How the Pillar / Cluster Blog Strategy Builds Expertise, Authority and Trust
There are a lot of things in life you can freestyle—rap, EDM, standup comedy, swimming strokes, wrestling, your dispensary selections—but your brand’s blog content shouldn’t be improvised. At Grasslands, we have a proven process for cannabis marketing and PR, a strategic approach that experience has shown time and time again to make a real difference for our clients and our own brand. Part of that proven process is the Pillar / Cluster blog model.
The Pillar / Cluster blog structure is a way to organize your cannabis content strategy so it boosts your brand’s digital profile. The Pillar / Cluster format also strengthens the overall domain authority of your website by creating numerous opportunities for internal linking, which search engines like to see.
Most importantly, the Pillar / Cluster blog structure increases your Expertise, Authority and Trust (aka EAT)—the three qualities your audience is looking for most when they’re searching for information and answers to their questions. The Pillar / Cluster blog structure is designed to provide the blend of high-level overview and in-depth expertise your audience is looking for, and to establish your brand as the trusted resource they need. That not only helps more potential customers and leads find your brand online, it gives you an invaluable edge over the competition through SEO content development.
What Is the Pillar / Cluster Blog Structure?
The Pillar / Cluster model is simple— and it starts with your brand’s subject-matter expertise. This content combination is like the CBD and THC of the content marketing world—distinct on their own, but oh-so-powerful together. Here’s how it works:
The Pillar: Think of this as your central, foundational piece. It's comprehensive and covers a broad topic. For example, if you’re a cannabis company focusing on infused products and other consumer packaged goods (CPG), your pillar could be, The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Edibles.
The Clusters: These are a series of shorter blogs, tightly targeted to related SEO keywords and long-tail search terms that delve into specific subtopics related to your pillar. Using the edibles example, clusters could cover subtopics such as: How Cannabis Edibles Work in the Body, or something like The Difference Between Broad Spectrum and Full Spectrum Cannabis Edibles, and even Will CBD Edibles Make Me High?
By adding web links for the cluster blogs onto the pillar (and vice-versa), you’re creating an intricate web—much like the interwoven roots of a robust cannabis plant. This interlinking tells search engines that your content is structured, relevant and rich.
Gold Standard for Owned Content: SEO and EAT
For brands battling the cannabis SEO blues, the Pillar / Cluster blog format serves as a potent remedy. But why?
Search engines love structure. When a search engine’s bots crawl your site and find related content linked in a logical manner, you’re more likely to earn a higher ranking when a user types in: “full spectrum edibles,” for example. In an industry where online visibility can mean the difference between boom or bust, this is invaluable.
Even better, this strategy nourishes your level of EAT—Expertise, Authority, and Trust. The more you delve into timely topics and offer rich insights, the more you establish yourself as a trusted voice in the cacophony that is online cannabis content. In simpler terms: Your brand becomes the sought-after guru in a room full of novices, and earns the respect of readers through more subject matter expertise.
Tackling Cannabis Marketing Challenges
Now, let’s swing the spotlight onto the pain points unique to marketing cannabis. Given cannabis advertising restrictions at the state and federal level, as well as limitations like shadowbanning on social media platforms like Instagram, cannabis brands are often cornered.
Here’s the beauty of the Pillar Cluster approach: It's owned content. No one can shadowban your non-sales blog. It's yours—your platform, your voice. And consumers are curious to learn more. With stiff competition and slowing sales, standing out becomes crucial. And what better way to stand out than being the brand that educates, informs, and engages?
Here’s an important caveat about owned media: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to target companies making certain claims about cannabis, and has taken the following stance: “The FDA’s top priority is to protect the public health. This priority includes making sure consumers know about products that put their health and safety at greatest risk, such as those claiming to prevent, diagnose, treat, mitigate, or cure serious diseases. For example, the agency has warned companies to stop selling CBD products they claim are intended to prevent, diagnose, treat, mitigate, or cure serious diseases.”
Beyond the Cannabis Blog: Amplifying Your Brand Message
If you’re wondering what to look for in a marketing agency, definitely add “familiarity with the Pillar / Cluster blog structure” to your list. It’s deceptively simple as a strategy, but in the right hands this blogging model revs up all of your marketing, from white papers to web copy, case studies and newsletters. Your blog, however fantastic, shouldn’t be a secluded island. The Pillar / Cluster blog structure is also a means to connect your online content to the broader archipelago of digital channels.
Email Marketing
Those cluster blogs—and the pillar, too—are the perfect content to adapt into snappy e-blasts. An excerpt from your pillar on cannabis facility design, perhaps, tempts readers to click through to find out how they can optimize their grows. A teaser from your latest cluster blog on cannabis real estate law might clue in your promising leads that they don’t know what they don’t know—and suddenly they need to find out. Over time, this positions your brand as a consistent source of valuable information right in their inbox.
Social Media
While direct cannabis advertising might get you shadowbanned or worse, sharing educational and value-driven content? That’s a smart move. Use snippets, infographics or key takeaways from your clusters and pillars to drive engagement on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn (which is widely perceived as the platform most friendly to cannabis) Facebook, Instagram and even Meta’s X-rival, Threads.
Just remember to tread lightly and be aware of each platform's guidelines. Stay away from keywords and cannabis hashtags like “weed,” “420,” “THC” and even “cannabis” or “marijuana.” Even if your post isn’t expressly promotional or related to retail sales, those social media algorithms aren’t capable of great nuance. For example, Instagram flagged Grasslands’ Weedsmith video series numerous times, even though they were promoting leadership principles, rather than any actual cannabis products for sale.
White Papers and Case Studies
Believe it or not, the Pillar / Cluster blog strategy can even boost your white papers, case studies and other gated content. Both your sales funnel and your SEO rankings become stronger the longer potential leads spend in your brand ecosystem, and particularly on your website. You can leverage your pillar and cluster blogs to create top-of-funnel points of contact like e-blasts that drive traffic to your website, and in turn link to lead-generating content like white papers and case studies from your blog.
The Bottom Line: Rise Above With the Pillar Cluster Combo
The cannabis industry is like no other—brimming with potential but riddled with obstacles. For brands feeling lost in the labyrinth, the Pillar Cluster Blog strategy offers a clear path forward for your audience and the SEO algorithms. Remember, in an industry this dynamic and fast evolving, being a beacon of knowledge can set you miles apart from the rest.
Ready to elevate your brand with a strategy that truly packs a punch? Dive deep into the world of Pillar Cluster Blogs with Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency—and watch as your brand's authority, trust, and expertise reach new heights.
Want to learn more about how Grasslands can supercharge your SEO rankings? Let’s talk!