Signs it is time to revisit content clusters

We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. A few signals that content clusters is due some attention.

Technical fixes remove obstacles; content earns the position. Both are needed and they are not interchangeable. The practical test is whether someone new to the project could tell, in a minute, that it had been handled.

The signals

• Nobody can say when it was last reviewed
• The answer depends on who you ask
• Grouping related pages around a pillar topic builds authority
• Interlink the cluster so the theme is obvious

How we handle it

One thorough page beats five thin ones on the same idea. This is the sort of thing that compounds, quietly, in both directions. Check it against what you would want a competitor's site to get wrong.

What this looks like day to day

Search work compounds slowly, which is why it gets abandoned about two months before it would have paid off. Three things worth confirming about content clusters before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Interlink the cluster so the theme is obvious — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Worth checking on your own setup before it becomes someone else's problem to fix.