A “guide” pillar page strives to be the ultimate authority on a subject. It serves to establish your authority in a field or subject matter, builds your brand, & helps establish trust with a particular audience.

The guide pillar page gives a comprehensive overview of a topic that makes it an authoritative destination for those interested in the subject. It also links to related cluster pages that expand knowledge on particular aspects of the topic, often related to a specific keyword.

To tap into this desire to learn more, a pillar page can serve as a definitive examination of a subject — a highly useful stand-alone resource that links to related cluster pages and develops aspects of the subject in greater detail. In many ways, it is authoritative, like a guide page.

If you develop a page that matches a widespread interest and build a case for its importance, you have created a great way to drive organic traffic to your site. The traffic becomes a top-of-the-funnel flow that eventually can be won over as valued customers with the right conversion strategy.

A “how-to” content pillar page tells you how it is done. You can help your intended market solve problems or find ways to improve the processes needed in their job functions.

If you have a solution or tool to fix a problem, it can be worked in discretely and embraced if you have successfully addressed your customers’ pain points and offer a lot of good, useful information. Well-illustrated, step-by-step tutorials are often used in these kinds of pillar pages.

Content marketing is one of the best ways to connect with your target audience, establish your company's authority and brand, and build the kind of trust that lets you lead people down the sales funnel to become converted customers.

One of the most effective ways to organize your content to get results is to embrace the pillar-cluster model. Some of the best practices for pillar content creation  include defining the content's goals and what you are trying to accomplish, deciding on the planned returns, and determining what you want to rank for.