Link Mapping: Page Types & Clusters

A link map is only as good as the labels on it. Two labels matter: the page type, which says what a page is for, and the topic cluster it belongs to, which says what it's about. Together they turn a pile of URLs into a structure, and they're what the Linking Plan reasons over when it decides which links are worth adding.

Getting these right is the highest-value work you'll do on a link map. A clean map produces a sharp Linking Plan; a messy one produces noise.

Where to set them

Page types and clusters can be set almost anywhere pages appear:

• On the canvas, click a node's View details button and use Edit Details to change Node Type and Topic Group.
• During a crawl, on the AI Categorize and Assign Pages steps. See Crawling Your Site.
• In the Topic Clusters tab of the link map sidebar, using assign mode to place pages into a cluster.

The crawler makes a first guess at every page's type, so you're correcting a draft rather than starting from scratch.

The eight page types

Every page gets exactly one type. Pick the one that matches what the page is for, not what section of the site it lives in.

Pillar

Hub pages that anchor your topic clusters. These are typically your most important category or topic pages.

Examples: homepage, main service category pages, topic hub pages, main product category pages.

Money

Your highest-intent pages, the ones built to turn a visitor into a customer.

Examples: pricing pages, buy-now pages, request-a-quote forms, free trial signup pages.

Service

Pages that describe your services or offerings in detail.

Examples: individual service pages, "what we offer" pages, solutions pages, features overviews.

Supporting

Blog posts, articles, and guides that support your pillar content. These attract organic traffic and build authority.

Examples: blog posts, how-to guides, educational articles, case studies, industry news.

Location

Pages targeting specific geographic areas, used by local SEO and multi-location businesses.

Examples: city landing pages, service area pages, store locator pages, regional pages.

Company

Pages about the organization, its team, and its values. These build trust with a reader who hasn't bought yet.

Examples: about us, meet the team, company history, careers, contact.

Archive

Index pages that list and organize content. These help readers move around the site and find articles.

Examples: blog index, category archives, tag pages, author pages, date archives.

Product

Individual product pages for e-commerce sites. Each page describes one product with details and purchase options.

Examples: individual product pages, product variants, bundle pages, product comparison pages.

How to choose

Don't agonize over every page. You can change a type at any time. Focus on the distinction that actually drives recommendations: pages that should receive links (Supporting articles, Money pages) versus pages that mainly link out to others (Pillar and Archive hubs).

A few rules of thumb:

• If the page exists to make someone buy or enquire, it's Money, even if it also describes a service.
• If the page describes one offering in depth and isn't the step where someone buys, it's Service.
• If it's a hub that a group of articles hangs off, it's Pillar, not Archive. Archive is for automatically generated listing pages.
• City and service-area pages are Location, even when they read like service pages.
• On an e-commerce site, /collections/ style listing pages are Archive and the individual items are Product.

Topic categories and topic clusters

The organizational layer has two levels.

Topic categories are the broad service areas or subject areas the business covers: "Basements", "Kitchens", "Bathrooms", "Home Additions". Each category should have one service page, and contains one or more topic clusters of related content. You can also create separate categories for locations and products.

Topic clusters are groups of tightly-related content pages within a category. Each cluster should have one Pillar page plus multiple Supporting pages that link to and from that Pillar. Under a "Kitchens" category, for example, you might have a cluster called "Kitchen Remodel Guides" with a pillar article linking to supporting articles about costs, cabinet styles, and layout options.

That shape, one hub with many spokes, is the hub-and-spoke model, and the Linking Plan's structural rules assume it.

Why the structure matters

• Topical authority. Clustering related content signals to search engines that the site covers a topic thoroughly rather than in scattered fragments.
• Discovery. A page that sits inside a cluster and is linked from its pillar is easy for search engines to find. A page floating on its own is not.
• Reader experience. Visitors who land on one article can move to the related ones instead of leaving.

Building your structure

Open the Topic Clusters tab in the link map sidebar. The + button at the top has New Topic Category and New Topic Cluster. Give each a name and a color. Every category row has its own Add topic cluster button for adding clusters underneath it.

Each cluster and category row has four actions:

• View on map: pans the canvas to that group.
• Assign pages: enters assign mode. A banner reads "Assign Mode Active"; click pages on the canvas to add them to that group, then click Cancel when you're done.
• Edit: change the name, color, icon, or parent category. You can also double-click a name to rename it inline.
• Delete: removes the group. The pages stay on the map, ungrouped.

The eye icon at the top of the tab hides empty categories and clusters, which makes a large structure much easier to scan while you're filling it in.

Every page needs a type

The Linking Plan's structural rules are written in terms of page types. A Pillar should link to its Money pages; siblings within a cluster should interlink. An untyped page can't be reasoned about, so it gets skipped.

When any pages are untyped, a red Pages Need Type Assignment panel appears at the top of the Linking Plan listing them, with a page type (defaulting to Supporting) and optional cluster you can set on each row. Type them all, then regenerate the plan so they're included.

Clusters aren't a hard requirement in the same way, but they change the output substantially: pages inside the same cluster are treated as related, which is what produces the within-cluster linking recommendations. A map with no clusters gets a much thinner plan.

Tips

• Type the important pages carefully and the long tail quickly. Money, Pillar, Service, and Location pages drive most recommendations; a mislabeled blog post costs you very little.
• One Pillar per cluster, always. If two pages both feel like the hub, that's usually a sign you have two clusters.
• Keep categories broad and clusters narrow. "Kitchens" is a category; "Kitchen Remodel Guides" is a cluster inside it.
• Location pages are worth grouping into their own category. They interlink with each other rather than with topical content.
• Revisit types after a content push. New pages arrive typed by guess, and a five-minute pass keeps the next Linking Plan accurate.

Troubleshooting

RankNest won't let me set a second Pillar in a cluster. By design: a cluster has one hub. Change the existing Pillar to another type first, or move this page to a different cluster.

My Linking Plan is thin or empty. Check that pages are actually grouped into clusters. Without clusters, RankNest has far less to reason about beyond orphaned pages and structural hub links.

The AI put pages in clusters I don't agree with. Rearrange them. Drag pages between clusters during the crawl wizard, or use assign mode on the canvas. Your structure always wins over the suggestion.

Deleting a cluster deleted my pages. It doesn't. The pages stay on the map; they're just no longer grouped, and you can reassign them.

Related

• Link Mapping Overview
• Crawling Your Site
• Working with the Canvas
• Linking Plan Overview
• Recommendation Types