Pillar/Cluster Strategy: Refreshing the Model in 2025

In 2025, the pillar/cluster strategy—once the gold standard for SEO content architecture—is undergoing a transformation. The rise of AI search engines, generative summaries, and answer-driven optimization (AEO) is reshaping how users discover and consume information online. Marketers who relied on static topic clusters a few years ago now face a new challenge: how to refresh this model for an AI-dominated search landscape where context, relationships, and expertise matter more than keyword density.

This article explores how brands can modernize the traditional pillar/cluster model to thrive in semantic, intent-based, and AI-personalized environments, supported by the latest trends, tools, and research.

Understanding the Classic Pillar/Cluster Model

The traditional pillar/cluster strategy—popularized by HubSpot in 2017—organizes content around one pillar page (a broad, comprehensive guide) linked to several cluster pages (narrower subtopics) through internal hyperlinks. This structure helps search engines understand the relationship between pages, improving topical authority and ranking potential.

For example, a content marketing agency might have a pillar titled “Content Marketing Strategy” with clusters like “Blog SEO Tips,” “Email Content Planning,” and “Repurposing Content Across Channels.”

This model worked effectively in a keyword-based search era, where Google primarily relied on indexing, backlinks, and content structure to determine relevance. However, by 2025, AI search models such as Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), ChatGPT Search, and Perplexity AI have changed how visibility and authority are earned.

Why the Classic Model Needs a Refresh in 2025

The old pillar/cluster model has three key limitations in today’s context:

1. Static Linking Structures Don’t Reflect AI Understanding
   AI-driven engines now evaluate content through semantic graphs, which map relationships between ideas, entities, and authors rather than keyword repetition. Static link structures aren’t enough to establish context.
2. Topic Authority Is Entity-Based, Not Keyword-Based
   In 2025, algorithms recognize entities (people, brands, and organizations) as central nodes of expertise. Therefore, clustering must be entity-aware, connecting content through shared knowledge rather than just shared keywords.
3. User Journeys Are Nonlinear and AI-Curated
   Instead of users navigating through your site, AI assistants summarize your content and decide what gets cited in the answer box. This means pillar pages must serve dual purposes: educating humans and feeding AI models structured, machine-readable context (through schema, FAQs, and metadata).

According to a 2024 SEMrush report, 70% of high-ranking B2B sites updated their content architecture to support semantic interlinking and structured data (SEMrush, 2024).

The 2025 Refresh: AI-Integrated Pillar/Cluster Architecture

The Pillar/Cluster 2.0 model blends human-readable depth with machine-readable clarity. Its foundation includes:

1. Topic Entities Over Keywords

Instead of targeting “best CRM tools,” brands should build around entity relationships—like “CRM software,” “HubSpot,” “Zoho,” and “Salesforce.” AI engines associate these entities through contextual patterns, not keyword variations. Tools like Google’s Knowledge Graph API and InLinks help identify these entity connections.

2. Structured Data & Schema Integration

Every cluster should include schema markup—particularly FAQ, HowTo, and Article schemas—to signal contextual meaning to AI models. This ensures visibility in SGE snippets and voice search results.

3. Conversational Query Mapping

Since AI search answers questions directly, cluster topics should mirror natural-language queries. Example:

• Pillar: Content Marketing Strategy
• Cluster: How to measure content ROI in 2025?
• Cluster: What’s the best AI tool for content optimization?

4. Dynamic Interlinking via Automation

Modern CMS and AI SEO tools such as SurferSEO, Clearscope, and MarketMuse now support dynamic internal linking, automatically updating related content paths based on entity overlap and performance metrics.

5. Author Authority as a Core Signal

Search engines increasingly factor in authorship trust. Linking every cluster under a verified, consistent author entity—supported by profiles like Google’s Author Markup or LinkedIn—builds E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).

As Mr. Phalla Plang, Digital Marketing Specialist, explains:

“The future of SEO belongs to entities and experiences, not keywords. The brands that map expertise through real human voices will dominate AI search results.”

Building Your 2025 Pillar/Cluster Framework

A refreshed content ecosystem requires a systematic approach:

Step 1: Audit Existing Pillars and Clusters

Use tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or Sitebulb to crawl your content. Identify which pages:

• Still drive traffic
• Have outdated information
• Lack internal links or schema
  Then, categorize them into core pillars (evergreen topics) and supporting clusters (specific subtopics).

Step 2: Map Entity Relationships

Leverage Google’s Natural Language API or InLinks Entity Explorer to visualize entity relationships within your domain. Group content by semantic closeness, not keyword overlap.

