Why the death of pillar pages has been greatly exaggerated—and what to do instead
There's a compelling argument making rounds in SEO circles: pillar pages are dead. The logic seems sound at first glance. In a conversational search environment dominated by AI assistants, those massive 5,000-word guides we've spent years perfecting appear to be little more than free content for language models to extract, summarize, and abandon.
Pillar pages targeting high-volume keywords are obsolete in conversational AI search, as LLMs summarize them for initial queries but users stay in chat for follow-ups (e.g., costs, logistics after "how to form an LLC"). Instead of more searches, users ask sequential questions in the LLM, only entering your funnel once satisfied. Predict these via customer data like support tickets and session recordings—not keyword tools—to reveal real sticking points and conversational intent. Source
When a user asks ChatGPT or Perplexity how to form an LLC, the AI might pull from your meticulously crafted pillar page to deliver a clean answer. The user then asks a follow-up question about costs, then structure, then registered agents—and if you haven't addressed those questions in linked, accessible content, the AI simply moves on to cite competitors for each subsequent answer.
Your pillar page helped the user, but they never clicked through to your site. You've become a footnote in someone else's conversion.
This narrative concludes with a clear directive: stop building pillar pages. Instead, mine your customer support tickets and session recordings to understand the actual question sequences users follow, then build content around those conversational patterns.
But this argument, while containing valuable insights, misses something crucial about how authority actually works in AI-mediated search.
Let's examine the central claim more carefully. If AI systems are using your pillar page as an authoritative source to answer foundational queries—“How do I form an LLC?”—that's not evidence your content is obsolete. It's evidence your content is winning.
Being the source that Claude, ChatGPT, or Perplexity trusts enough to cite for the initial answer in a conversation is a significant competitive advantage. Recent analysis of AI citation patterns shows that platforms consistently favor comprehensive, authoritative sources—with YouTube, Wikipedia, and domain-specific experts dominating citations across industries. If your pillar page is comprehensive enough to be the primary reference, you're more likely to earn the click when users want to dig deeper or take action.
The argument essentially claims that being cited as the authoritative source is a loss. That's backwards.
The real flaw isn't in building pillar pages—it's in building static pillar pages that function as dead-end content experiences.
It's inevitable that content on the web is going to split as site owners recognize the need to feed bots and AI one type of content while also creating content that aims to convert human visits into customers. Some brands will do it with cloaking, some with clever html, some with multiple domains and interlinking. But one static page can't serve all the audience types equally well in the age of AI. ~ Clark Mackey, Cake Websites
There's no inherent conflict between creating comprehensive overview content and supporting conversational search patterns. A well-architected pillar page can serve as a hub that:
The 2019-era approach of creating a monolithic 5,000-word page that tries to be everything to everyone might indeed be obsolete. But the solution isn't to abandon comprehensive overview content—it's to evolve pillar pages into connected content hubs.
The recommendation to rely primarily on customer support tickets and session recordings contains an invisible limitation: these data sources only reflect people who already found you.
Support tickets tell you where existing customers get stuck. Session recordings show you how people who already discovered your site navigate it. Both are invaluable for conversion optimization and identifying content gaps in your existing funnel.
But they tell you absolutely nothing about the massive audience who never discovered you in the first place.
This is where pillar pages—and yes, traditional keyword research—still matter. Comprehensive overview content serves awareness-stage users who don't yet know they need your specific solution. Someone researching “how to start a business” isn't yet thinking about your LLC formation service. But if you're the authoritative source answering their early-stage questions, you've entered their consideration set.
Optimize only for support ticket patterns and you'll improve the experience for 100 existing customers while missing 10,000 potential ones.
Instead of choosing between pillar pages and conversational content, build both as part of an integrated system. Research from HubSpot's topic cluster studies and industry analysis shows that well-structured content hubs can deliver 10-20% improvements in SERP rankings by establishing comprehensive topical authority.
Build comprehensive overview content that establishes topical authority, but design it as a navigation hub rather than a terminal destination. Include:
Use your support tickets, chat logs, and session recordings to identify the actual question sequences users follow. Create dedicated pages for each major question in the sequence, internally linked from your hub page. This gives AI systems—and users—clear pathways to follow-up answers without leaving your content ecosystem.
Don't just think in terms of keywords or even prompts—think in terms of entity relationships. When someone asks about LLC formation, what related entities (registered agents, operating agreements, tax classifications, business licenses) naturally connect to that query? Build content that establishes your authority across the entire entity graph, not just the primary topic.
Use tools that track how AI systems cite your content. If you're being referenced for initial queries but not follow-ups, that's a signal you need deeper spoke content. If you're not being cited at all, your hub content likely lacks the authority signals AI systems look for.
Despite its flaws, the “stop building pillar pages” argument contains several crucial insights:
Customer data reveals conversational intent that keyword tools miss. Search volume data shows you what people typed, not what they were thinking or what they'll ask next. Your support tickets and user recordings expose the actual mental models and decision sequences your audience follows.
Static content loses in conversational environments. If your content strategy ends when someone lands on a page, you've fundamentally misunderstood how AI-mediated search works. Users don't stop asking questions—and if you don't answer them, AI will find someone who does. Research from the Columbia Journalism Review's analysis of AI search engines reveals that while AI platforms do cite sources, they often prioritize comprehensive, interconnected content over isolated pages.
Traditional pillar page formats often fail modern users. A wall of text, even a well-organized one, doesn't serve people looking for quick answers, specific subtopics, or conversational guidance through a complex topic.
These insights should inform how we build content—but they don't justify abandoning the strategic value of comprehensive, authoritative overview content.
The future of SEO in an AI-mediated search environment isn't about choosing between pillar pages and conversational content. It's about building content ecosystems where:
Don't stop building pillar pages. Stop building bad pillar pages—the kind that function as isolated content islands with no connection to the broader questions your audience is asking.
Build authoritative hubs. Surround them with deep, accessible spoke content. Let your customer data reveal the connections. And give both AI systems and human users clear pathways to move from awareness to consideration to conversion—all within your content ecosystem.
That's not the death of pillar pages. It's their evolution.
At Digitaleer, we help businesses build content ecosystems designed for both traditional search and AI-mediated discovery. Our approach combines topical authority, conversational architecture, and data-driven content mapping to ensure your expertise gets found—and cited—when it matters most.
Whether you need help with Phoenix SEO, a comprehensive SEO strategy, or modernizing your existing content for the AI era, our team brings over 15 years of experience in helping businesses dominate search results.
