Pillar pages, hubs and clusters: how funnel content fits together

A pillar page answers the main topic of a guide in depth and links to the articles that go further. A hub is the page that lists and organizes every article in the guide, usually in reading order. A cluster is the set of articles around one topic, each answering one question and linking back to the pillar. On many sites, one page acts as both pillar and hub.

In funnel terms, the hub groups articles by stage: TOFU (top of funnel) articles for learning, MOFU (middle of funnel) articles for comparing, and BOFU (bottom of funnel) articles for deciding. The pillar covers the head topic, and each cluster article owns one real question and hands the reader to the next stage.

This article explains each piece, how they map to stages, what to decide about URLs and navigation, and when one site needs more than one hub.

What a pillar page is

A pillar page is a long page on the broad topic a guide covers, such as "roof replacement" or "adult ADHD treatment". It gives a reader the full picture in one place: the key concepts, the main options, the costs and how to take the next step. Where a subject needs more depth than a section can give, the pillar summarizes it and links to the cluster article that covers it in full.

A good pillar is not just a list of links. It should answer the head topic well enough that a reader who reads nothing else still leaves informed. It also carries the guide's most important links: to every stage of the cluster and to the money page, the service or product page the guide supports.

What a hub is

A hub is a navigation page. Its job is to show everything in the guide and suggest an order. A simple hub has a short introduction, then the articles grouped under headings, each with a one-line description.

In a funnel guide the groups follow the stages. Readers see plain labels, such as Learn, Compare and Decide, or Understand, Choose and Act, rather than "TOFU" and "MOFU". The GEO and AEO Guide on this site works this way, grouped as Learn, Do and Decide.

Pillar and hub can be the same page. In that case the page opens with the substantive answer, then lists the articles by stage further down. Splitting them makes sense when the guide is large enough that the full list would bury the pillar's content.

What a cluster is

A cluster is the set of articles that sit under a pillar. Each article answers one specific question, links back to the pillar, and links sideways to related articles. The point of the structure is that a reader, or a search engine, can see the whole topic and how its parts relate.

The rule that keeps a cluster healthy is one question per article. If two articles answer "how much does a roof replacement cost," they compete with each other, and neither is as useful as one complete answer. This is called cannibalization. It also matters for large guides: Google's AI optimization guide warns that creating separate content "for every possible variation of how people might search," primarily to manipulate rankings or AI answers, violates its scaled content abuse policy. How to map every article to a money page without cannibalization covers the checks.

How clusters compare with isolated posts is covered in our existing article on content clusters vs standalone blogs. This page focuses on how the pieces fit the funnel.

How the pieces map to funnel stages

The links in the last column are the minimum. Real readers don't move in a straight line, so each article also needs a short related list that crosses stages. Designing read-next paths covers how to choose them, and internal linking by funnel stage covers anchor text and auditing.

How many articles each stage needs depends on the questions your customers ask. On three guides we built, the splits were 27 learn, 64 compare and 22 act; 12, 15 and 15; and 13, 8 and 6. How many articles per funnel stage? explains why they differ.

URL and navigation choices

There is no single right URL pattern. These are the common options and their trade-offs:

Whatever you choose, keep these points in mind:

1. Don't move existing URLs just to fit a new pattern. If you must, use permanent redirects, which Google describes as "a strong signal" for which URL to treat as the main one.
2. Link the hub from somewhere visible. A menu item, a footer link or a card on the relevant service page. Google says "Every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site."
3. Link from money pages into the guide. A service page that links to its cost guide and its comparison article helps readers who need one more answer before they call.
4. Use breadcrumbs if your theme supports them. They show readers where they are. Note that Google shows breadcrumbs in results on desktop only, since January 2025.
5. Keep the hub current. Add new articles the day they publish, and remove or redirect ones you merge.

When one site needs several hubs

One hub works when readers would naturally browse the topics together. Several hubs make sense when a site serves groups of readers who wouldn't. Signs you need more than one:

• Distinct services with distinct buyers. A hypothetical firm that does both bookkeeping for churches and payroll for restaurants has two audiences with different questions.
• Distinct conditions or products. For a vein and interventional clinic we worked with, the embolization guide hub had a separate spoke for each condition, which keeps each condition's articles together.
• Distinct places with different rules. A guide for one state may not apply in another, as with the adult ADHD guide we built for one state.
• A hub list that has become unusable. If readers must scroll past dozens of irrelevant articles to find theirs, split the hub by audience and link the hubs to each other.

The opposite mistake is splitting too early. A dozen articles rarely need two hubs. Adding to an existing hub is often the better choice: a church bookkeeping firm we worked with added 27 new guides to a hub it already had.

How to avoid duplicating what you already have

Most sites starting a funnel guide already have related posts. Before writing anything new:

1. List every existing post on the topic and tag it TOFU, MOFU or BOFU.
2. For each planned article, search your own site for its main question. If an existing post answers it, improve and link that post instead of writing a new one.
3. If two existing posts answer the same question, merge them into the stronger one and redirect the other.
4. Check the money page too. If it already answers a planned article's question, strengthen the money page.
5. Bring the existing posts into the hub, so the guide includes your older content instead of competing with it.

For the link-building side of clusters, including how articles link to each other, see our existing internal linking strategy guide.

Conclusion

Pillar, hub and cluster are three jobs: answer the head topic, organize the guide, and answer each question once. In a funnel guide the hub groups articles by stage, every article links back to the pillar and forward to a next step, and money pages link into the guide. The structure is the easy part; the work is choosing the right questions and answering each one well. For the full method, see our pillar on how we build TOFU, MOFU and BOFU content, and if you want help planning a guide, see our content marketing services. More guides are in our GEO and AEO Guide.

Frequently asked questions