Week 1
Scope the theme
What the page has to cover, and an audit of everything you have already published on it, which is usually more than anyone remembers.
Articles and written content · Long-form and pillar content · Sydney
Pillar pages and long-form content
Long-form only works when length is a consequence rather than a target. A four thousand word page that covers a theme completely is an asset. The same length padded to reach it is a page people leave.
Grab the snowball. Give it a spin, and watch it grow as you scroll. Just like the theme.
1page that owns the whole theme
9cluster pieces pointing at it
Citedthe page others link to
Sydneyresearchers, writers and editors
The short answer
What is a pillar page, and when do you need one?
A pillar page is the single most complete page on your site about one theme: the page that answers the broad question fully and links out to the deeper pieces beneath it. Long-form content is any piece where the subject genuinely requires the length, usually two to five thousand words.
You need one when a theme is central to what you sell and currently lives across six half-answers scattered around the site. Those six compete with each other and none of them is the obvious best answer, which is precisely the judgement a search engine and a reader are both making.
We build the outline from real demand using the same research behind our search work, and write it to be the page others quote rather than the page that mentions everything. Because our Snowball SEO platform automates the search heavy lifting other agencies bill by the hour, more of your budget goes into the research. It sits inside our wider content writing service.
The difference
When is length actually the right answer?
Rarely, and less often than it is sold. Most subjects are better as a short clear page. The ones that genuinely need length share three traits.
Length is right when
- The reader has to understand the subject before they can buy anything
- The honest answer genuinely is it depends, and the depends can be mapped
- Six half-answers already exist on your site and compete with each other
- The subject is stable enough that the page will still be true in two years
Length is wrong when
- The question has a short factual answer, which most questions do
- The length is a target rather than a consequence
- The subject changes every quarter, so the page is obsolete before it settles
- Nobody in the business can supply the depth, so it becomes summarised research
On the structure this sits inside, our guide to topical authority sets out the pillar and cluster model properly.
The cost
What drives the price of long-form content?
Research and access to expertise, not words. A pillar page is mostly reading, interviewing and structuring, and the drafting is the short part at the end.
One pillar
Single page
The definitive page on one theme, researched, structured, written, illustrated and linked. The usual starting point.
Pillar and clusters
The whole theme
The pillar plus the deeper pieces beneath it, planned as one set so the links and the coverage are decided together rather than retrofitted.
Refresh an existing one
Rebuild
Most businesses already have a long page on their key theme that has aged. Rebuilding it usually beats writing a new one, and costs less.
We quote per piece after a free consult and a look at what already covers the theme. For the national picture, see our guide to content writing services.
What moves the number, in order
The drafting is the cheapest line on this list, which is the opposite of how long-form is usually priced.
- How much original research the theme needs, including primary sources
- Interviews with the people in your business who actually know the subject
- Whether the piece carries original data, which is slow and worth the most
- Bespoke diagrams, because a pillar page without them is a wall of text
- The number of internal links to place and to add from existing pages
- Length, last and least
The interviews are the whole difference
A pillar page written from what is already published is a summary of the internet, and it reads like one. The pages that get cited contain something that was not available anywhere else before they existed.
That something almost always comes from an hour with the person in your business who has done the thing five hundred times. It is the cheapest research available and the most frequently skipped.
So we ask for that hour early, and if it genuinely cannot be had, we will say that the piece will be competent rather than definitive and let you decide.
The scope
What you receive with a pillar page
Built as an asset rather than a post, including the parts that keep it working.
The pillar page
Researched, structured, written and edited, with a named author and the depth to be the best answer on the theme rather than a summary of other answers.
A navigable structure
Headings that let a reader jump to their own question, and a contents block, because nobody reads four thousand words in order.
Bespoke diagrams
Figures drawn for this page rather than stock imagery, because a long piece without visual structure is abandoned regardless of quality.
Internal links, both ways
Out to the cluster pieces and services, and added from existing pages back to it, which is what makes the structure work at all.
Sources and claims
Every figure traceable to where it came from, kept so a claim can be checked or updated a year later.
