Hub · satellites · internal links
Topic Cluster SEO: One Hub, Six Satellites, One Direction
Topic cluster SEO is an argument made of pages. A hub states the whole subject and earns links to it, while satellites answer the specific questions a buyer asks on the way to a decision. The structure only works when the links point one way, the boundaries are drawn on purpose, and every page in the cluster has a job that no other page duplicates. Most sites we audit have the articles already; what they lack is the orbit that connects them.
- Hub and satellite briefs with a single job per page
- Topic boundaries drawn from real query overlap, not keyword lists
- Internal link direction and anchor text rules that hold after launch
- A build order that ships three satellites before the sixth
- A merge plan for pages that compete with each other
Send your sitemap and we will mark which pages already overlap. That review is free.
The flat blog problem
Why a flat archive stops compounding
A blog ordered by date is a stack, not a structure. Each post competes with the others for the same phrases, the strongest page does not lend its authority to the weakest, and a reader who lands on post fourteen has no route to the pages that would answer their next question.
Three symptoms show up in almost every audit we run on a site with 80 to 300 posts. First, keyword overlap: four posts target variations of one phrase, so none of them wins. Second, orphaned depth: a genuinely good explainer sits three clicks from the home page with no internal links pointing at it. Third, missing middle: the site has beginner content and a product page, but nothing for the buyer who already understands the category and is comparing two ways to solve the problem.
A cluster fixes all three with the same move. One page takes responsibility for the head of the topic, the satellites take the specific questions, and the links between them make the relationship explicit to a reader and to a crawler. The unit of work stops being "an article" and becomes "a set of pages that answer a subject completely".
This is also why cluster work fails when it is treated as a content volume target. Ten satellites with no hub produce ten orphan pages; one hub with no satellites produces a page that cannot cover the subject. The ratio matters less than the connection.
Division of labour
Hub and satellite: who does what
The two page types earn their place by doing different jobs. When a hub starts answering every sub-question, it becomes a long list and loses the argument. When a satellite tries to cover the whole subject, it duplicates the hub and splits the links.
The hub page
- Defines the subject and the vocabulary the cluster will use
- Maps the whole decision, from first question to purchase criteria
- Links down to every satellite that deserves traffic
- Earns external links, because it is the page people cite
- Carries the commercial bridge to the product or service page
The satellite pages
- Own one question, one format, one search intent
- Answer it completely, then link up to the hub
- Compete for long-tail phrases the hub should not chase
- Refresh more often, because the questions change faster
- Feed proof, examples and data back into the hub
A useful test: if a satellite could be deleted without leaving a gap in the hub, it was never part of the cluster. That is not a reason to delete it, but it is a reason to stop counting it.
Boundaries
How to draw a topic boundary
A cluster is defined by the questions it answers, not by a keyword export. We use four tests before a page is allowed in, and a page that fails two of them usually becomes its own cluster later.
Same searcher, same stage
If the same person would ask both questions in the same week, they belong together. A facilities manager comparing maintenance contracts and a homeowner reading about boiler efficiency are two clusters, not one.
Query overlap under 30 percent
Pull the ranking queries for the candidate pages. If more than a third of the phrases appear on both, the pages are competing. One absorbs the other, or the pair becomes hub and satellite with a deliberate hierarchy.
A clear route to the product
Every cluster has to touch the commercial side eventually, directly or through the hub. A cluster about industry history is fine as brand work, but it should not consume the budget reserved for pages that generate inquiries.
Capacity to maintain it
Six satellites need six owners and a refresh rhythm. If the team can maintain three, build three. A cluster that decays is worse than a smaller one that stays current, because the hub keeps sending readers to out-of-date pages.
Links and anchors
Internal link direction and anchor text
The link graph is the cluster. Without a consistent direction, the pages are a list with hyperlinks. With one, the hub accumulates authority and the satellites inherit relevance from a page that is itself relevant.
- Every satellite links up to the hub in the body, not just in a sidebar. One contextual link, early enough to be seen, with anchor text that names the subject.
