Every digital marketer dreams of two things:

• A site that ranks sky-high on search engines. 
• Tons of traffic coming in from those searches. 

That’s why you’re so invested in your blog, right?

But what if we told you there’s another way to get those results?

Everyone meet…content hubs!

It’s a valuable section on your site that not only serves your audience but also grabs the attention of search engine crawlers, making it easy to find you on search engines. 

In this guide, we’ll cover:

• What a content hub is
• Why you need one
• The different types (with examples!)
• How to build your own

Let’s dive in and get things rolling!

What is a content hub? 

A content hub is a one-stop shop that hosts all your brand’s web content around specific topics your target audience is searching for. It’s typically a mix of infographics, podcasts, articles, videos, and other content formats — all connected through internal links. 

Now, at the center of a content hub is the main page A.K.A. hub page. Here, visitors get an overview of the topic. From there, they can dive deeper into subpages or topics using the internal links. 

Overall, a content hub is designed to guide users through an immersive learning experience while showcasing your brand’s expertise. 

But no, it’s not a blog. That’s what you’re probably thinking, yeah? 😉

It can be but content hubs are usually a little bigger  — like a website but smaller. 

A good example is HubSpot’s Knowledge Base which provides detailed information on how customers can use their product. 

Image Source: HubSpot

First, you see a hub page with an overview of HubSpot’s resources with links to other pages offering more detailed information. 

Now, let’s talk about why you even need a content hub.

Why are content hubs important?

According to Matt Chappell, head of creative at ICS Digital, an international marketing agency, content hubs help you bring more prospective clients and customers to your site using organic search engine optimization (SEO) principles. 

He added it’s also valuable for customer acquisition and retention. The reason is that these hubs contain information that helps the audience navigate specific issues they’re dealing with. 

So when they search for solutions to their pain points, your hub shows up positioning you as the answer they’ve been looking for. 

But to be specific, here’s what having a content hub offers you:

• Increased brand visibility: Because the content strategy behind a hub is solving people’s challenges, the content stands a high chance of popping up on the search engine results page (SERP). Bringing more organic traffic to your site than before. 
• Better navigation: Content hubs cover specific topics. You’ll typically have everything on the subject in a centralized location. That makes it easy for the audience to find the content they need. 

Plus, grouping similar content provides a clear path for search engine crawlers to follow and register all related content so more people can see it. 

• Higher chance of ranking: When you create several pieces of content in the hub for a keyword with a high difficulty score, you improve the chances of ranking for those terms. Because now it’s not going to be one-off content but multiple pieces targeting the same search term. So that will drive more traffic to your site and the search engine will rank it higher. 
• Improved brand engagement: Remember how Matt mentioned content hubs help bring in prospects and clients? Because it’s high-quality content, what happens after is they’ll most likely share the cluster pages with other people. 

That increases the brand’s reach and engagement and helps form a positive perception of your brand. 

• Enhanced credibility: Creating content hubs on particular subjects lets people see your expertise on the topic. This helps you build topical authority in that subject. You become recognized as the go-to authority in the industry on that matter. 
• Easier content planning: Because a content hub covers specific subjects, it’s easy to note the topics you have and haven’t covered. Making it easier to identify and plan what you should create next. 

In summary, a content hub can be a big deal if you want to attract and retain customers while being a unique brand. 

But, what should it look like?

Find out below!

What are the different types of content hubs? 

There are four popular ways to design a content hub: 

Hub-and-spoke model

This model features a key pillar page that provides a summary of the topic and cluster pages covering subtopics in detail. 

In hub and spoke, learning begins when you enter the landing page. And the cluster pages are more like an overflow of the hub page since they can’t contain all the information.   

Meta, the social media giant, uses the hub-and-spoke model in its guide on using Instagram assets in third-party work. 

Image Source: Meta

Each section on the left side of the page is linked to a corresponding cluster page. 

Content database

As the name suggests, this hub type is structured as a database where visitors can access content as if they’re in a well-organized e-library. They can use a search feature or filter options to easily find content. 

In fact, the main hub page is used to find more content as people can move from page to page in search of relevant content. 

