Clusters
A content cluster is a group of related articles, each targeting a different keyword. Clusters build topical authority by giving search engines a clear picture of your expertise on a subject.
How clusters work
There are two ways to create a cluster:
- Auto-Pilot: you give Machined a Main keyword, and it finds a set of related keywords, one per article. You can turn on Exclude branded keywords to filter out keywords containing competitor brand names.
- Manual: you give the cluster a name and provide the keywords yourself, one per line, up to 50. You can add an optional title after a comma, import keywords from a CSV file, and turn on Deduplicate similar keywords to merge near-duplicates.
Both modes also ask for a target audience and a country and language.
Once the cluster is created, Machined proposes a title and content type for each keyword. You can review the articles, edit titles and keywords, and remove any that don't fit before writing. Keyword metrics are shown alongside each keyword to help you decide.
Choosing a main keyword
The main keyword is the core topic your cluster is built around. A few tips:
- Pick a topic, not a long-tail query. Something like
meal preporcrm softwaregives Machined room to find a broad set of related keywords. A very narrow keyword produces a cluster with little variety. - Keep clusters distinct. Each cluster should cover a clearly separate topic, so articles in different clusters don't compete with each other.
- Let the audience shape the keywords. The same main keyword produces very different keywords for
beginner chess playersandclub-level chess players. A precise audience leads to a better-targeted cluster.
Article settings
Each article in a cluster has its own settings, organized into tabs in the cluster table: General, Voice, Research, Media, SEO and Custom. You can change a setting for one article, or for every article at once.
New articles start from your project's writing defaults. Once you edit an article's settings, it keeps its own settings and no longer follows later changes to the defaults.
Internal links
Machined can add internal links between the articles in a cluster. Internal linking is off by default: turn it on in the SEO tab of the cluster table, or for the whole project in writing defaults.
Cluster size
In Auto-Pilot mode, you choose the size of your cluster when creating it. Larger clusters provide more topical coverage but take longer to write. If you're unsure, start small.
| Size | Articles |
|---|---|
| Small | 5–10 |
| Medium | 10–20 |
| Large | 20–30 |
Single articles vs clusters
Clusters are the best choice for building topical authority over time. For one-off pieces, use single articles instead.
Creating a cluster
See Creating clusters for a step-by-step walkthrough.