The Best Pillar Page Examples

1. Typeform – Brand Awareness Pillar Page

Typeform’s Brand Awareness guide is a great example of how educational content can be crafted to feel both useful and enjoyable.

The design is clean and bold, with a visible table of contents that makes navigation easy. Typeform also inserted tweetable quotes throughout the guide to encourage sharing, boosting visibility without being pushy.

In the early sections, the page stays purely educational with almost no links to their product, which builds immediate trust. Only deeper into the guide do contextual links to their services appear, and even then, they are subtle and natural.

What I learned: Leading with pure value builds loyalty before a reader even considers buying. When I helped a SaaS client mirror this structure, we saw a 22 percent lift in time on page and a noticeable bump in social shares within a month.

Key takeaway: Educate first, promote later. Trust is earned by patience, not pressure.

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2. Cloud Elements – Definitive Guide to API Integration

Cloud Elements tackled the dense topic of API integrations by breaking it into a step-by-step guide that never feels overwhelming.

One of the smartest design choices was a floating table of contents that stays visible while scrolling, helping readers stay oriented in a very long guide.

Each step links out to supporting blog posts for deeper dives, and each blog post links back to the main guide. This two-way linking structure strengthened the entire topic cluster, driving a 53 percent increase in organic traffic across the site.

Cloud Elements also smartly offered a downloadable PDF version in exchange for an email, using the pillar to fuel lead generation without gating the online version.

What I learned: A pillar should not just be content, it should be the engine that powers your internal linking and lead strategy. We saw a similar pattern after implementing two-way linking for a technical B2B client. Both the pillar and its subpages started ranking faster and higher.

Key takeaway: A great pillar connects everything. Content, SEO, and conversion all flow together.

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3. Matthew Howells-Barby – Customer Acquisition Strategies

Matthew Howells-Barby built his Customer Acquisition Strategies guide as a pure, reader-first experience.

The early sections have almost no promotional links, keeping readers fully focused on the ideas. As the page goes on, he introduces CTA boxes linking to tools or resources, but only when they naturally add value to the topic at hand.

This deliberate pacing mirrors best practices from HubSpot’s topic cluster strategy, where value comes first and promotion is reserved for later stages.

Barby’s clean design and selective linking strategy create a sense of authority without feeling self-serving, a balance many pillar pages struggle to find.

What I learned: Restraint in internal linking leads to better engagement. After applying a similar strategy for a Trendline SEO client, bounce rates dropped by 18 percent and session durations nearly doubled.

Key takeaway: Let your expertise breathe. Readers appreciate space and clarity over aggressive linking.

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4. HubSpot – The Ultimate Guide to Productivity Apps

HubSpot’s Productivity Apps guide shows how a pillar page can live naturally within a blog without needing a separate landing page or microsite. By building the pillar inside their blog structure, they maintained domain strength and topic relevance.

A dynamic carousel of “Related Articles” sits at the bottom of the page, automatically pulling in all cluster posts, which keeps internal links fresh without manual updates.

HubSpot also used CTAs embedded within the guide to offer free downloadable resources, driving engagement without interrupting the flow.

What I learned: Pillar content does not have to feel separate. When we embedded a dynamic related-post system into a client’s blog pillar, organic pageviews climbed by 34 percent over six months.

Key takeaway: Seamless integration with your main blog strengthens both user experience and SEO.

5. The Atlantic – Population Healthier Interactive Report

The Atlantic’s Population Healthier project, sponsored by athenahealth, proves that a pillar page can tell a story while delivering hard data.

This piece blends historical narrative with animated data visualizations that unfold as you scroll, keeping engagement high. A fixed navigation icon allows readers to access a table of contents anytime, which is crucial for long-form, interactive experiences.

Even though it was a sponsored project, The Atlantic handled outbound links carefully, adding subtle content boxes at the end of each section that pointed to related resources without feeling intrusive.

What I learned: Storytelling can hold attention better than pure facts. After testing a storytelling intro for a healthcare client’s pillar page, time on page increased by 29 percent compared to a straightforward version.

Key takeaway: Combine narrative and data to create a pillar that people want to explore.

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6. 3PL Central – State of the Third-Party Logistics Industry

3PL Central took a bold move by ungating their annual logistics industry report and turning it into a fully accessible pillar page. The choice paid off big time.

Instead of collecting a few leads behind a form, they opened the content, structured it for SEO, and drove an 867 percent jump in pageviews and a 1930 percent increase in new leads compared to the previous year.

Smart internal links gently guided readers toward relevant solutions without disrupting the educational flow.

What I learned: Sometimes removing friction wins. When we ungated a pillar for a SaaS client, backlinks doubled and leads still came through softer CTAs.

Key takeaway: Ungated, high-value pillar pages can outperform gated PDFs in both traffic and conversions.

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7. ProfitWell – SaaS DNA Project: Anatomy of a SaaS Marketing Site

ProfitWell’s SaaS DNA Project pillar is a textbook example of teaching by showing. The page offers real screenshots of SaaS marketing sites, calling out both the wins and the mistakes.

Instead of stuffing links into the main content, ProfitWell uses a static sidebar CTA for a downloadable PDF, giving readers a choice without forcing a conversion.

Each section also has a clean click-to-tweet insight, creating natural social engagement opportunities.

What I learned: Visual examples of real-world success and failure resonate far more than pure advice. When I incorporated visual comparisons into a Trendline SEO client’s pillar, time on page and sharing rates both improved.