- The hub links down selectively. Four to eight contextual links, each to a satellite that genuinely extends the argument. A hub that links to everything signals nothing.
- Satellites link sideways sparingly. One or two, where a comparison or a prerequisite genuinely helps. Six sideways links turn the cluster into a mesh with no centre.
- Anchor text stays descriptive. Use the phrase the target page actually answers, vary the surrounding sentence, and never use "click here" or a bare URL.
- No sitewide footer links. A footer link to every satellite is a template link, not an editorial one, and it dilutes the pattern the cluster is trying to establish.
- Update links when pages merge. Redirects are not enough; the old anchor text has to be rewritten, or the cluster keeps pointing at a subject that no longer exists.
Link audits are their own discipline. Our Internal Linking Services team runs the crawl, maps orphan pages and rebuilds the link graph without touching the copy, which is often the fastest way to make an existing archive behave like a cluster.
Send one URL for the hub and one for a page that should be a satellite. We will tell you whether the direction is right, and what the anchor text should say.
The plan
What a cluster plan looks like
One row per page, with the intent and the link direction written down before anything is published. The table below is a working example for a B2B equipment cluster, not a template to copy wholesale.
| Topic | Search intent | Page | Links to (direction) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial drying, end to end | HubEvaluate a category | /guides/industrial-drying | to 6 satellites plus product page |
| How drying time is calculated | SatelliteLearn a method | /guides/drying-time-calculation | up to hub plus one case page |
| Batch versus continuous drying | SatelliteCompare options | /guides/batch-vs-continuous | up to hub plus product page |
| Energy use per batch | SatelliteCheck numbers | /data/energy-per-batch | up to hub and glossary |
| Drying glossary | SatelliteDefine terms | /glossary/drying | up to hub only |
| Commissioning checklist | SatellitePrepare to buy | /guides/commissioning-checklist | up to hub plus quote page |
| Two site audits, compared | SatelliteSee proof | /cases/drying-audit-comparison | up to hub and one case |
Two columns do the heavy lifting. Intent keeps the pages from drifting into each other, and direction keeps the link graph legible six months later when a new writer joins. The URL column is deliberately plain; a cluster does not need a new subfolder to work.
Commercial layer
Where the product page fits
Clusters exist to serve a business, not to fill a library. The product or service page sits outside the cluster but receives its traffic, and the way it receives it determines whether the cluster produces inquiries or just sessions.
The pattern we recommend is a single commercial bridge. The hub links once, prominently, to the product page, framed as the next step for a reader who has finished evaluating. Satellites link to the hub rather than to the product, because a buyer reading a glossary entry is not ready for a quote and the mismatch costs trust. The product page itself gets a short "learn more" block pointing back to the hub and two satellites, which closes the loop without turning the sales page into an index.
This matters for measurement too. When every satellite links straight to a quote form, attribution becomes noise and the cluster looks more commercial than it is. When the path runs through the hub, you can see which subject actually moves a buyer toward the product, and you can fund that subject next quarter.
For teams that produce the pages internally, the writing brief matters as much as the plan: a satellite that repeats the hub's introduction wastes its slot. Our SEO Content Writing Services desk writes to the plan, with the hub and satellites commissioned together so the overlap is designed out rather than edited out later.
Conflict
Avoiding content that competes with itself
Cannibalization is rarely dramatic. Two pages rank in positions six and nine for the same phrase, neither improves, and the team keeps publishing more of the same because the topic feels unfinished. The fix is a decision, not more content.
- List every page ranking for the phrase. Include the page you forgot, usually an old news post or a category page with a rewritten intro.
- Pick the winner on evidence. Internal links, external links, conversion value and current position. Not on which page the team likes.
- Merge before you redirect. Move the unique sections into the winner, then redirect the loser. A redirect that loses the useful paragraph helps nobody.
- Rewrite the anchors pointing at the loser. Internal links, navigation labels and campaign URLs. Redirects catch the rest.
- Add the phrase to the plan. Record which page owns it, so the next writer does not create a third version in six months.
The same logic applies inside a healthy cluster. If two satellites start ranking for each other's phrases, one of them is surplus. Merge it into the hub or cut it, and keep the link graph honest.
