If you’ve heard SEO people talk about “topic authority,” topic clusters are the practical version. Linkilo groups your posts into clusters of related content and helps you link them together so Google understands what you’re an expert at.
What this is
A topic cluster = one “main” article (the pillar) surrounded by several related articles that all link to it.
For a coffee blog:
- Pillar: The Complete Guide to Espresso Machines
- Cluster posts: Best Espresso Machines Under $300 · How to Clean Your Espresso Machine · Espresso vs. Drip Coffee
When Google sees this structure, you become a real expert on espresso machines, and that pillar tends to rank higher.
Pillar Page vs. Revenue Page
- Pillar Page — the most comprehensive post in a cluster. Pillar selection is automatic, but you can override it.
- Revenue Page (Link Priorities) — a page with recorded Google Analytics 4 conversions. Linkilo already raises these on the Link Priorities page so you can send more internal authority to pages with measured business value. A pillar can also be a revenue page, but the roles don’t have to overlap. Without conversion data, Linkilo doesn’t guess.
Get to the Topic Clusters page
In WordPress: Linkilo → AI Lab → Topic Clusters.
You’ll land on a page titled Linkilo AI Topic Clusters with the subtitle “Visual Hierarchy & Content Strategy.” At the top is a short Pillar Pages and Revenue Pages explainer with a View Link Priorities link, and an Automatic Clustering + Review Queue note: Linkilo places a post automatically only when the topic match is strong; weak matches wait in a review queue for you instead of being forced into a noisy cluster.
The toolbar
Four buttons:
- Create New Cluster — manual cluster. Give it a Cluster Name and pick a pillar post.
- Audit Current Map — re-checks the clusters you already have, in saved checkpoints. Weak assignments go back to the Review Queue, manual clusters are preserved, and no AI credits are used.
- Regenerate Complete Map — evaluates every eligible published post and builds a coherent topic map. Stored AI signals are used when available. This is the one button that replaces the old “Regenerate Clusters” and “Regenerate with AI Themes” pair.
- Remove All AI Clusters — wipes auto-generated clusters. Manual ones you created with Create New Cluster are preserved.
What Regenerate Complete Map does
One click, one confirmation. Linkilo works through every eligible published post (all public post types, including pages) in bounded passes, groups posts that share a confident parent topic, and only then swaps the new map in. Posts that don’t pass the confidence check are left in the Review Queue rather than being squeezed into a vague “Miscellaneous” bucket. Manual clusters are never touched, and regenerating does not change your focus keywords or keyword-conflict decisions.
On sites with more than 250 eligible posts the run becomes a background job. A progress panel shows the phase (for example Classifying every eligible published post, Validating replacement map, Activating completed map), the counts evaluated and clustered, and Pause, Resume and Stop buttons. Progress is saved after every batch, so you can close the page and come back later. If your site has WordPress cron disabled, the panel warns you to set up a real server cron, otherwise the job can’t continue after you leave.
If the job hits one of your monthly AI caps (set in Settings → AI Settings, step 2), it pauses at its saved checkpoint instead of failing. Your current map stays active. Raise the cap, come back, and click Resume; finished batches are not repeated.
Two end states to know: Map Not Replaced means the proposed map didn’t pass the quality checks and nothing changed. Stopped – Map Preserved means you stopped it and the previous map is still active.
What Audit Current Map does
Use this when a cluster contains unrelated posts and you don’t want to rebuild everything. Linkilo re-scores the existing automatic assignments with the same confidence model, keeps the strong ones, moves weak ones back to the Review Queue and removes stale entries. It calls no AI, uses no API credits and doesn’t edit post content. A Current Map Audit panel shows what was checked, kept, moved to review and removed, and tells you when the audit is complete. Large maps are audited in checkpoints; if you leave part-way, click Audit Current Map again later to continue.
Audit only checks assignments that already exist. It doesn’t place the posts waiting in the Review Queue; that’s what Regenerate Complete Map is for.
The three views
Top-right View: dropdown:
Insight Dashboard
Big-picture view with metrics and a visual map.
- Visualization dropdown (default: Content Coverage Treemap)
- Filter by Intent (Commercial / Informational / All)
- Filter by Funnel (TOFU / MOFU / BOFU / All Stages)
- A row of stat cards summarising your clusters and coverage
- Automated Insights: The Story of Your Content — short summaries like “Your most developed topic is X with N posts”
- Content Coverage Treemap — colored grid, each rectangle is a cluster, bigger = more posts. The corner circle shows the dominant funnel stage and the border style shows intent (solid = Commercial, dotted = Informational).
Interactive List View
The drag-and-drop view.
- Your Topic Clusters — every cluster as a box with the post count: “Best Cigar Accessories (19)”. These are posts with a confident shared parent topic.
