A topical map generator that plans pillars and clusters you can actually rank for
A topical map is the plan behind a blog that ranks: a few pillar topics your business should own, and the supporting articles around each one, linked together so search engines see depth rather than a pile of unrelated posts. Conterity builds that map from real Google research about your market, checks each keyword before it goes on the plan, and then writes the articles in order.
Conterity’s topical map generator starts from searches, not guesses. It researches your offer and your buyers’ questions on Google, proposes pillar topics and the supporting topics around them, and gives each one a primary keyword, the search intent, a funnel stage and a difficulty check. It flags topics that would compete with pages you already have. You approve the map, and every article written from it links up to its pillar and across to its siblings.
What a topical map is, and why it matters
Search engines judge a site partly on whether it covers a subject properly. Ten articles that each answer one part of a buyer’s question, all linked to a guide that pulls them together, tell a clearer story than ten articles on whatever came to mind that week.
A topical map makes that structure explicit before you write:
- Pillars are the broad subjects your business should be known for, usually close to what you sell.
- Supporting topics (the cluster) answer the narrower questions around each pillar: how-tos, comparisons, costs, mistakes, definitions.
- Links run from each supporting article up to its pillar and across to its siblings, so readers and crawlers can move through the subject.
Without a map, a blog drifts. With one, every article has a job and a place.
How the map is built
It starts from your approved Brand Brain
Your offer, your audiences, the problems they describe and the questions they ask become the seeds. Nothing is invented from a blank prompt.
Real searches come first
Each seed is searched on Google, and the “People also ask” questions and related searches are collected as evidence. If the research cannot run, no topics are proposed: the map is never filled with unsupported suggestions.
Pillars and supporting topics are proposed
Topics are grouped under the pillars they belong to, with a mix across the funnel: questions people ask early, comparisons they make later, and the searches they run when they are ready to buy.
Every keyword is checked
Each topic’s keyword is checked for difficulty, and the ones out of your site’s reach are marked. Where Google’s current results suggest a different intent than the plan assumed, the topic is flagged.
You approve, edit or reject
Keep the topics that fit, drop the ones that do not. Only the approved map is used for writing.
What each topic carries
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Primary keyword | The one search the article is written to answer, so two articles never chase the same thing. |
| Related keywords | Close variants and follow-up questions the article should cover naturally. |
| Search intent | Informational, commercial or transactional: decides whether the page should be a guide, a comparison or an offer. |
| Funnel stage | Early, middle or late in the buying journey, so the plan is not all top-of-funnel traffic that never converts. |
| Difficulty | Checked before planning; out-of-reach keywords are marked rather than silently kept. |
| Overlap warning | Flags a topic that would compete with a page you already have, and suggests improving that page instead. |
Keyword clusters, not keyword lists
A keyword tool hands you hundreds of phrases. Many of them describe the same need in different words, and writing one article per phrase creates pages that compete with each other. Grouping them is the hard part.
In the map, related phrases sit under one topic with one primary keyword and a list of related keywords from the research. When the writer drafts that topic, it covers the related keywords and questions inside the same article, so one page answers the whole cluster.
Doing keyword research by hand? Our guide on how to find low competition keywords shows how to spot which phrases belong together by looking at who ranks for them.
From map to finished articles
- The writer follows the map. Pick a topic and the SEO content generator uses its keyword, intent and outline.
- Links are added for you. Each article links up to its pillar and across to sibling articles that already exist, plus relevant pages elsewhere on your site.
- Coverage is tracked. A topic counts as covered once a page, article or plan already targets its keyword, so the open list always shows what is left.
- The AI team uses it too. On the AI Team plans, the weekly planner reads your approved map and works through the open topics best-first instead of proposing something you already planned.
Which plans include it
The topical map is included in the Writer ($19 a month) and Writer Pro ($49 a month) plans, alongside the articles you write from it. Writer Pro adds content gap analysis and up to three sites. See pricing for current plans and yearly prices.
Frequently asked questions
What is a topical map?
How does Conterity build a topical map?
Is this a keyword clustering tool?
Does it check keyword difficulty?
Will it suggest topics I already cover?
Which plans include it?
Map out your blog before you write it
Paste your website and approve your Brand Brain, then build your first topical map on a Writer plan.
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