Creating Clusters
A content cluster is a group of related articles, each targeting a different keyword, that link to each other internally. Clusters help build topical authority by giving search engines a clear signal of your expertise on a subject.
You can create clusters using Auto-Pilot mode (Machined finds the keywords for you) or Manual mode (you provide your own keywords).
Create a cluster
From your project, click Clusters in the sidebar, then click New Cluster.
Set your main keyword, target audience, language, and cluster size, then choose a mode.
Main keyword — the core topic you want to create content around. Machined uses this to research and select related keywords for each article in the cluster.
Target audience — a description of who you're writing for. The more specific, the better. For example: "small business owners who are new to SEO" rather than just "business owners".
Language — the language your content will be written in. Make sure your main keyword and audience are written in the same language.
Cluster size — how many articles to include. If you're unsure, start small.
Auto-Pilot mode
Auto-Pilot uses AI and real-time keyword data to research and select keywords that work well together for your chosen topic. It picks a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords to maximise topical coverage while minimising cannibalisation.
Select Auto-Pilot, fill in your settings, and click Create cluster — Machined handles the rest.
Cluster sizes
| Size | Articles |
|---|---|
| Small | 5–10 |
| Medium | 10–20 |
| Large | 20–30 |
The right size depends on how broad your main keyword is. A broad keyword like "content marketing" warrants a larger cluster than a specific one like "how to write a meta description". If you're unsure, start with Small — you can always create additional clusters to expand coverage.
Manual mode
Manual mode lets you provide your own keywords, giving you full control over the cluster's composition. This is useful if you have an SEO strategy and are selecting keywords with tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or similar.
Each keyword becomes one article. Make sure your keywords are closely related and share the same topic — using unrelated keywords in a single cluster will produce poor results.
Select Manual and add at least 3 keywords — one per line. You can optionally provide a custom title for each article by adding it after the keyword, separated by a comma:
how to grow tomatoes
best tomato varieties, The Best Tomato Varieties for Home Gardeners
tomato plant care tips
Set your target audience and language, then click Create cluster.
Tips for good manual clusters
- Keep keywords tightly related to one topic to avoid cannibalisation
- Mix broad and specific keywords for better topical coverage
- Avoid keywords with conflicting intent — don't mix informational and transactional keywords in the same cluster
What happens next
Once created, Machined builds your cluster — this usually takes about a minute. You'll then see all the articles with their target keywords and keyword metrics.
Review the articles before writing. You can remove any that don't fit, and edit the title or keyword for any article directly in the list.
Configure article settings
Each article's keyword, title, target audience, and content type are set automatically — Machined infers the content type from the keyword, title, and audience, so you can create a cluster and click Write straight away without touching any settings.
If you want to customise before writing, settings are grouped into six tabs on the cluster page: General, Voice, Research, Media, SEO, and Custom. Every setting in every tab can be configured in two ways:
- Global — applies to all articles in the cluster
- Article level — overrides the setting for a specific article only
General
Content type — auto-inferred per article, but you can override it if needed. See Content Types.
Model — choose your AI provider and model. See AI Model.
Length — short, medium, or long. See Length.
Voice
Voice — select a brand voice to apply to your articles. Selecting a voice automatically sets the tone and perspective, but you can override either independently. See Voices.
Tone — the tone of the writing.
Perspective — first, second, or third person.
Research
Research — enable web research to ground articles in current, accurate information. See Research.
Media
Featured images — add a featured image to each article. See Images.
Article images — add inline images throughout the article body.
Videos — embed relevant YouTube videos in articles.
SEO
Internal linking — add links from each article to other content on your site. See Internal Linking.
FAQ — appends a frequently asked questions section to each article.
Custom
Unique insights — adds original data points and expert perspectives to help differentiate your content.
Custom instructions — provide specific instructions to guide how articles are written.
Heading style — choose between title case and sentence case for all headings.
Write your articles
Select the articles you want to write and click Write. You can write individual articles one at a time or all at once.
Articles are written in the background — you don't need to wait on the page. Writing typically takes around five minutes per article.
Review and edit
Once written, click into each article to review:
- Check the content for accuracy
- Review internal links between articles in the cluster
- Edit titles, headings, or body content directly in the editor
- Use inline AI editing to refine specific sections
Next steps
Once you're happy with your articles:
- Export your content — copy, download as HTML, Markdown, or download images
- Publish to your CMS — push directly to WordPress or Webflow