Topical Map: How to Build One with a Template

A topical map is a plan that lists every subtopic and question you need to cover on one subject, assigns each to a single page, and shows how those pages link to each other. It is a spreadsheet, not a file for Google, and it replaces the usual pile of keyword ideas with a structure you can build page by page.

If you searched the plain phrase and got hiking maps, that is normal: the term overlaps with topographic maps. This page is about the SEO kind. It is for owners and marketers of small and mid-size sites who want a copyable template, a method that goes from one seed topic to hub, spokes and links, and an example you can follow.

On this page

• What does a topical map actually contain?
• How do you build a topical map from a seed topic?
• The topical map template, column by column
• A worked example for a small site
• How to plan the internal links
• What to publish first
• Does a topical map improve rankings?
• Getting your topical map working

What does a topical map actually contain?

A topical map contains four things: a hub topic, the subtopics under it, the page each subtopic will live on, and the links between those pages. Ahrefs describes the SEO version as the roadmap for your website’s content strategy, a hierarchy of topics and sub-topics. Hallam’s guide to creating topical maps frames it the same way: pillar pages at the top, clusters beneath, and every topic mapped to a URL.

What it is not: a keyword list. A keyword list tells you what people type. A map tells you which page answers which question, so two pages never compete for the same one. It also is not a content hub. The hub is the published pillar and spokes, covered in our guide to content hubs and pillar pages. The map is the plan behind one or more hubs.

Why bother? Because a site that covers one subject completely and links it sensibly is easier for readers to use, easier for crawlers to follow, and easier for AI systems to pull passages from. We explain the AI side in topic clusters built for AI citation and the broader idea in topical authority. This page stays on the build.

How do you build a topical map from a seed topic?

You build it in five steps: name the seed topic, collect the question space, group questions into pages, assign URLs, and write the link plan. The diagram below shows the sequence and what each step produces.

Step 1: Write the seed topic as one sentence. Name what you sell and who it is for. Hallam’s example narrows hairdryers to “hair tools” to find the right level. A seed topic that is too broad (“marketing”) produces a map you can never finish. One that is too narrow (“our logo design”) produces one page.

Step 2: Collect the question space. Gather every question a customer asks before, during and after buying. Sources that cost nothing: Google’s autocomplete, People Also Ask, your sales emails, support tickets and competitor sitemaps. Keep the questions in the customer’s words.

Step 3: Group questions into pages. Questions that want the same answer share a page. Questions that want different formats get their own: a definition, a comparison and a how-to are three pages even if the keywords look alike. Our keyword clustering method covers the grouping, and search intent explains why format decides it. Hallam recommends one primary keyword per topic, with secondary keywords listed beside it.

Step 4: Assign URLs. Mark each page as existing or new, and write the intended URL for new ones. This is where overlaps show up: if two existing pages answer one question, you have a consolidation task, not a writing task.

Step 5: Write the link plan. This is the step most guides leave thin. Ahrefs lists internal linking within topic hubs as a follow-up task but does not lay out how to plan it, and Hallam says to link sub-topics back to the pillar without a structured plan. The section on links below fills that in.

The topical map template, column by column

The template is a spreadsheet with one row per page and nine columns. You can build it in any spreadsheet in ten minutes.

Ahrefs’ free template uses similar fields: a topics list, keyword clusters, a mapped URL and page type marked “Existing” or “New”, and a priority score. It also scores brand relevance and business potential from 0 to 3, and suggests dropping topics that score low on at least two metrics. That filter is worth stealing even if you never open their file.

The two columns that earn their keep are “Primary question” and “Linked from.” The first stops one page trying to answer two things. The second turns the map into a to-do list: a page nothing links from is a page that will not be found. Google says every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site, in its crawlable links documentation.

A worked example for a small site

Here is a map for an invented business: a three-person bookkeeping firm that serves freelancers. The firm, the pages and the structure are illustrative, not a client, and no traffic figures are claimed. The point is the shape.

