Build the Cluster: A Pillar and 15-Subtopic Plan for Warby Parker
Objective: Following the lesson's seven-step playbook, choose a correctly-scoped pillar topic, map 15 cluster subtopics tagged by funnel stage, and produce the interlink map that connects every page to the pillar and to at least one sibling cluster page.
You're planning Q1 content for Warby Parker's eyewear blog. Leadership wants a defensible content architecture, not a random list of blog post ideas, before the team writes a single word.
Pick one pillar topic broad enough for 15-25 subtopics, map 15 cluster pages across Awareness, Consideration, and Decision stages, and build the link map showing pillar-to-cluster and cluster-to-cluster connections.
Before you start
What you'll need
Free path (everything below is enough to finish)
Free, easy to share with stakeholders for sign-off before writing begins
Free, sortable, the standard tool for this kind of tagging exercise
The process
2 steps
Step 01 of 02
Step 1 of the playbook says a good pillar topic is broad enough to spawn 15-25 subtopics but narrow enough that one site can realistically cover everything; 'marketing' is too broad, 'email marketing' is a pillar, 'email subject lines' is a cluster.
Warby Parker sells prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light glasses, and contacts. Is 'Eyewear' a workable pillar topic, or does it need to be split, and into what?
Procedure
- List 3 candidate pillar topics: 'Eyewear' (too broad), 'Prescription Glasses Buying Guide' (right size), 'Blue Light Glasses' (right size)
- For each candidate, sketch 5 example subtopics to gut-check whether it can plausibly reach 15-25
- Pick the pillar topic for this plan and write a one-sentence scope statement defining what it does and does not cover
CANDIDATE: 'Eyewear' -> REJECTED, too broad, would force competing sub-pillars CANDIDATE: 'Prescription Glasses Buying Guide' -> SELECTED Scope: covers lens types, frame fit, prescriptions, insurance, and online ordering; excludes sunglasses and contacts (separate future pillars)
Healthy
The chosen pillar has a written scope boundary and can plausibly generate 15-25 distinct, non-overlapping subtopics.
Unhealthy
Picking 'Eyewear' as the pillar because it sounds impressive, then discovering halfway through subtopic mapping that sunglasses and contacts content don't fit under one page.
What this means
A pillar's breadth test happens before any subtopic gets written, not after content already exists and needs to be forced into a structure.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| The pillar candidate is a whole product category, not a topic | Split it into 2-3 narrower pillars with non-overlapping scope statements | 30 min |
Step 02 of 02
Step 3 says every cluster topic gets tagged Awareness, Consideration, or Decision, and a healthy cluster has content at all three stages; an Awareness-only cluster gets traffic but not conversions.
You've brainstormed 15 subtopics for the Prescription Glasses pillar. 11 are Awareness ('what is a PD measurement'), 2 are Consideration, 2 are Decision. What does this distribution tell you before you write a single article?
Procedure
- List all 15 subtopics in rows and tag each with Awareness, Consideration, or Decision
- Count the distribution per stage
- Add or reassign subtopics until Consideration and Decision each have at least 3-4 entries, since 11 Awareness pages plus 2-2 leaves the bottom of the funnel starved
Awareness: 8 (was 11, moved 3 to Consideration)
Consideration: 4 (comparison + how-to: 'Progressive vs bifocal lenses', 'How to read your prescription')
Decision: 3 ('Best prescription glasses for astigmatism', 'Warby Parker vs Zenni', 'Home try-on kit review')Healthy
All three funnel stages have at least 3-4 subtopics each, so the cluster can both attract traffic and convert it.
Unhealthy
Shipping 11 Awareness posts and 4 Consideration/Decision posts, then wondering why the cluster drives traffic but not orders.
What this means
Funnel-stage counting is a planning checkpoint, not a labeling exercise done after writing.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Consideration and Decision subtopics combined are fewer than a third of the cluster | Reassign or add subtopics until each stage has a minimum viable count before publishing begins | 30 min |
Final deliverable
A pillar scope statement plus a 15-row cluster plan (subtopic, funnel stage, target keyword, which sibling cluster pages it links to) ready to hand to writers.
See a reference example
Lenskart, 'Sunglasses Buying Guide' pillar plan (excerpt) Pillar scope: sunglasses only, excludes prescription eyeglasses (separate pillar) 1. What is UV400 protection? — Awareness — links to #7 2. Polarized vs non-polarized lenses — Awareness — links to #9 7. Best sunglasses for driving — Consideration — links to #1, #9 9. Ray-Ban vs Lenskart sunglasses — Decision — links to #7
Success criteria
You're done when you can:
- Pillar topic has a written scope statement and can plausibly reach 15-25 subtopics
- All 15 subtopics are tagged by funnel stage with at least 3-4 per stage
- Each subtopic lists at least one sibling cluster page it should link to, not just the pillar