that can be optimised for this strategy.

Goal

The goal of an authoritative content strategy is to build content that will increase the authority of the site. Site authority is when Google sees a website as a trusted source on a topic and will use excerpts and other information from that site to answer user search queries. This authority is a major ranking factor for a site and can greatly increase page rank site wide.

We have built a strategy, generated a content plan and provided guidelines for writing content to increase the site’s authority by building structured and authoritative blog content.

Content Strategy

The content strategy has been developed around three aspects, pillar pages, sub topic pages and structured interlinking. The pillar page will link down to subtopic (blog) pages, that will in turn either link further down to more specific subtopic pages or instead link back up to the pillar page.

First Step

Pillar Page

A pillar page will be the centre of the content strategy and a new large blog page will be created which will encapsulate the entirety of a targeted topic. The pillar page will broadly cover the topic as a whole, and will address frequently asked questions/searches and other relevant information.

The pillar page will be structured with a table of contents at the top of the page and subheadings for each of the subtopics/questions being answered. Each subtopic section on the pillar page will be a general explanation of the topic, with interlinked anchor text directing the user to more detailed information on the subject matter.

Sub-topic/general blog pages

Once the pillar pages have been created and relevant existing blog articles have been linked to the page, additional pages will be created. These pages will contain specific authoritative content relevant to the subtopics or general blog content that relates to the pillar page topic.

For example, if /blog/movies is your pillar page,

then /blog/movies/romance and /top-movies-to-watch-in-2022 are subtopic or general blog pages

The aim within these pages is to directly answer the search query in a simple sentence that Google can use as an excerpt, but also go into more detail about the topic.

URL/Site Structure

We need to ensure that the user and search engines can correctly navigate the site. We will look at how the current blog content is structured and make adjustments depending on URL structure and navigation. This is covered in the next section of the document.

Second Step

Content Creation

Content will be created for the pillar and sub topic pages and will be done in such a way that it will appeal to search engines. We have provided a set of guidelines for the way in which the content should be written, and how to structure the content to ensure that it is seen as authoritative.

Page Audit & Interlinking

After the content has been created and the pillar page and subpages are ready to be published, we will audit the pages to ensure the language is optimised and interlink anchor text to ensure that all pages pass authority correctly.

Content Map

Pillar Page

The Initial pillar page that will be targeted will be Landscape Design

We have compiled a list of topic questions that should be addressed in the page:

• What do you mean by landscape design?
• What do you mean by landscaping?
• How do I create a landscape design?
• How do I choose a landscape designer?
• Landscape design and council planning
• How do you landscape the front of a house?
• How do I plan a landscape layout?
• What are the 7 principles of landscape design? / What are the 5 basic elements of landscape design?
• Can landscape designers plan swimming pools?
• What makes a good landscape design?
• Who has the best reputation for landscape design?
• What is the difference between a landscape architect and a landscape designer?
• Is it worth getting a landscape designer?
• What do you mean by landscape design?
• What time of year is best to landscape?

This list isn’t definitive, and questions can be skipped or added as needed. It is also recommended that if the client has any frequently asked questions around the topic that hasn’t been covered in the list, that they add them to the page.

For more information on writing and structuring these pages, refer to this document:

Sub-topic/general blog pages

These are recommended subtopic pages and blog pages that will be interlinked from the pillar page when they have been created:

• A guide to the best time of the year for landscaping
• Basic principles of landscaping
• What is landscape design?
• A guide to landscaping for small gardens
• A guide to designing the landscaping for a front yard
• Difference between a landscape architect and a landscape designer
• Planning a landscape layout
• What are the elements of a good landscape design

Existing pages can also be added into the cluster:

• Which Landscape Designer Will You Choose?
• Landscape Designer or CAD Monkey?
• Landscaping Around a New Home: What to Know.
• What to look for when choosing a landscape designer.
• Choosing a Landscape Designer: How?
• When to start landscaping a new home?
• What makes a great design & ultimately a great landscape?
• Pools - who comes first, (landscape) designer or pool builder?

URL/Site Structure

The current blog structure was set up with /blog/ being the blog category page and all blog article pages just using their title as the URL, e.g.

https://www.whytegardens.com.au/landscape-designer-or-cad-monkey/

This is called a soft structure, which is where the link between pages are done with on page interlinking only. A hard structure on the other hand, also uses the URL to link the pages to each other.

An example of a hard structure relevant to Whyte Gardens would be:

https://www.whytegardens.com.au/blog/landscape-design/landscape-designer-or-cad-monkey/

Both structures have their merits, but we believe the choice should depend on the user experience. We recommend using a mix of the two structures by having URL with the topic in the path like this:

https://www.whytegardens.com.au/landscape-design/landscape-designer-or-cad-monkey/

Within this URL structure, the link to the pillar page is in the highlighted section of the pathway /landscape-design/blog-title/, where every blog article/subtopic page relevant to the pillar page would follow this structure.

Mapping Data and Analysis

The content data and information can be found here: