What is a Parent Topic?
In the context of SEO, a parent topic refers to a broad topic or category that encompasses several subtopics or subcategories.
For example, if you have a website about fitness, "fitness" could be the parent topic, with subtopics such as "strength training," "cardiovascular exercise," and "nutrition."
Organizing information like this helps search engines know how topics are related to one another on a website. When people search for the subtopics, search engines can match their searches with the relevant parent topic pages.
How are parent and child topics different?
A parent topic is a broad main subject, and child topics are more specific sub-topics under it.
For example, on-page SEO is a parent topic. On-page SEO is about optimizing individual web pages to improve search engine rankings.
Some child topics under on-page SEO are:
Meta Tags Optimization
Header Tag Optimization
URL Structure
Keyword Density and Placement
These child topics cover a certain part of on-page SEO.
So the parent topic on-page SEO is the big category. Then under it are more specific sub-categories that each discuss a certain aspect.
Why is it important?
A parent topic can be important for several reasons:
Organizational structure
Using parent and child topics creates an organisational structure for related information.
This groups all the individual topics into clear families. It shows how each piece of information relates to the bigger parent subject.
Organizing information this way makes it easier to understand. Readers can see how it flows logically from broad parents down to narrow categories.
Contextualization
Parent topics give a wider lens to understand groups of subtopics. They provide context so you can better grasp the relationships between the specific sub-pieces of content.
Having that structure makes the information easier to learn and remember.
Navigation
A parent topic acts as the starting place when people are searching for information on a general subject.
Having the parent topics give users a logical first place to start their search. It helps them easily locate child topics that come under it, containing more details.
Search engine optimization
Organizing topics in a hierarchy from parent to child topics can help with SEO.
When related topics are logically grouped under a main parent topic, it is easier for search engines to understand the content. This improves how search engines rank the pages.
Conclusion
A parent topic is important for organizing related information. It gives context and structure for connected subtopics.
This logical hierarchy makes it easier for users to access, understand, and remember the information.