It’s an ideal model for brands with several hub pages. 

Social media management platform Later is one brand that uses this format for its content hub.

Image Source: Later

It’s a database of all its marketing resources that relate to social media management. Visitors can leverage the filters or search functions to find the information they need. 

And each content entry of the pillar page is linked to a cluster page with some having downloadable assets and others just in-depth reports and articles with visuals. 

Content library

If you publish content across different categories, the content library model will likely be a better content management option for you. 

It’s about organizing different topics in a structured way for people to navigate, with each topic broken down into different content items. 

In other words, you can create content on several subjects with this hub model. 

That’s what Zapier, the workflow automation software, uses for its content hub.

Image Source: Zapier

It has a library of resources for marketers, industry leaders, IT experts, and sales teams. And each category with different pages of its own. We’re talking about case studies, tutorials, new-feature highlights, and inspirations. 

Visitors can click the specific resource tab they want and dive into the materials there.

Topic gateway

The topic gateway model features a main hub page that covers the topic you’re focusing on in detail. Much like a long-form blog post or white paper…but with links to cluster pages that cover other angles on the same topic. 

The links can be embedded in the text or placed in a separate directory like other hub models on this list. 

It’s a good format for teaching beginners a new topic. They can find all the information they need in one place. 

An excellent example is Backlinko’s SEO Basics: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners. 🔽

Image Source: Backlinko

It covers every topic beginners should know about SEO from defining it to optimizing on-page SEO, local SEO, and more with links to relevant pieces they’ll need. 

Now, let’s discuss how you can create a content hub.

How to create a content hub in 6 easy steps

Here’s a step-by-step process to begin.

1. Identify the main topic of the hub

You need to start with picking a general topic for the content hub. Ideally, it has to be: 

• Related to your business.
• Not covered extensively by existing content on your site. 
• Actively searched for on search engines. 
• Well-known to you, enabling you to offer valuable insights. 

To find the ideal topic, here are some ideas to get the ball rolling: 

• Identify who your audience is and what they care about by interviewing them the old-fashioned way. Ask questions about challenges they’re facing in the industry and what their general pain points are. 
• Brainstorm with your marketing team. Here, you want to identify topics that can solve the challenges highlighted during the interview.

The topic you’ve identified at this point is probably still broad. So you need to refine by doing keyword research. That’s the next step. 

2. Conduct keyword research

Semrush’s keyword magic tool is one software aid that can help refine your keywords and identify subtopics. 

Let’s say the main topic you brainstormed was ‘tutorials.’ Type it into the search bar of the magic tool and click the Search button. It’ll show you a bunch of terms you can build content around. 

But those are still general, so you want to focus on specific subtopic terms since you’re gunning for topical authority. 

To do that, click on the Intent drop-down option at the top panel, select Informational, and then Apply.   

This will display terms with informational search intent i.e. people are looking for answers around those terms. 

In addition to that, you can vet each keyword with Keyword Overview (a Semrush tool) to see its trend, search volume, keyword difficulty, and other data so you know if it’s a keyword to invest in. 

Just type in the term from the magic tool report, select a location, and search. And you’ll know where the term stands in terms of difficulty and informational intent.

3. Perform a content audit

Keyword research helps you identify new content to create for the hub. But sometimes, you may just need to repurpose existing content and build on that. 

That’s what content auditing is about. That plus identifying content that needs to go or gaps that need to be filled in the content topic. 

You can use Semrush’s organic research app to audit your content. 

After you open the tool, input your website’s domain and click the Search button. From there, find your way to the Positions report. There, you'll see which of your pages are ranking for brand-related keywords and how they rank for it. 

If the content has low traffic, ranks low on the search engine result pages (SERPs), has low search volume, and almost zero traffic cost, then consider updating the content or starting from scratch. 

4. Organize your content hub

Next, consider what content hub model is appropriate for your project. To do this, you need to take into account:

• How complex the content subject is. 
• The number of cluster pages required.
• How similar the content on the pages is. 

