topic-cluster-architect

---
name: topic-cluster-architect
description: Designs site-specific SEO topic cluster strategies by first diagnosing the website archetype, then mapping pillar pages, supporting content, internal linking, and execution priorities. This skill should be used when a user wants a content architecture, topic map, or cluster plan tailored to a SaaS, ecommerce, service, media, affiliate, marketplace, directory, programmatic SEO, or hybrid site.
---

# Topic Cluster Architect

## Overview

Design a topic cluster strategy that matches the site's business model, search intent mix, and growth goal. Diagnose the site archetype first. Then build a content architecture with pillar pages, supporting clusters, internal linking logic, and a phased roadmap.

Prioritize strategic clarity and practical execution. Do not return a flat list of disconnected keyword ideas. Return a structured topic system that explains why each cluster exists, what intent it serves, and how it contributes to organic growth.

Deliver the result as a readable report. Prefer short sections, bullet lists, and tables that make decisions easy to scan.


## When to Use

Use this skill when the user asks to:
- plan a content strategy for a website or business
- design topic clusters, content hubs, or pillar pages
- map content around products, services, categories, or problems
- find SEO content opportunities after reviewing a site
- structure a blog, resource center, template library, or learning hub
- create a 30/60/90-day or quarterly content roadmap
- tailor content strategy to the site's type instead of using a generic SEO framework

Do not use this skill for:
- single-article briefs only
- technical SEO audits
- full CRO landing page rewrites
- backlink outreach plans
- pure keyword dumps without strategic structure

## Minimum Inputs

Prefer collecting as many of these as possible:
- website URL
- short business description
- product or service categories
- target audience
- target market or geography
- primary business goal such as traffic, leads, demos, sales, topical authority, or expansion
- current content situation
- whether the site is newly launched if the user knows
- optional launch timing, domain age, or current page count signals
- optional competitor URLs for gap analysis
- optional existing pages, categories, article inventory, or keyword lists for content-fit analysis


If inputs are incomplete, continue with reasonable assumptions and state them briefly before presenting the strategy.

## Clarifying Questions

Keep clarifying questions short. Ask only what materially changes the strategy.

Prefer no-question execution when the site type, business model, and growth direction are already clear enough to produce a strong first-pass strategy.

## Workflow


### 1. Diagnose the site archetype

Classify the site before proposing clusters.

Start with the closest standard archetype:
- SaaS
- B2B Service
- Local Service
- Ecommerce
- Media / Blog
- Affiliate / Review
- Marketplace / Directory
- Programmatic SEO
- Hybrid

If the site is mixed, output:
- Primary archetype
- Secondary archetype
- Strategy implication

Base the diagnosis on visible signals such as:
- revenue model
- main conversion action
- navigation structure
- content-to-commercial page ratio
- presence of product catalog, service pages, editorial hub, comparison pages, templates, listings, or location pages

If the standard label is not precise enough, add a refined custom description such as `SaaS + template-library hybrid` or `DTC ecommerce with editorial acquisition`.

### 2. Assess site maturity and detect whether this is a new site

Classify the site as one of:
- New site
- Early-stage site
- Established site

Use signals such as:
- very recent launch date if provided
- low page count or very thin content footprint
- weak evidence of existing topical authority
- limited commercial page depth
- little visible trust, link, or brand momentum
- sparse internal linking and undeveloped information architecture

If evidence is incomplete, label the judgment as a best-fit estimate.

Also assign a confidence level for the diagnosis:
- High confidence
- Medium confidence
- Low confidence

Base confidence on evidence completeness, clarity of the business model, and how clearly the site's structure supports the archetype and maturity judgment.

If the site appears to be new, shift strategy toward focused market entry instead of broad topic coverage.

### 3. Define the growth objective

Infer or confirm the dominant growth objective:
- demand capture
- demand generation
- topical authority
- product-led discovery
- service-area expansion
- category expansion
- commercial-intent capture

Let the objective shape cluster prioritization.