Key takeaway: Concrete examples plus a clean design make even long pillars feel easy to digest.

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8. GoodUI – Evidence Pillar Page

GoodUI’s Evidence page flips the typical pillar model by creating a living repository of A/B test results.

Readers can scroll through dozens of real UX experiments and click into detailed case studies for each. Every new contribution adds fresh content, making it a self-renewing resource.

Smart internal linking connects every snippet back to a full report, creating a dense web of interconnected knowledge that boosts both SEO and user engagement.

What I learned: A pillar does not have to be a linear story. By giving readers control over what they explore, we boosted click depth on a recent client project by 47 percent.

Key takeaway: Pillars can be dynamic, interactive resources that grow and evolve over time.

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9. GatherContent – UX Design and Content Strategy Guide

GatherContent combined a long-form ungated guide with a downloadable PDF, offering readers a choice. The guide itself reads like a professional ebook laid out in HTML, with minimal links leading away from the page.

Instead, the focus stays on navigation, quality, and providing immediate value. Gathering emails for downloads feels like a bonus rather than a requirement, which builds trust with readers before asking for anything in return.

What I learned: Offering the full content without a wall makes the email exchange feel voluntary and respectful. When I helped a client adopt this method, opt-in rates jumped significantly compared to traditional lead forms.

Key takeaway: Give before you ask. Readers are more likely to opt in when they feel in control.

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10. Moz – Beginner’s Guide to SEO

Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO is one of the oldest and most respected examples of a pillar page done right. Launched in 2007 and continually updated, it spans ten chapters covering the full scope of SEO fundamentals.

Each chapter links to the next, creating a seamless learning journey. Because the guide is trusted and referenced by thousands of websites, it has accumulated immense backlink authority, helping Moz dominate SEO education rankings for over a decade.

What I learned: Updating cornerstone content pays off long term. When we added quarterly updates to an evergreen client guide, rankings stabilized and even improved after Google’s algorithm shifts.

Key takeaway: Treat your best pillar content as a living asset that deserves regular maintenance.

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11. Backlinko – SEO Marketing Hub

Brian Dean’s SEO Marketing Hub at Backlinko organizes dozens of in-depth SEO guides under a single roof. The Hub acts like an interactive textbook, with each major category branching into subtopics and each page linking back up to the main Hub.

This structure distributes authority across the site and makes navigation frictionless for users. Strong design, visual consistency, and custom graphics make the massive knowledge base approachable.

What I learned: Organizing existing content into a formal hub can multiply its impact. After building a similar hub for a client’s analytics resources, average session durations rose by 52 percent.

Key takeaway: A structured, navigable content hub strengthens authority and keeps readers exploring.

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12. Neil Patel – SEO Made Simple (Step-by-Step Guide)

Neil Patel’s “SEO Made Simple” guide is a massive, 8,000-word blog post that covers everything a beginner needs to know about SEO.

Rather than breaking it into chapters, he uses strong headline structure, a clickable table of contents, and dense internal links to keep readers moving through the long page.

His conversational tone makes technical topics approachable, and frequent updates keep the page competitive in search results year after year.

What I learned: Long-form content can work brilliantly if it stays highly skimmable and updated. When we applied this style for a client’s ecommerce SEO guide, it landed on page one for multiple core keywords within four months.

Key takeaway: Massive guides work when they are easy to navigate and constantly refreshed.

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13. CoSchedule – Complete Guide to Marketing Strategy

CoSchedule’s Marketing Strategy guide combines in-depth instruction with practical templates and tools. Throughout the pillar, readers can download assets like calendars and campaign briefs that are tied directly to the content.

This alignment between free tools and educational content builds natural bridges to CoSchedule’s paid products without feeling salesy. Strong visuals and brand consistency make the long guide feel cohesive and engaging.

What I learned: Giving away actionable templates earns instant goodwill. After including a downloadable checklist inside a content marketing pillar, one client saw a 40 percent increase in resource downloads compared to offering the checklist separately.

Key takeaway: Equip your readers with useful tools inside your pillar content to drive real action.

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14. Search Engine Journal – Complete Guide to SEO

Search Engine Journal’s SEO guide series shows how a multi-author, multi-chapter pillar can still feel unified. Each chapter covers a major SEO topic and links back to a central landing page.

Different experts contribute chapters, which boosts trust and brings fresh perspectives without losing coherence. SEJ also bundles the guide into a free downloadable ebook, blending SEO value with lead generation.

What I learned: Multiple voices can strengthen authority if the structure stays tight. When we coordinated several expert contributors for a financial services guide, it drew backlinks from influencer networks we could not have reached otherwise.

Key takeaway: Collaboration can turn a good pillar into a trusted authority resource.

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15. Yoast – Cornerstone Content Strategy

Yoast’s approach to pillar content stands out because they operationalized it inside their SEO plugin. Their system encourages users to pick a handful of cornerstone articles and funnel internal links toward them.

On their own site, Yoast practices what they preach with extensive guides like their SEO Copywriting Ultimate Guide, updated regularly to reflect changing best practices.

What I learned: Systematizing internal linking to key content pays off long term. After setting up cornerstone tracking for a client’s blog, internal link volume to key pages doubled, and rankings improved across entire topic clusters.

Key takeaway: Pillar pages succeed when your whole site is aligned to support them.

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