Seed topic: “Bookkeeping for freelancers: what to track, which tools to use, and when to hire help.” That sentence yields one pillar and eight spokes. The pillar defines the subject and routes readers to each spoke. The diagram shows the layout and where the service page sits.

Each spoke gets a primary question, an intent and a link rule. This is the middle of the spreadsheet:

Three decisions in that table are the ones people usually get wrong. The “Hire or DIY?” page is the only spoke that links to the service, because it is the only one where a reader is actually deciding. The compare and decide pages exist as separate spokes because their intent differs from the how-tos. And nothing links to a sibling just because it shares a category: each sibling link answers a question the reader would plausibly ask next.

How to plan the internal links

Plan links as rules, not as per-page afterthoughts. Rules scale: you can apply them to the next ten pages without rethinking. The table in the diagram below lists the five that carry most maps.

Two technical points sit under those rules. First, Google can generally follow only links built as an <a> element with an href, so a menu that relies on scripts or click handlers does not count as a link plan. Second, anchor text should be descriptive and fit both pages, and Google’s guidance says to avoid generic text such as “click here.” Our guides to internal linking and anchor text go deeper on both.

Why does the link plan matter this much? Google’s SEO starter guide says the vast majority of new pages Google finds each day are found through links. A page nothing links to depends on your sitemap alone, and a map without a link plan produces exactly those pages.

One caution from the same guide: Google says that its systems will likely understand your pages however your site is organized, and it advises against reorganizing purely for SEO. Use the map to fix gaps and orphans, not to rebuild a working URL structure. If your current URLs rank, keep them and map them as “Existing.”

What to publish first

Publish the pillar’s outline first, then spokes in order of business value, then fill the pillar last. Ahrefs scores each topic for brand relevance and business potential on a 0 to 3 scale, and I use a three-question version on small sites: can we answer this credibly, does it lead toward something we sell, and is it a gap on our site today? Count yes answers. Three yeses go first.

For the bookkeeping example, “Hire a bookkeeper or DIY?” and “Monthly close checklist” would be the first two spokes: both are close to the service, and both answer questions a prospect asks. “Year-end records for your CPA” is useful, but it can wait.

Two sequencing rules prevent most rework. Write the pillar last, or revise it last, so it summarizes what the spokes actually say. And publish spokes in small batches (two or three at a time) so each batch links to the others from day one, instead of leaving a trail of orphans. Once the list is set, turn it into a schedule with our SEO content calendar template, and brief each page with the AI SEO content brief template. For a printable version of the pillar and spoke steps, see our checklists.

Does a topical map improve rankings?

A topical map improves coverage and structure, and those help rankings indirectly; no one outside Google can say how much a map itself moves a position. Be wary of anyone who promises otherwise.

There is one concrete reason to expect the work to matter. The 2024 Google API leak lists an attribute described as a “Number denoting how much a site is focused on one topic” in Mike King’s iPullRank analysis, named QualityAuthorityTopicEmbeddingsVersionedItem.siteFocusScore, next to a siteRadius attribute that measures how far page embeddings deviate from the site embedding. Google stores these attributes. The leak does not show how much they are weighted, a caveat both iPullRank and Rand Fishkin’s SparkToro write-up make plainly, and some fields may be unused or retired. Our leak explainer covers what is and is not safe to conclude.

So the honest case for a map is practical. It stops you publishing off-topic pages, finds the questions you have not answered, and gives every page a reason to exist and a place to link from. Those are worth having whether or not any score exists.

Getting your topical map working

A topical map works when it is short enough to finish, specific enough to assign, and linked enough to be found. Start with one seed topic, nine to thirteen rows, and the five link rules above. Run it for a quarter before you expand to a second hub, and check each new page against the “Linked from” column before you publish it.

If you would rather have the question research, the page map and the link plan built for you, that is part of our AI SEO service. Either way, keep the map in a living spreadsheet, and treat every new page as a row to add before it becomes a draft.