As experts in SEO in Utah we get a lot of questions from our customers about different ways that they can strengthen the authority of their website, and increase visibility. In the past there were many strategies that involved link building and external factors to move a website up to the top of search results. In recent years that strategy has changed. Many sites on the web would use poor quality links, and various “black hat” methods to game the system with Google. In turn Google has not given as much value to external linking, and has encouraged websites to focus on the content of their website.

Well written and thought out content is what is going to help your business stand out among your competitors. So many clients will ask what it is that they can to do help improve the content of their site. One of the most important things to focus on is Pillar Pages.

Pillar pages, also known as cornerstone content, are pages on your website meant to rank highly in search and attract users. These pages target important topics and high-traffic keywords that align with your overall business goals. These are the main pages that will be the foundation, or pillars of your content that guide users to different sources of information throughout your site.

Creating powerful, comprehensive pillar pages takes time and strategic planning. But all of that work and effort can pay off. With pillar content, you can drive significant organic traffic and increase visibility of your website which can be largely beneficial for your business..

If your existing pillar pages aren’t performing as hoped, it may be time to reassess your approach to developing this foundational content. There are some underutilized pillar page strategies that can help take your pages to the next level.

In this article, we’ll cover innovative, out-of-the-box ways to create pillar pages that attract search traffic and convert visitors. With guidance from Infogenix, a top Utah SEO company, you can build pillar content that stands out from your competitors.

What Makes a Good Pillar Page?

Before diving into new strategies, let’s review the hallmarks of effective pillar pages:

• Targets high-value keywords and topics related to your business. This gives the page relevance and search potential.
• Provides extensive information on the topic. Pillar pages take a deep dive into their subjects, offering at least 1,500+ words of content.
• Useful for visitors beyond just search engines. The content solves problems, educates, informs and engages human readers.
• Optimized for SEO best practices on and off the page. This includes elements like meta titles and descriptions, headings, media, links, site authority and more.
• Designed for easy skimming and consumption on both desktop and mobile. Clear formatting is key.
• Promoted heavily internally and externally. Integration with navigation and promotion across marketing helps awareness.

With these principles in mind, let’s explore innovative pillar page approaches to try.

Leverage Different Content Formats

Too many pillar pages simply follow a basic blog post format. While well-written long-form articles have their place, utilizing other content formats can help your pillars attract more attention and engagement.

Some alternative formats to consider for pillar pages from the SEO experts at Infogenix include:

• Ultimate guides: Create expansive manuals, handbooks or blueprints on your topic, structuring information into logical sections. Include tables of contents for easy navigation.
• Research reports/case studies: Develop authoritative research-backed content that provides statistics and data on your focus area.
• Courses/training programs: Outline a step-by-step lesson sequence for readers to follow. From cooking to software skills, how-to training content can work very well.
• Assessments and quizzes: Let visitors take a short test to receive customized results and recommendations based on their answers. This engages audiences.
• Worksheets and templates: For practical topics, provide printable downloads like meal planners, financial calculators, fitness trackers. These are shareable.
• Interactive content: Build pillar pages that allow manipulation like customizable product configurators or design builders.

The Utah SEO professionals at Infogenix can help develop pillar pages in the format that best fits your goals, audience and content. Think beyond basic blog articles to create truly unique resources.

Tap Into Your Visual Assets

Even the most well-researched pillar pages fall flat without visual elements to enhance the content for readers. Take advantage of visual assets to create more engaging pillar pages:

• Images: Original, high-quality photos, graphics, and illustrations improve storytelling and appeal for visitors. Ensure images include keyword-optimized alt text.
• Videos: Embed relevant videos right into pillar pages to demonstrate concepts or share tutorials. Short 1-3 minute videos often perform best.
• Infographics: Turn statistics, data points, tips and workflow processes into compelling visual info graphics. These make complex topics more digestible.
• Slideshares: Convert your pillar page content into a presentation format. Slideshares can live alongside or replace written pillar content for added diversity.

Our SEO specialists frequently incorporate custom visual assets into pillar pages for Utah companies to boost engagement and rankings.

Get Inspired by Competitors

One shortcut to creating innovative pillar pages is looking at what your competitors are doing well. Perform keyword research to identify topics competitors are ranking for. Analyze their pillar pages for these terms to find creative approaches you can model or improve upon.

A few things to look for when reviewing competitors’ pillar pages:

• Overall content format: Do they use a unique content style like assessments or toolkits that performs well?
• Calls to action: Note effective CTAs integrated into pages to generate conversions.
• Interactive elements: Do they incorporate engaging design features like calculators, configurators or quizzes you can adopt?
• Visual assets: What types of images, graphics, videos or other media help their pillar content stand out?
• Topic coverage: Are there areas of the topic they don’t fully cover that present content gaps to fill?

The SEO team at Infogenix frequently studies competitors’ pillar pages for clues on enhancing our client’s own pillar content for the Utah market.

Promote Your Pillars

One of the most underutilized pillar page best practices is promotion. It’s not enough to just develop amazing content. You must actively promote your new and updated pillar pages to get them in front of your audience.

Some smart pillar page promotion tactics from Infogenix include:

• Feature links prominently in main site navigation and footers.
• Create category pages to showcase all pillar content on a topic. Crosslink between pillars.
• Publish links to new pillar pages in blog posts, newsletters, emails.
• Promote pillars through social media updates and PPC ads. Retarget visitors.
• Build internal links to pillars where relevant from other pages on your site.
• Pitch pillar content to other sites for possible backlinks and mentions.
• Distill pillars into shareable graphics for social media. Quote key stats.
• Turn pillars into gated offers in exchange for email signups to generate leads.
• Promote new pillars on-page with bold callouts, banners, announcements etc.

With smart distribution and promotion, your high-quality pillars will reach their full potential for increasing your Utah SEO visibility.

Listen to Your Analytics

The final step to perfecting pillar pages is analyzing performance data to identify optimization opportunities. Leverage your analytics tools to understand:

• Traffic volume – Which pillar topics are resonating most with searchers? Is traffic steadily growing month over month?
• Search performance – How are pillars ranking for target keywords? What additional terms are they ranking for?
• Engagement metrics – Scroll depth, time on page, clicks can indicate engaging content.
• Links – Are pillars attracting external links? What anchor text are links using?
• Conversions – Are calls to action within pillars driving desired goals like downloads or sales?

Monitoring metrics helps the SEO professionals at Infogenix continuously improve existing pillars and shape new high-performing content. We tailor pillar pages to actual visitor behavior patterns.

Stand Out with Strategic Pillar Pages

Developing truly effective pillar pages takes research, creativity and optimization. But by applying innovative thinking and formats, tapping into visual assets, learning from competitors, promoting your content and listening to data, your brand can create monumental pillar content.

If you need help building pillar pages that stand out or want to push existing pillars to the next level, the Utah SEO experts at Infogenix are here to help. Contact us to learn more about our pillar page creation and optimization services. With strategic pillars tailored to your business, you can reinforce your website foundation and own organic search rankings for your business niche.