- Each post shows a Pillar badge if it is the pillar, up to two topic badges (About: the post’s main subject, Parent: the broader theme) and, for low-confidence placements, a Needs Review badge.
- Five action icons on the right of each cluster: Cluster Health (heart), Content Gap Analysis (lightbulb), Set Pillar Page (star), Split Cluster, and Delete Cluster (trash).
- Review Queue panel on the right — posts stay here when analysis is unfinished or no topic match is strong enough. It has a search box, a status filter (Ready to place, Awaiting analysis, Analysis needs attention, Not analyzed) and pages of up to 100 posts, so it stays fast even on sites with thousands of articles.
Drag posts between clusters, drag from the Review Queue into a cluster, or click Suggest next to an analyzed post to have the AI propose the best existing cluster, then Apply. Posts marked Awaiting analysis or Not analyzed need content processing first (Settings → AI Settings, step 3).
Smart Pillar Suggestions
A table of your strongest posts that are not yet pillars, with a Pillar Score, the Suggested Pillar Post and Details. Consider building clusters around them, or make one the pillar of its cluster with the Set Pillar Page star.
Search
Next to the View dropdown, the “Find a post or cluster…” search box filters everything visible.
How to actually use this page
First-time setup
- Make sure your content has been processed (Settings → AI Settings, step 3). Unprocessed posts still take part, but with less evidence.
- Click Regenerate Complete Map and confirm.
- Watch the progress panel or leave the page. Large sites continue in the background; come back later to see the result.
- Switch to Insight Dashboard to see the treemap.
- Switch to Interactive List View to fine-tune. Drag any posts that look misplaced, and work through the Review Queue.
Monthly maintenance
- Check the Review Queue. Rows marked Ready to place are genuine low-confidence outliers; click Suggest or assign them by hand.
- Click Audit Current Map if a cluster has started collecting unrelated posts.
- Glance at Insight Dashboard → Automated Insights for shifts, and look at anything marked Needs Review.
- If you’ve added 20+ new posts since the last run, click Regenerate Complete Map.
Changing a pillar
Switch to Interactive List View → find the cluster → click the Set Pillar Page star → pick the post.
Common Questions
What happened to “Regenerate Clusters” and “Regenerate with AI Themes”?
They were merged into Regenerate Complete Map in 3.0. The single button uses your stored analysis plus bounded AI calls and runs the whole site in one go, so there is no longer a separate “next batch” step either. Use Audit Current Map when you just want to clean up what you have without spending AI credits.
Does regeneration stop after one batch?
No. One confirmation evaluates every eligible published post. A result like “492 / 492 evaluated” means every post was checked; it doesn’t mean every post was forced into a cluster. True one-off posts stay in the Review Queue.
Can I close the browser during a large regeneration?
Yes. Above 250 eligible posts the run is a saved background job with Pause, Resume and Stop. Your current map stays active until the replacement passes the quality gate. WordPress cron must be able to run; the progress panel warns you if it is disabled.
Will my manual clusters be wiped if I regenerate?
No. Both Regenerate Complete Map and Remove All AI Clusters preserve clusters you created with Create New Cluster.
How often should I regenerate?
Once a month for an active blog. Cluster shape only changes meaningfully when you add or significantly edit posts.
What is Content Gap Analysis?
Click the lightbulb on a cluster and Linkilo asks the AI for article topics that cluster is missing. It is per cluster and uses AI credits, so you’ll see a confirmation first.
My treemap looks empty
You haven’t generated any clusters yet. Click Regenerate Complete Map to create them.
A cluster contains posts that don’t belong together
Drag the off-topic post to a better cluster in Interactive List View, or click Audit Current Map to let Linkilo re-check the whole map and send weak matches back to review.
Can a post be in multiple clusters?
Not currently. Each post belongs to one cluster. If Linkilo isn’t confident about the best fit, the post waits in the Review Queue instead.
What does “Needs Review” mean?
A low-confidence assignment that you should check before relying on it for your linking strategy. Confirm it by leaving it where it is, drag it somewhere better, or run Audit Current Map.
What’s the Funnel Stage for?
Linkilo guesses where each post fits in a buyer journey:
- TOFU (Top of Funnel) — informational, “What is X?”
- MOFU (Middle of Funnel) — comparison, “X vs Y”
- BOFU (Bottom of Funnel) — purchase-intent, “Best X of 2026”
The filter at the top of Insight Dashboard lets you focus on one stage. Funnel and intent are supporting signals only; Linkilo never groups unrelated posts just because they share a funnel stage.
Commercial vs. Informational border?
Border on each treemap block shows intent: Commercial (solid) = revenue-driving content · Informational (dotted) = teaching content. A healthy site has both.
Last reviewed for Linkilo 3.0.0 (October 2026).