How to do Keyword Clustering: Step by Step

Ever felt like you’re juggling too many keywords in your SEO strategy? Let us introduce you to keyword clustering – a game-changer for organizing your content strategy.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about keyword clustering, from the basics to advanced techniques, and even show you how to use Wincher to streamline your tracking and analysis.

What is Keyword Clustering?

Keyword clustering is the process of grouping similar keywords together based on their meaning and intent. It is often done by using natural language processing and semantic analysis to examine how words relate to each other in context.

For example, “how to bake bread,” “easy bread recipes,” and “homemade bread tips” could all be part of a “bread baking” keyword cluster. Instead of targeting each keyword separately, you focus on themes or topics.

Why Keyword Clustering Matters for SEO

Search engine algorithms are a lot more advanced than they used to be. They don’t typically match exact keywords anymore and instead try to understand the meaning behind searches. 

By clustering your keywords, you’re giving search engines more context. Instead of seeing isolated keywords, they understand the theme of your content. This helps them match your pages to relevant searches more accurately.

With keyword clusters, you can create one piece of content to target multiple keywords at once or create multiple pieces of content with the aim of targeting each keyword within the cluster to build on topical authority.

If you choose to create multiple pieces of content from your keyword clusters, this also helps to improve the hierarchy and organization of your content, making it easier to crawl and navigate, and introducing lots of internal linking opportunities to build into your SEO strategy.

How to Do Keyword Clustering

Here’s how to create keyword clusters to take your SEO strategy to the next level.

Identify your keywords

Start with what you know and make a list of all the keywords related to your main topic. 

If you run a fitness blog, your initial list would look something like this:

• Workout
• Exercise
• Health
• Nutrition
• Strength training
• Cardio

Build your clusters

You can use many different keyword research techniques to build your clusters, and we recommend combining the below to build the most comprehensive clusters.

Brainstorming and Mind Mapping

You don’t need any additional tools for this. Simply use your own knowledge of your topics to branch out from each main keyword. 

For the health and fitness blog, under “workout,” you might add:

• home workouts
• gym routines
• HIIT exercises
• bodyweight workouts

Apply this approach to everything from your initial list to build out your clusters and find natural groupings and relationships between keywords.

Use Google Search

Yes, you can use Google Search for keyword clustering! Start by typing in a keyword you want to target in your SEO strategy and then review the following in your search results to find topics to include within your cluster.

• Autocomplete: Before you hit enter on your initial search, check the autocomplete suggestions to see what it suggests. These suggestions often form natural clusters.
• People also ask: These questions are often closely related and can form a keyword cluster.
• Related searches: Scroll to the bottom of the search results page. These related terms often fit well in your clusters.

Keyword Stemming & Grouping

Look for keywords that share the same root or stem to add to your clusters. For example:

• run, running, runner
• workout, workouts, working out

You can also use this approach for synonym grouping. They might not look the same, but they often belong in the same cluster:

• exercise, workout, training
• diet, nutrition, eating plan

Both of these approaches naturally form tight, related clusters that are perfect for targeting multiple keywords with one piece of content.

Use Keyword Explorer

With Keyword Explorer, you can enter one of your main keywords as your seed keyword, and you’ll get a large list of related keywords you can add to your clusters, or build new ones from!

Collect data for each keyword in your cluster

Now you’ve got your keyword clusters, you need to know the data on them to determine the best approach for targeting them. If you used Keyword Explorer to build your clusters, you will have already seen the data behind all of the keywords in your cluster. If you haven’t, now is the time to introduce a tool to help you with your analysis! 

For example, if a cluster contains keywords with different search intent, it’s usually best to create different pages for each type of search intent within the cluster. 

Whereas if you have a cluster with lots of low search volume keywords with the same search intent, one piece of content may be a better fit to maximize the search traffic potential for that page.

To track the data behind your keywords, you can use a spreadsheet for this, but as your content strategy grows, this becomes incredibly time-consuming!

As an alternative, we’ve developed Groups within our suite of tools so you can easily keep track of all the keywords in your clusters and see valuable data on their rankings, search volume and your share of voice for the entire cluster.

Creating a group is easy. Once you’ve picked the keywords you want from your keyword research, by adding them to your rank tracker, you can easily add them to a group and name your cluster.

How to Implement Keyword Clusters

Now that you’ve got your keyword clusters ready, it’s time to put them to work. Here’s how to implement your clusters for maximum SEO impact.

1. Align Clusters with Your Content Strategy

Before you start creating content, take a step back and look at the big picture:

• Which clusters align with your core products or services?
• What topics are your audience most interested in?
• Where are the gaps in your current content?

Prioritize clusters that tick all these boxes. They’re your low-hanging fruit for quick SEO wins.

2. Create Topic Pillars

For each major cluster, decide if you need to create a comprehensive “pillar” page that covers the main topic and links to the more specific pages within the cluster. You should publish this page first and you will link back to it for all of your supporting content.

For example, if you have a cluster around “home workouts,” your pillar page might be “The Ultimate Guide to Home Workouts.”

Alternatively, you may decide that the cluster is niche enough that one page can cover the entire cluster.

3. Develop Supporting Content

Once you’ve established any pillar pages you want to create, it’s time to publish supporting content for each keyword within your cluster. 

Regardless of whether you’re planning to publish single or multiple pages, this content should be more specific and often target long-tail keywords. If you are publishing multiple pages, these pages should link back to the pillar page for the topic, as well as to other pages in the cluster if relevant.

As an example, for the “home workouts” cluster, supporting content might include:

• “10-Minute HIIT Workouts for Busy Professionals”
• “Best Equipment for Home Strength Training”
• “Beginner’s Guide to Bodyweight Exercises”

4. Optimize On-Page Elements

As you create content, use your clustered keywords strategically using the following basic guidelines:

• Include the main keyword in your title tag, H1, and first paragraph
• Use related keywords from the cluster in subheadings and throughout the content
• Add LSI keywords naturally in your text
• Optimize meta descriptions and image alt text

Remember, the goal is to cover the topic comprehensively, so avoid keyword stuffing. For more guidance on this, check out our On-Page SEO Checklist.

5. Build a Strong Internal Linking Structure

Internal linking between the different pieces of content in your keyword cluster helps to boost the authority and relevance of all content within the cluster. To make sure you’re following best practices for this, you should: 

• Link from your pillar page to all supporting content in the cluster
• Link between related supporting pages
• Use anchor text that includes clustered keywords when appropriate

As you work through your clusters, take the time to go back through previously published content within each cluster and add more internal links where relevant.

7. Monitor and Adjust

SEO is an ongoing process, which is why we recommend using a tool like Groups to track how your clustered keywords are performing. This allows you to see if certain clusters are performing better than others and identify which supporting pages rank well compared to those that need improvement. You can also keep track of new keywords you add to your clusters as you expand your strategy.

Why We Love Keyword Clustering

Keyword clustering is one of the most efficient ways to develop your SEO content strategy. By organizing related keywords and building out strong clusters, you’re not only making your content more cohesive but also helping search engines better understand your site. This leads to improved rankings, more targeted traffic, and, ultimately, a more organized and effective content strategy.

So if you’re looking to see lasting results and a compounding effect over time, start grouping your keywords and watch your search engine visibility take off!