Hub and spoke internal linking, and the build order that works

The hub, or pillar, page gives a structured overview of the whole topic. It answers the top-level question, introduces each sub-topic in a paragraph or two, and links to the page that covers each one in depth.

A good hub is useful on its own. It is not a table of contents. But it deliberately does not try to cover everything at length, because the spokes carry that depth.

Each spoke owns exactly one sub-topic and covers it thoroughly: the definition, the practical detail, the common mistakes, the questions a reader asks next. A spoke should be the best page on the web for its narrow question.

Spokes link up to the hub with anchor text that names the parent topic, and across to two or three sibling spokes where the content genuinely relates. The cross-links are what turn a set of pages into a cluster.

Start with the hub, even a rough version, so the spokes have something to link to from day one. Publishing spokes into a void creates orphans.

Then build the spokes in order of demand and difficulty, not alphabetically. The sub-topic with the most search demand and the weakest current coverage on the web is where a new page earns the most.

After two or three spokes exist, go back and expand the hub so it links to them and summarises them. Repeat. The cluster is never finished, but after the first few spokes it starts to behave like an authoritative treatment.

A cluster is incomplete when the sub-topics that rank for the subject do not all have a page, when the spokes link up to the hub but never to each other, or when the hub is aspirational and half its links point to pages that do not exist yet.

Semantyra scores this per cluster: it works out the sub-topics a comprehensive source would cover, checks which the site has, and reports completeness with the specific missing pages listed.