Content Strategy

Here’s an overview of the proven process that we use here at Ditto Digital to develop successful SEO campaigns but also to ensure that, at the same time, our clients are appearing in Google AI overviews and in AI Apps such as ChatGPT and Perplexity – with links as well as brand mentions.

That means we are future-proofing our content strategies to ensure our clients are found whether people are searching on Google or using an AI app as an “answer engine”. This is relevant for B2B, B2C and e-commerce businesses since AI apps like ChatGPT now show shopping results in certain types of response.

Laying the Foundations: The Purpose Behind the Content

Before typing your first H1 tag, we always take a step back and ask: Why are we creating content?

• To be found: Organic search is still one of the most powerful channels for traffic acquisition.
• To be trusted: Great content builds credibility in your niche or industry.
• To be remembered: Consistent, branded content increases brand recognition and recall.
• To be linked to: Link-worthy content supports your backlink profile and domain authority.

These goals aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, they’re strongly intertwined. When your content is strategic, it becomes a vehicle that simultaneously informs, ranks, and persuades.

The Architecture of Authority: The Pillar-Cluster Model

Imagine your website not a stack of isolated blog posts, but as a library with each section clearly sign-posted, logically organised, and connected by themes.

This is the essence of the pillar-cluster content model, a modern SEO architecture that organises your site’s content into topic clusters anchored by pillar pages. Think of it as topical ecosystems built around your brand’s core offerings.

What Is a Pillar Page?

A pillar page is a comprehensive piece of content (typically 2,000 – 4,000+ words) that broadly covers a topic relevant to your business.

For example if you’re a training provider in the project management space, a pillar topic might be: “The Complete Guide to Project Management Planning.”

This page will:

• Serve as a central hub for that topic
• Target broad keywords like “project management”
• Link to and from more detailed subtopics (your clusters)

What Are Cluster Pages?

Cluster pages are narrower, more focused articles that delve into specific angles of the broader topic.

Examples might include:

• “Agile Project Management vs. Waterfall: A Complete Comparison”
• “Top 10 Project Management Tools for Remote Teams”
• “How to Build a Project Timeline That Works”

These articles target specific, intent-driven keywords and link to the relevant pillar page using natural anchor text. These cluster pages also link to other cluster pages where appropriate, building lateral connections. An added benefit of these lateral connections is that they engage viewers on a website for longer.

This type of content model signals to search engines that you website is an authority on topics related to your products or services. It’s a powerful way to improve keyword rankings in Google’s algorithms, but it also demonstrates a level of expertise that enables content (and cited links) to appear in AI Apps such as ChatGPT.

Internal Linking and Site Structure

A content strategy without internal linking is like a railway map with no connections between stations.

Internal links act as a guide for both people and search engines, showing them which content is most important, how pieces relate to each other, and what paths to follow.

How Internal Linking Powers the Pillar-Cluster Model

1. Reinforces Topic Hierarchy
   • Pillar pages link out to all cluster pages.
   • Each cluster page links back to the pillar.
   • This model is easy for search engines and LLMs (Large Language Models) used by AI Apps to understand.
2. Improves Search Engine Indexation
   • A well-linked structure helps ensure all valuable pages are indexed by search engines and can be discovered by people.
3. Enhances UX and Increases Engagement Rates
   • Internal links keep users engaged longer and increase time on site which are user signals that indirectly benefit SEO.

Best Practices for Internal Linking

• Use descriptive anchor text (not, for instance, “click here”).
• Place links naturally within the main content.
• Link between cluster pages.
• Regularly audit and update links to reflect new content and remove broken links.

Beyond SEO: Content Strategy as a PR Engine

Great content shouldn’t just live on your website. It should echo across the web.

This is where content strategy meets Digital PR and backlink acquisition, which are two major drivers of domain authority.

1. Creating Linkable Assets

Some content within our content strategies is designed to appear in search listings in response to specific queries by the target audience. Other content is developed to earn backlinks to a client website. Typically, by containing data of interest to digital publishers.

Here are some examples of the type of high-performing linkable assets we create:

• Original research and industry reports
• Expert roundups
• Interactive tools. Polls or quizzes
• Long-form, visually-rich guides
• Infographics and data visualisations

2. Using Content to Fuel Digital PR Campaigns

Digital PR isn’t about press releases. It’s about storytelling through data, thought leadership, and timely, relevant content that taps into ongoing conversations. This can include data-backed opinion pieces, commentary on industry news or insights from internal experts. And it can result in brand mentions and backlinks from high-authority sites.

Measuring What Matters

A strategy is only as good as its ability to evolve so we continuously use analytics to learn more about how the content is consumed and optimise to better meet the needs of the target audience. Here’s how we do that:

Track Key Metrics:

• Organic traffic (overall and by page)
• Keyword rankings (pillar and cluster terms)
• Backlink profile (domain rating, referring domains)
• Engagement metrics (engagement rate, time on page, pages/session)
• Conversions (form fills, sign-ups, sales)

Refine Regularly:

• Identify decaying content and refresh it
• Spot cluster pages with thin content and expand
• Add new clusters based on emerging keyword trends
• Improve underperforming pillar pages with better UX, CTAs, or schema markup

Content as a Compounding Asset

A smart content strategy isn’t a campaign it’s a compounding investment just like an SEO strategy. Every blog post, every backlink, every internal link is a brick in your brand’s digital architecture.

When done right, your content doesn’t just show up in search. It shows your expertise. It draws the right people to your site, and gives them a reason to stay.

The purpose of a content strategy is not just to inform, but to connect, convert, and create trust.