### 4. Map the topic universe


Separate topics into clear buckets such as:
- commercial topics
- problem / solution topics
- use-case topics
- comparison / alternative topics
- educational topics
- trust-building topics
- vertical or audience-specific topics
- geographic topics when relevant

Avoid mixing all topics into one undifferentiated list. Show how each bucket supports a stage of intent.

### 5. Use optional competitive and inventory inputs when available


If competitor URLs are provided:
- identify topic patterns competitors appear to prioritize
- highlight likely topic gaps, angle gaps, or intent gaps
- explain which gaps are worth closing and which are not worth copying

If an existing page, category, or article inventory is provided:
- map current assets to the proposed cluster architecture
- identify pages to keep, expand, consolidate, reposition, or deprioritize
- avoid recommending net-new clusters that duplicate existing strong coverage

Use these optional inputs to improve prioritization, not to replace strategic judgment.

### 6. Build the cluster architecture


For each major cluster, define:

- cluster name
- business rationale
- search intent
- pillar page or hub page
- supporting pages
- adjacent subclusters
- monetization or conversion relevance
- internal linking role

Keep the number of top-level clusters manageable. Prefer a focused architecture over exhaustive sprawl.

### 7. Tailor the strategy to the archetype

Adjust recommendations by site type.


Examples:
- SaaS: use cases, features, alternatives, integrations, comparisons, jobs-to-be-done
- Ecommerce: category support, buying guides, comparisons, care/use content, accessory and bundle discovery
- B2B Service: service pages, industry pages, problem/solution pages, process and case-study support
- Local Service: service + location clusters, trust and proof content, local problem queries
- Media / Blog: breadth, editorial coverage, series structure, topic ownership
- Affiliate / Review: comparison, best-of, versus pages, decision support, commercial intent capture
- Marketplace / Directory: listing logic, city/category hubs, supply-demand query mapping
- Programmatic SEO: template logic, scalable page patterns, entity segmentation
- Hybrid: define which archetype drives acquisition and which archetype supports conversion

### 8. Prioritize and phase

Provide a practical sequence such as:


- Phase 1: quick authority and revenue-adjacent wins
- Phase 2: mid-funnel and coverage expansion
- Phase 3: moat-building and scale

Recommend what to build first, what to defer, and what to avoid.

### 9. Estimate likely SEO impact and success conditions

State a realistic expected impact level such as:
- High potential
- Medium potential
- Low potential

Explain the rating using site maturity, competition, execution readiness, and alignment between the proposed clusters and the business model.

Always include:
- who is most likely to benefit from this strategy
- what conditions must be true for the strategy to work well
- what limitations may reduce SEO results

If the site is new, explain that success will usually appear first as indexing, topical footprint, and early impression growth before large ranking wins.

### 10. Add a new-site strategy when relevant

If the site is classified as `New site`, add a dedicated new-site strategy section.

This section should:
- recommend a narrow initial focus instead of broad topic sprawl
- explain which page types must exist first
- sequence foundational pages, trust assets, and first-wave clusters
- adapt the path to the product type or business model

Examples:
- SaaS: homepage clarity, core feature pages, use-case pages, alternatives, comparison footholds, selective educational support
- Ecommerce: clean category structure, highest-value collections, buying guides, use-case support, trust and policy pages
- B2B Service: core service pages, industry pages, proof assets, objection-handling pages, tightly scoped educational support
- Local Service: core service + location pages, proof and review support, local FAQs, trust pages
- Affiliate / Review: a narrow commercial niche, comparison logic, evaluation framework, selective buyer-intent coverage

## Output Requirements


Return the result as a report in this structure unless the user requests a different format:

1. Executive Summary
   - site type in one line
   - site maturity in one line
   - main opportunity
   - main risk or tradeoff
   - recommended strategic direction

2. Site Type Diagnosis
   - standard archetype
   - refined custom description when useful
   - evidence
   - confidence level
   - what reduced confidence if not high
   - strategic implication

