How to Build a Pillar Content Strategy for B2B SEO

You’re posting blogs. You’ve got a services page. Maybe a few gated downloads. However, if your SEO still feels like a slow grind, and your best content isn’t gaining traction, you need a new strategy.

The problem? You’re probably writing in fragments, and Google rewards structure.

At Borrowed Pen, we help clients organize their content into pillar-based systems that support search visibility, user clarity, and long-term growth. Here’s how pillar content works and how to build a strategy that actually performs.

What Is Pillar Content? 

A pillar content strategy organizes your site into interconnected clusters of content that revolve around a single, core topic. Each “pillar” is a comprehensive page (usually targeting a strategic keyword or topic category), and each “cluster” contains related, deeper-dive content that links back to it. For Example:

Pillar page: 

• “B2B Content Strategy Guide”

Clusters:

• “How to align content with sales enablement”

• “Keyword mapping for long sales cycles”

• “Content formats for complex buyer journeys”

• “How to brief your SME without burning them out”

All of them link to and support the pillar. Google sees the structure and gives it weight.

Why B2B Brands Need Pillar Content

B2B buyers search differently:

• They research slowly

• They revisit topics over time

• They use long phrases and specific terms

• They want clarity, not just content

A pillar strategy mirrors your target audience’s behavior. It helps Google understand that you own this topic and helps your reader easily navigate through different questions and content types.

What Makes A Good Pillar?

To work well, your pillar page should:

• Be comprehensive, but skimmable

• Link to multiple internal resources or posts

• Include a clear CTA or next step

• Stay focused on one strategic theme (not everything you do)

Think of it as your anchor page, a central hub your readers (and search engines) can return to again and again.

How We Build Pillar Strategies

We don’t guess. We use research to build around:

• Search Behavior: What are people Googling across the full buying cycle?

• Buyer Intent: What questions help move someone closer to action?

• Competitive Gaps: Where can you own space your competitors ignore?

• Content Assets: What do you already have and what’s missing?

• Industry Trends: Which emerging topics and keywords signal future demand?

• Customer Language: What exact words and phrases do your buyers use when describing their problems?

• Seasonal Patterns: When does interest spike, and how can you plan content to meet it?

• Conversion Data: Which search terms actually drive sign-ups, sales, or inquiries?

• Channel Performance: How do keywords perform differently on search, social, and paid campaigns?

Then we organize your content into a map that makes sense to humans and algorithms. And yes, we write the pieces too.

Real result:

A SaaS client came to us with 40+ disconnected blog posts, none ranking. We grouped them under four pillar topics, rewrote the anchors, filled in missing gaps, and restructured internal linking. In six months:

• Organic traffic doubled

• Top-of-funnel leads tripled

• Time on site jumped 60%

Why? Because users could find what they needed and keep going.

Want help turning your scattered content into a strategic SEO system? We build pillar content that performs on-page and in the pipeline. Let’s build your foundation.