A refresh plan
What will date first and when to revisit, because a pillar page is only an asset while it is still true.
The return
What does a pillar page do that six posts cannot?
It concentrates. Six half-answers spread the same information across six pages that each look partial, and a reader deciding who knows this subject is comparing your best page against someone else's best page.
Merging beats adding
Most sites that need a pillar page already have the raw material for one, spread across posts written over four years by three different people, none of which ranks.
Consolidating those into one page and redirecting the old URLs concentrates whatever standing they had, removes the internal competition, and produces something genuinely better to read. It also means deleting pages, which is the part people resist.
We will tell you which pages should be merged and which should stay, and the answer is usually fewer pages than you have. The same argument as our repurposing work, run backwards.
The process
How a pillar page gets built
Four to six weeks, because the research is the job and it cannot be rushed without showing.
Week 2
Research and interviews
Primary sources, and time with the people in your business who know the subject. This is where a definitive page separates from a competent one.
Week 2
The outline
Every heading and the answer to each. You approve it, and it is the last cheap moment to change what the page argues.
Weeks 3 to 4
Drafting and figures
Written to the outline, with the diagrams drawn alongside rather than added at the end as decoration.
Week 5
Edit and fact-check
A second reader on the argument and on every claim, with sources kept and traceable.
Week 6
Publish, link and redirect
Published with its schema, linked from existing pages, and the thin pages it replaces merged or redirected.
The brief
What to ask before you commission a pillar page
Long-form is the easiest content to buy badly, because length is easy to deliver and depth is not.
Who will you interview in our business?
If the answer is nobody, the page will be a summary of what is already public. That can be competent, and it will not be the page anyone cites.
What already exists on this theme?
A good supplier audits before writing and often recommends merging rather than adding. One that goes straight to a word count has skipped the useful part.
Will there be original diagrams?
Four thousand words of unbroken text is abandoned regardless of quality. Ask whether figures are drawn for the page or pulled from a stock library.
How will people find their own question in it?
Contents, headings a reader can scan, and an answer near the top of each section. Nobody reads a pillar page in order.
We are happy to answer all four and to audit what you already have. On the structure, see topical authority.
Start here
Ready to own the theme?
Tell us the subject you want to be the obvious answer on. The free consult is a working session, not a sales call, and you leave with three things whether or not you book us.
- An audit of what you have already published on that theme, and what should be merged
- The outline we would write to, so you can judge the depth before commissioning it
- A fixed price, with the research and interview time itemised
Good questions
Pillar page and long-form FAQs
What is a pillar page?
A pillar page is the single most complete page on your site about one theme. It answers the broad question fully and links out to the deeper pieces beneath it, so a reader or a search engine deciding who knows this subject has one obvious page to judge rather than six partial ones.
How long should a pillar page be?
As long as the theme requires, usually two to five thousand words. Length should be a consequence of coverage, never a target. Almost every over-long page is a short subject stretched, and readers notice within two paragraphs.
How much does a pillar page cost?
We quote per piece. What moves it is how much original research the theme needs, whether we can interview the people in your business who know the subject, whether it carries original data, and how many bespoke diagrams it needs. The drafting is the cheapest part.
Should we write a new one or fix what we have?
Usually fix. Most sites that need a pillar page already have the raw material spread across old posts that compete with each other. Merging those and redirecting the old URLs concentrates what standing they had and costs less than starting again.
Do we need to be interviewed?
It is the single biggest factor in whether the page is definitive or merely competent. An hour with the person who has done the thing hundreds of times produces the material that is not available anywhere else, which is the only reason anyone would cite you.
How many cluster pieces does a pillar need?
Five to nine is the usual range, one per real question, each linking back to the pillar. Fewer and the theme is not covered; many more and you are usually splitting questions that belonged together.
How often should it be updated?
At least yearly, and sooner for anything with figures or rules in it. A pillar page is an asset only while it is still true, and a stale one damages trust more than no page at all.
Will it actually rank?
It has the best chance of anything on your site, because it is the page most likely to be the best answer. Realistically expect three to six months to settle, longer in a competitive subject, and faster if it is a rebuild of pages that already have standing.