SYS/DEF
Semantic cocoon
A graph of pages around a parent intent, explicit internal links, one role per URL. Not a keyword cloud.
Definition
A semantic cocoon is a graph of pages: a pillar covering the broad intent, support pages for sub-intents, and internal links that tell the engine (and the user) which URL is the canonical answer. The vocabulary shifts — silo, topic cluster, cocoon — the idea does not: one URL, one intent, one path.
It is not a list of 50 articles “for volume”. A thin, correct cocoon beats a blog that cannibalises itself.
When it matters
When designing a brochure site or a topical hub, and every time a team “adds an article” without saying which query it should win. It is also the right audit tool: drawing the graph reveals orphans and duplicates.
The cocoon serves E-E-A-T by making expertise visible (named human, sources, links to proof), not by stacking synonym H2s.
Pitfalls
Linking every page to every other “for juice”: you erase hierarchy. Writing the pillar after twenty supports, then improvised 301s. Targeting the same exact keyword on pillar and support. Measuring the cocoon by pages published rather than by intents actually covered without overlap.
Related terms
Related tool
Once the cocoon is in place, value a URL’s traffic with real CVR or a CPC proxy: Open value of SEO traffic.