How to get started with HubSpot's Content Strategy tool

The HubSpot Content Strategy tool was built by HubSpot to help organisations like yours properly plan, document, and create an outline for your upcoming content strategy.

But what exactly does the content strategy tool do, and how can you use it? 

Let’s start with a quick overview.

So why did HubSpot create the content strategy tool?

Over the last 12 months, HubSpot has responded to changes in search engine algorithms. It became apparent that instead of just specific individual keywords, search engines were becoming smarter, delivering more accurate results, and were increasingly concerned with topic-based content.

And that’s where topic clusters came from.

The idea of a topic cluster is for you to use a single webpage to build authority on a particular topic that you want to rank highly for. This webpage is known as a pillar page - and it's that page that provides a detailed overview on a specific area of expertise. However, you don't stop there, you can write 10-20 blog posts on sub-topics, and link to and from that main central page. Why? Well linking to and from that main central page will increase it's authority in Google's eyes, which in turn should mean Google will rank it higher.

How you can best use topic clusters to improve your overall SEO strategy?

Once you've logged into your HubSpot Marketing tool, the content strategy tool is located in Marketing -> Planning and Strategy -> Content Strategy.

Before using the tool, you should have your ideas ready and, ideally, have drafted your content ideas for the main topics and subtopics.

Your main topic, i.e. the “pillar content” should be the topic that contains a variety of subtopics. It should be broad and something you can expand upon - in other words, it should be a topic that you can say a lot about. Let’s say people are looking for some solution that your business can provide for them. This solution can be your pillar page content. For example, if you were a HR Software provider, your main topic could be something like 'Successfully onboard new clients with HR software - and then your sub-topics (blogs) would be much more specific about the tools, benefits and different ways you can onboard a new employee using HR software.

There is a fine line here between being as broad as you can to ensure you can write a 2,000 webpage, but being niche enough that you have a realistic chance of ranking in the number one spot. 

Making the most out of the tool

Never ever be too “salesy” in your marketing when creating your content. It may be tempting to write your pillar page and blogs on how your business can help and why your services and/or products are the best - but doing this can take away the element of trust from the consumers of your content.

Aim to always be helping by creating useful, educational content. Revealing tips and tricks that your competitors would refrain from sharing will build consumer trust, as well as your authority on search engines. 

Content Strategy is a new HubSpot tool that helps you to strategise better and keep track of your content creation efforts and their effect. If you'd like to find out more about the content strategy and topic clusters too, subscribe to our blog for future updates, as well as all things Inbound Marketing and HubSpot.