Interesting conversation about silos from Reddit.

It seems that silos get a bad reputation in 2021 as an outdated practice that no longer works. Redditors took to explainig that content clusters can never not work, if done with the right intent.

Key points

• If you randomly link-through your articles that do not have much in common, there will be next to no benefit.
• Linking through articles that are mutually relevant to each other is where you reap the rewards.
• If you’re doing it right, you should see your site’s engagement numbers go up.

Silos as a way to provide relevant supplemental information

Picture you land on a page about the dog food for small dogs, then there is a link that links to a page about foods to avoid feeding your dog, is that a good user experience? The answer is yes because they are relevant to each other and provide value to the user. Google rewards web pages that provide value to users (in their own boxed up and formularized way**).

That is why silos work, because a person searching for information that then finds supporting information is better served by your website that links out to further relevant information compared to one that links to dog food, then snorkle equipment, then dental implants etc etc.

Content clusters are not so much based on past data

Clusters, or silos, are pieces of content that revolve around the same topic. Alternatively, they can be a group of articles that are useful as additional information for users who are searching a broader topic.

The point is not to silo, let’s say, your top ranking pages on the grounds that they are your top pages.

The correct approach is to add a couple of relevant internal links to your top pages, linking to content that is relevant but does not rank that well on its own.

Silos are organized by keyword topic, not by general search intent. You wouldn’t “silo” all of your product pages because they’re all product pages, right? You would “silo” your pages about lawnmower maintenance, for example.

TLDR; Content clusters work but are not a cheap quick trick

Yes, silos work, but it’s not a trick. Go to Bestbuy.com and look at their laptops page. It has a top landing page, with pillars below for every subcategory a user could want (business laptops, light laptops, cheap laptops, etc).

It’s just simply a good user experience + displays comprehensive covering of the topic and authority. Very much a natural way to structure a website and cater to a user.

Adopted from reddit