Most businesses with a website have published something - a few blog posts, a case study, maybe a guide. What most don't have is content that establishes them as the obvious answer when someone searches for help in their space.
Ask most business owners why their website isn’t bringing in enquiries and they’ll say they need to publish more. More blogs, more updates, more posts. The answer is rarely more.
The businesses that show up first, on Google, in AI-generated responses, in the recommendations people share, aren’t necessarily publishing more frequently. They’re publishing more deliberately. Specifically, they have pillar content.
What pillar content actually is
Pillar content is a substantial, authoritative resource built around the core topic your ideal clients are searching for. Not a 500-word overview that doesn’t really scrape the surface – a genuinely useful piece that answers the questions your audience actually has.
Around that pillar, you publish supporting content: shorter posts, guides, and articles that go deeper on related subtopics and link back to the main piece. Search engines read this structure and understand that your site has real expertise in the area. So does your reader.
The result is topical authority – the point where your website is recognised as the go-to resource for a specific subject, not just a site that has mentioned it a few times.
Why it matters for search, and for AI
Google has rewarded this kind of structure for years. A well-linked cluster of content around a core topic signals depth and expertise in a way that isolated blog posts can’t.
AI search (the kind that powers ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews) works on the same logic. When someone asks an AI tool for a recommendation or an explanation, it draws on sources it considers authoritative and comprehensive. A single thin blog post rarely qualifies. A site that’s clearly the most thorough, well-structured resource on a topic is far more likely to get cited.
If you want to be the answer an AI gives, being the best answer is the starting point.
How to find your pillar topic
The question to ask is: what does my ideal client search for when they first realise they have a problem I can solve?
Be careful to focus on the client here, not necessarily what you would call your service or what you would search. Also not industry jargon. The actual words someone types into a search bar at the beginning of their journey – before they know what they need, before they know you exist.
That’s your pillar topic; everything you publish should connect back to it.
What to do with it
Once you’ve identified the topic, the work is straightforward, if not always quick:
- Write the pillar piece properly: cover the topic in full, answer the questions people actually ask, and don’t hold back useful information in the hope they’ll call you to find out the rest
- Build supporting content around it. Each subtopic becomes its own post, linked back to the main piece
- Audit what you’ve already published. Chances are you have content that belongs in the cluster – it just isn’t structured or linked that way yet
- Keep it current. A pillar page that was comprehensive two years ago and hasn’t been touched since loses its authority, so revisit it. Content doesn’t just have to be new to be valuable. Sometimes it is the oldest content that will work hardest for you
The businesses that look like they’re everywhere in search didn’t get there by publishing more and more. If you want to go one step further, you can even start looking at what content you already have and consider whether you even need it any more.
Focus on being clearer about what you want to be known for, and building your content around that.
If you’re not sure where to start with content strategy, our SEO and AEO team can help you work out what your ideal clients are actually searching for; get in touch.
