Topics and clusters
How keywords are grouped into pages and topics, the hub-and-spoke plan, and curating your topic list.
A topic (LogNorm also calls it a topic cluster) is one subject you want to be known for: a hub page for the broad search, plus spoke articles for the specific searches around it, each linking back to the hub. Topics tie your keyword research, your blog calendar, your AI visibility prompts and your moves together, so it pays to keep the list tidy.
One topic list, two places to manage it
Every website has a single list of topics. You see it in two places, and a change in either updates both:
- KeywordsTopic clusters: topics seen through keyword data (search volume, difficulty, how many keywords rank in the top 10) and the hub-and-spoke content plan.
- Blog planner: the same topics seen through your articles, under Your topics, with ideas and scheduled posts for each.
Articles, AI visibility prompts and moves all point at a topic from this list. When another feature (a competitor gap, an AI suggestion) finds a subject that isn't a topic yet, it adds it as a suggested topic rather than inventing a label of its own.
Topic states
| State | Shown as | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Working on | A topic you're pursuing. Active topics feed the Blog planner's article ideas and keyword moves. |
| Suggested | Suggested | Proposed by keyword research, AI or a competitor gap. It waits for you to keep it or hide it. |
| Hidden | Hidden | Not relevant. Hidden topics stay out of plans and moves, and research won't propose them again. |
On KeywordsTopic clusters, switch between the three with the Working on, Suggested and Hidden toggle. On a suggested card, Work on it makes it active; the eye icon hides it; on a hidden card, Restore brings it back as active. In the Blog planner the same choices read Keep and Not relevant, and you can select several suggested topics to keep or hide at once.
Locked topics
A topic becomes locked the moment a person touches it: creating it, editing its name, hub keyword, intent, description or keywords, choosing a new hub keyword, keeping it or hiding it. Topics that AI proposed are locked from the start. Locking is invisible in the UI, but it matters: keyword research never replaces or re-clusters a locked topic. It can only add new spoke keywords to it.
How research builds topics
When you run Find keywords on the Keywords page, LogNorm gathers and screens new keyword suggestions (see Keywords) and then groups them. Grouping happens in two levels.
- Keywords that fit an existing topic join it
If a keyword clearly belongs to a topic you already keep, or to an active topic from an earlier research run, it joins that topic. A keyword that fits a hidden topic stays out of every topic.
- Keywords are grouped into pages
For the rest, LogNorm asks, pair by pair, whether one page could rank for both searches: same intent, same answer. Keywords that pass are grouped into a page, and each page gets a main (pillar) keyword. Every member is then checked against that pillar, so a chain of loosely related keywords can't drift into one page.
- Pages are grouped into topics
Pages are then paired again: would one pillar page naturally link to both as supporting articles? Pages that pass form a topic, capped at 10 pages and 60 keywords. The topic's hub keyword is chosen from its pages' pillars, and the topic is named after the hub. Only the hub keyword gets the HUB role; every other keyword in the topic is a spoke.
- New topics are filed
A page that joins nothing becomes a topic of its own only if it has at least two keywords and real search volume, or includes a keyword you've targeted. At most 15 new topics are created per run, the highest-volume ones first; the remaining keywords stay unclustered and still appear in Discover.
Searches for your own brand go into one navigational topic. Off-topic keywords, competitors' brand searches and suggestions rated tangential to your business never join a topic. Keywords you've targeted always take part, because you chose them.
Grouping normally runs on LogNorm's own decision model. If it isn't available, an AI model from your AI providers groups the keywords instead and a second pass re-checks the groups. The 15-topic cap described above applies to the decision model.
What research never replaces
Each research run rebuilds the topics it created before. It leaves these alone:
- Locked topics (anything a person created, edited, kept or hid).
- Hidden topics.
- Topics that didn't come from research: ones you created and ones AI suggested.
- Topics that articles or AI visibility prompts are filed under.
An active research topic is reused when two or more of its keywords still fit it; it keeps its name and status, and keywords that no longer fit leave it. An untouched research topic that nothing uses and nothing fits any more is removed, and its keywords go back to having no cluster.
If a research topic is worth keeping as it is, edit it (even just the description) or pick its hub keyword. That locks it, so later runs only add spokes.
Once you've curated your list (you have at least one active topic that is locked, manual, AI-suggested or in use), new topics from research arrive as Suggested instead of going straight to Working on. Before that, research topics start active so a new workspace has something to work with.
Create and edit topics yourself
You don't have to wait for research. There are three ways to add a topic:
- New topic cluster on KeywordsTopic clusters: give it a name, a hub keyword, a search intent, an optional "why it matters" and the keywords in it. Keywords you add this way are targeted, within your plan's tracked-keyword limit, and LogNorm fetches their search volume and difficulty.
- New cluster from selection in Discover: select keywords, open Add to cluster… and choose New cluster from selection…. The highest-volume keyword becomes the hub.
- Suggest topic clusters: LogNorm proposes 3 to 10 new topics from your product, buyers, competitors and researched keywords that aren't in a topic yet, with an optional focus you type in. They arrive as Suggested, with real search data, and their keywords come in as suggestions for you to target or skip. This needs an AI model and uses credits.
Open a topic to manage it. Edit changes its details and keywords. In the keywords table, each row's menu lets you Target, Skip, Make it the hub, Move to cluster or Remove from cluster. The ⋯ menu hides, restores or deletes the topic.
Deleting a topic keeps its keywords (without a cluster), but articles, AI prompts and moves filed under it lose their topic, and it disappears from the Blog planner too. Hiding keeps everything and simply takes the topic out of plans and moves.
The cluster content plan
A topic's page shows its search volume, how many keywords you target and how many rank in the top 10, then the plan, competitor pages and keywords.
- Build the plan
Open a topic and click Build hub & spoke plan. The topic needs at least two keywords that aren't skipped, and the plan is written by an AI model, so your workspace needs one available (see AI providers). It runs in the background; you can leave the page.
- Read the hub and spokes
The Hub & spoke plan shows one Hub page and typically 3 to 10 Spoke articles. Each card names the keyword it targets plus close variants, its format (guide, how-to, comparison, listicle, template, glossary, landing page or case study), searches per month, difficulty, why it's worth writing, an angle and up to three Pages to beat from competitors. A card marked Rework existing page means you already have a page ranking for it, so improve that page instead of writing a new one.
- Plan the articles
Click Plan article on a card, or Plan all for every unplanned card. Each becomes an idea in your content plan with its target keyword, topic and angle, scheduled into the next free slot at your publishing cadence starting tomorrow. The card then shows Planned, In progress or Published and links to the article.
Targeted keywords come first in the plan; skipped keywords are left out. The plan's hub keyword becomes the topic's hub, and every other keyword becomes a spoke. Use Refresh plan after you add keywords or target new ones.
Moves from the plan
Building a plan also creates moves in your backlog for up to eight of its articles: a write the article move, or a rework your page move when a page of yours already ranks. Articles whose keyword you already rank 1 to 3 for, or that you've skipped, get no move. Articles built on targeted keywords get higher confidence; ones built on unreviewed suggestions get lower confidence. Hidden topics produce no moves. A card with a move but no article yet shows Move in backlog.
What competitors publish
Under the plan, What competitors publish to win these searches lists the competitor pages that rank for the topic's keywords, from competitor analysis and Google results you've checked. Once a plan exists, it groups them by competitor with the themes each one covers.
Tips
- Review the Suggested view after each research run. Keep what fits, hide what doesn't, so future runs learn your list.
- Plan the hub first; spokes rank better once there's a hub for them to link to.
- Target the keywords you want to win before building the plan, so the plan and its moves lean on them.