Sequence
Build order: three satellites before the sixth
The order matters because each stage produces information the next one needs. Publishing six satellites and then writing the hub means rewriting all six once the hub exists.
Topic map
Hub skeleton
Three satellites
Link pass
Expand to six
Prune and merge
Stage 1 and 2 are review gates. Nothing is published until the hub outline exists, because the outline is what defines the satellites' briefs.
The first three satellites should cover the three questions that appear most often in sales calls, not the three with the highest search volume. Those pages give the hub something real to link to, and they tend to convert earlier because they match what a buyer is already asking.
Stage 4 is the one teams skip. A link pass after the first three pages is cheap and it catches the structural mistakes before six pages inherit them. By stage 6 the cluster has data, and pruning is a maintenance habit rather than a crisis.
Scope
What the engagement includes
A cluster engagement is quoted by scope: the number of clusters, the size of the existing archive, whether writing is included, and how much of the link graph needs rebuilding. No prices on this page, because two clusters on a clean site and two clusters on a 300 page archive with overlap are different jobs.
We start with a topic map and an overlap report, then commission the hub and three satellites together. The remaining pages are staged once the first three are indexed, linked and producing impressions. Every handover includes the plan, the briefs, the link rules and a short maintenance guide.
If the site has a technical problem that blocks indexing, the cluster waits. A perfect hub with a crawl problem is an expensive draft.
Typical deliverables
- Research
- Topic map, overlap report, intent notes per page.
- Briefs
- One per page: job, format, links in and out, angle.
- Production
- Hub plus three satellites, then the rest in stages.
- Link rules
- Anchor text list and direction map for internal links.
- Measurement
- Cluster-level impressions, coverage and inquiry tracking.
Evidence
What clusters have done for clients
Illustrative outcomes from engagements where the cluster was the main intervention. No client names, no ranking promises.
A facilities services supplier, 7 months: cluster sessions 1.8k to 9.4k per month, quote requests 3 to 12 per month.
Facilities · UK
A laboratory equipment brand, 9 months: 41 of 60 cluster queries in the top ten, demo requests up 18 per month.
Lab equipment · Germany
A B2B software vendor, 6 months: hub ranks for 34 related queries, trial starts from cluster pages at 5 per month.
Software · US
FAQ
Questions teams ask before building
How many satellite pages does a cluster need?
Three is enough to test the structure, six is a healthy working cluster for most B2B subjects, and beyond eight the hub starts losing its argument. The right number is the count of questions a buyer actually asks, minus the ones no one searches.
What is the difference between a pillar page and a hub?
Mostly vocabulary. Both are the central page of a topic. We use hub because it implies a link structure rather than a long article, and because a pillar page that links to nothing behaves like a very long blog post.
Can we build a cluster around a product category?
Yes, and it is often the strongest option for a manufacturer or a B2B supplier. The hub covers the category decision, the satellites cover specification, comparison and installation questions, and the category page stays commercial. The boundary is intent, not format.
Do we need to delete old posts?
Only the ones that duplicate a page in the cluster. Merge the unique parts, redirect the rest, and rewrite internal anchors. Old posts that still earn traffic and links should be linked into the cluster, not removed.
How long until a cluster ranks?
Satellites on long-tail questions can show movement in six to ten weeks. The hub usually takes two to four months to settle, because it needs internal links from the satellites plus external links to compete for the head term.
Who writes the pages?
Either team. We write full clusters, or we deliver the plan and briefs and your writers produce the pages. In the second case we review drafts against the brief, because the most common failure is a satellite that repeats the hub's opening.
How do you measure a cluster rather than a page?
Group the URLs in analytics and Search Console, then track total impressions, query coverage, internal link clicks to the hub and inquiries attributed to the group. Page-level wins inside a cluster often hide a decline elsewhere in the same group.
What if we already have 200 blog posts?
Start with an overlap report rather than new writing. Most archives already contain three or four undeclared clusters, and consolidating them is faster than commissioning ten new pages. New pages come after the existing ones are connected.