Step 3: Implement Structured Markup

Add schemas like:

• FAQPage (for Q&A content)
• HowTo (for guides)
• Person/Organization (for author and brand verification)

This ensures your pillar pages appear in AI summaries, featured snippets, and voice results.

Step 4: Automate Interlinking with AI Tools

Use AI tools such as LinkWhisper or TopicRanker to dynamically update internal link paths. This helps sustain freshness as new clusters emerge.

Step 5: Create Multi-Format Cluster Assets

Each cluster page should feed multiple content formats—short videos, infographics, podcasts, and carousel posts. This strengthens omnichannel discoverability, especially across social search (TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube Shorts).

Content Personalization Within the Cluster Model

By 2025, personalization isn’t just about tailoring recommendations—it’s about dynamic intent recognition. AI systems can interpret whether a user’s query reflects research, purchase, or comparison intent, and serve the right cluster accordingly.

For instance, a user searching “best email marketing tools for SMBs” may first see your comparison cluster, then an AI-driven prompt leading to your pillar guide on “Building Automated Campaigns.”

To implement this:

• Use behavioral analytics platforms like Hotjar and Amplitude to segment content consumption patterns.
• Employ AI-driven recommendation engines such as Mutiny or Optimizely to tailor on-page experiences dynamically.

This shift reflects Google’s ongoing emphasis on search experience optimization (SXO)—blending SEO and UX into one holistic discipline.

Cluster Refresh: Turning Old Content into AI-Optimized Assets

Instead of starting from scratch, brands can revitalize existing clusters using these methods:

• Entity Rewriting: Replace keyword stuffing with contextually linked entities (e.g., “CRM” → “HubSpot CRM,” “Zoho CRM”).
• FAQ Injection: Add conversational FAQs extracted from People Also Ask results or ChatGPT prompts.
• Semantic Linking: Add 3–5 contextual anchor links per page connecting related concepts or authors.
• Visual Enhancement: Include data visuals, infographics, or embedded video clips that improve dwell time.
• AI Metadata Optimization: Use GPT-based SEO tools to rewrite meta titles and descriptions to align with search intent.

A 2025 Ahrefs case study found that brands refreshing existing clusters using entity-based linking achieved a 32% higher inclusion rate in AI-generated summaries compared to those using keyword-only optimization (Ahrefs, 2025).

Metrics That Matter: Measuring Cluster Performance in 2025

Traditional KPIs like clicks and impressions are no longer sufficient. Marketers now measure success using visibility across AI-powered environments.
Key metrics include:

• AI Citation Share: Frequency your content is cited in AI-generated summaries.
• Entity Influence Score: How often your brand appears in co-citation graphs.
• Structured Data Indexing Rate: % of pages with valid schema markup successfully crawled.
• Engagement Velocity: Time between content publication and first inclusion in AI search results.

Platforms like SparkToro, MarketMuse Analytics, and Authoritas Entity Tracker help monitor these modern metrics.

The Future: Cluster Intelligence and Predictive Optimization

By late 2025, we’re entering the era of Cluster Intelligence—where clusters adapt automatically based on engagement and algorithmic signals. AI-powered CMS platforms will:

• Predict which cluster topics are declining in authority
• Suggest new semantic angles for re-optimization
• Auto-link emerging entities to maintain topic freshness

In essence, the Pillar/Cluster Strategy 2.0 is no longer about organizing for Google—it’s about organizing for AI cognition.

Conclusion: Building AI-Resilient Content Ecosystems

The refreshed pillar/cluster strategy marks the evolution from static SEO to dynamic semantic optimization. Success in 2025 will depend on how well brands:

• Structure content around entities and expertise
• Implement schema for machine understanding
• Automate updates for sustained freshness

As Mr. Phalla Plang emphasizes:

“Content architecture isn’t just about linking pages anymore—it’s about linking meaning. The brands that connect insights, not just URLs, will own the next era of digital authority.”

In a world where AI curates, summarizes, and distributes information, your pillar/cluster framework must evolve into an intelligent ecosystem that feeds both human curiosity and machine comprehension.

References

Ahrefs. (2025). Entity-based optimization case studies 2025. https://ahrefs.com
Google Developers. (2024). Structured data: Article and author markup. https://developers.google.com/search/docs
HubSpot. (2024). Modern content architecture and topic clustering in 2024. https://blog.hubspot.com
InLinks. (2024). Entity SEO and semantic optimization. https://inlinks.net
SEMrush. (2024). Content architecture trends report 2024. https://semrush.com