3. Site Maturity and Expected SEO Impact
   - site maturity: new / early-stage / established
   - expected SEO impact: high / medium / low potential
   - why this rating fits
   - who will benefit most
   - success conditions
   - limiting factors

4. Growth Goal Interpretation
   - primary SEO growth goal
   - secondary goal
   - key tradeoff

5. Core Topic Universe
   - major topic domains
   - intent buckets
   - themes to deprioritize

6. Cluster Architecture
   - 3-8 priority clusters
   - pillar or hub recommendation for each
   - supporting page ideas
   - intent label
   - business value label
   - suggested internal links

7. Optional Gap and Inventory Insights
   - competitor topic gaps when competitor URLs are available
   - keep / expand / consolidate / reposition / deprioritize guidance when existing content inputs are available

8. Site-Type-Specific Strategy
   - what this site type should emphasize
   - what this site type should avoid
   - how broad versus how conversion-oriented the program should be

9. New-Site Strategy
   - include only when the site is classified as new
   - first pages to build
   - first clusters to build
   - what not to overbuild yet
   - 90-day traction strategy by business model

10. Execution Roadmap
   - first 30 days
   - next 60 days
   - next 90 days or quarter
   - optional expansion track


## Report Presentation Rules

Make the report highly scannable:
- start with a short executive summary in bullets
- use Markdown tables for comparisons, prioritization, or cluster summaries
- use bullet lists for recommendations, rationale, and action items
- keep paragraphs short
- prefer labeled sections over long prose blocks

At minimum, include these tables when helpful:
- a site maturity and SEO impact table
- a cluster summary table
- a priority or phase table
- a competitor-gap or content-fit table when those inputs are available
- a new-site first-90-days table when the site is new


## Preview and Save Workflow

After producing the report:
1. Prefer rendering a temporary preview artifact when the environment supports browser preview.
2. Generate a temporary HTML or Markdown-based preview file only for viewing.
3. Open the preview URL for the user when preview tooling is available.
4. Tell the user exactly where the report is currently available:
   - preview URL when preview exists
   - inline chat when preview is unavailable
   - exact file path after saving
5. Ask whether the user wants to save this report as a file.
6. Persist the report only after explicit user confirmation.
7. When saving, prefer the filename pattern `topic-cluster-report-YYYY-MM-DD.md` unless the user asks for a different name.

Do not save the report by default.

If preview URL generation is not available in the current environment, present the full report inline and then ask whether the user wants it saved.


## Quality Bar


Ensure every recommendation is:
- tied to a clear intent or business outcome
- appropriate for the site's archetype and maturity level
- specific enough to execute
- not just a keyword dump
- internally coherent as a content system
- realistic about expected SEO impact and time-to-result


## Guardrails

- Do not force a blog-heavy strategy onto a site that should win through commercial pages, category support, or programmatic scale.
- Do not recommend high-volume informational content if the site lacks a logical conversion bridge.
- Do not treat all archetypes as if they require the same pillar model.
- Do not give a broad, authority-first publishing plan to a new site that still lacks core commercial and trust pages.
- Do not overproduce clusters without sequencing.
- If evidence is weak, present the diagnosis as a best-fit hypothesis, not false certainty.
- Do not imply guaranteed SEO gains; explain conditions and limits.


## Resources

When deeper pattern guidance is needed, load:
- `references/site-archetypes.md` for archetype signals and strategy adjustments
- `references/strategy-framework.md` for the skill's reasoning architecture and decision layers
- `references/new-site-playbook.md` for new-site diagnosis and first-stage growth sequencing
- `references/output-template.md` for a reusable response structure
- `references/report-delivery.md` for report formatting, preview flow, and save behavior


---
### Delivery Requirements

> Report Meta
> - **Engine:** [Topic Cluster Architect](https://github.com/x0u0an/v1.0.0-topic-cluster-architect) (v1.0.0)
> - **Architect:** x0u0an
> - **Framework:** AI-Native Topic Cluster Logic
> - **Notice:** Generated via Claude Code. This strategy is for SEO reference; please review based on actual business needs.