Now from the four models, here are some pointers to help you make the right choice:

• Choose the content library if you want to create a content base with several diverse content pieces. Like an extensive educational collection across multiple industries for people to read.  
• Use the hub-and-spoke model if you’re covering complex or vast subjects where you need to go into much detail. With this, you have easier navigation and interconnected content for the audience. 
• The topic gateway hub is best for educating people on a specific topic, like beginners who want to learn about how to create user-generated content. 

5. Start creating content

At this point, you already know what areas to focus on or which content needs updating. 

It’s time to start creating content for your hub. 

You can handle this in-house, outsource it to an agency, or use a content creation tool like Ceros. 

Ceros allows you to create immersive, interactive experiences at scale, all without writing a single line of code. Your team can design and publish dynamic content that users engage with by clicking, scrolling, or hovering over elements. This shifts content from passive reading to active participation, drawing your audience into the experience.

Whether you're working on interactive landing pages, animated infographics, or engaging presentations, Ceros gives you the tools to make your content more impactful and memorable. With Ceros, you can streamline your creative process, easily iterate on designs, and ensure consistency across your projects.

6. Track and measure for success

Finally, you need to monitor the hub’s performance to know if it’s doing well or which pieces require some tweaking. 

This involves tracking metrics or key performance indicators such as:

• Content page views: The number of people who have seen the content. 
• Web traffic: The number of web visitors who’ve visited the content hub. 
• Engagements: The percentage of people who’ve liked, shared, or commented on the content. 
• Conversion rates: The amount of folks who performed a desired action after engaging the content. Did they click on the call-to-action, such as signing up for a newsletter or booking a free demo?

You can use Google Analytics to track these metrics and Ceros Analytics too, if the content was designed on our platform. You’ll see what sections of the content people engage with the most so you know where to improve.

What are some best practices for creating content hubs?

Keep these in mind if you want to build a successful hub:

Perform strategic internal linking

This involves linking other sections of your site to the hub so users can easily find it when navigating. Our advice here is to link the hub to high-traffic pages on your site such as the homepage, pricing page, or even a landing page. 

Optimize the hub homepage

Optimizing, in this case, means refining the hub so people visiting know what it’s about. What should they expect from the hub and its cluster pages?

So the main web page can be like an information desk that tells people what they’ll find in the content hub with directions to the cluster pages.

Build authority

You know how we mentioned content hubs can help build topical authority? 

Well, for that to happen, ensure the hub’s URL is very close to the main navigation link. For example, a typical URL can be https://later.com/resources/.

This tells Google or search engine crawlers that the hub is an authority. Avoid, as much as you can, placing it in subfolders of subfolders.

This plus smart link building as mentioned above contributes to building authority.

Understand the target audience

Take time to study and define who your audience is. This will help you identify the best approach to take when creating content and what format it’ll be in. 

Plus, Google is constantly tweaking its algorithm to sorta promote content people find helpful. If people find your content helpful, it’ll get more reach. And how do you do that? 

By creating content they want, which means knowing your audience. 

Now as mentioned earlier, you can understand the audience by interviewing existing customers. This will give you an idea of who the ideal customer is and what they like. 

Another option is to use Google Analytics to monitor who visits and engages with your site. From the Report section on the dashboard, click User > User Attributes > Overview and you’ll see the data of people who come around.

Make your content interactive and easily readable 

Want to boost engagement and captivate your audience? Make your content interactive. 

Interactive content not only enhances the user experience but also drives higher engagement, increases conversion rates, and encourages social sharing.

A report by the Content Marketing Insitute showed that using interactive content can equally help you get repeat customers. 

There you have it folks, welcome to the end of this piece. 

Let’s wrap this up.

Over to you!

If you forget any of the tips mentioned in the previous section, remember the bit about using interactive content at least. 

Aside from the fact that that is Ceros’s shining light, it can ensure people love your content and deliver the kind of results you want. 

That’s what Stefan Riches, a content marketing director, experienced when he used interactive content. 

See what he says “[Interactive experiences] outperform our blog posts by two-to-one, on average. And with some items, it’s five-to-10 times what an average blog post would do.”

Your brand can get that too if you start producing interactive content with Ceros. 

Book a demo now with Ceros to see how it works and begin your interactive journey.