Read your topics, and rename, merge or split them
Silotree groups your posts by what they are about, whatever section they sit in, and each group should have one main guide. The Topics screen says which topics need something and what to do about it. When a group or its name is wrong, you can rename it, merge it or split posts out; that changes Silotree’s labels, never your site.
Steps
Open Topics
Open Topics in the sidebar; the Topics tab opens first, and Competing posts is the second tab. A topic is a group of posts about the same subject, worked out at each scan from what the posts say rather than from the section of the site they sit in. Each topic has, or is missing, one main guide: the post that covers the subject whole and that the others link up to.
At the top, three counts say how many topics overlap another, send readers away and need a guide; each one jumps to the first such topic. Under them, What these mean opens a one-line meaning for each term. Topics are the Organised part of your Silotree Score, worth 20 points.
Read what each topic needs
Topics that need something come first. Each row shows its posts, the main guide (its address, Draft in WordPress, or None yet), one sentence on what to do, and at most one button:
- Overlaps with another topic in the same section: Compare the two opens both topics, which are listed one after the other. Pick one guide to lead both, or link the two guides.
- Sends readers away: fewer than 35% of its links stay inside it. Links to add inside it opens Links → To add with only the links between this topic’s posts.
- Needs a guide: no page covers the whole topic. Create the main guide outlines one from its posts and saves it as a draft, see create a main guide. Once saved, the button reads See the draft; if a guide you made no longer leads the posts, See the guide.
A topic that holds together says Nothing to do, and one with too few posts says so and is left out of your score.
Open a topic to see its posts
Click a row to open it. Its posts are listed with the main guide first, tagged Main guide, and each says how many links it gets from your other posts. Each post opens its own page. Under the list, Edit opens the edit panel below the posts, so you can see them while you change the topic.
Rename it, or pick its main guide
Under NAME, type a new name and press Rename. A name you type is kept at later scans, as long as the topic still has at least half of the same posts.
Under MAIN GUIDE, pick one of the topic’s posts, or none, this topic needs a page to say the guide has not been written yet, then press Set. The topic’s state and your score stay as the last scan measured them: a topic that needed a guide says you picked one and waits for the scan. Later scans keep your choice while that post is still in the topic and still published. If it leaves the topic, or is unpublished or set to noindex, the next scan works out the main guide again from your posts. A main guide you make later with Create the main guide takes over from a pick.
Merge it, or split posts out
Under MERGE INTO, pick another topic and press Merge: every post here moves across and this topic disappears. The topic you merge into keeps its own main guide, and takes this one’s only if it has none. There is no undo; to separate the posts again, split them back out.
Under SPLIT OUT, tick the posts that belong apart, type a name for the new topic and press Split 2 out (the number is how many you ticked). The new topic starts with no main guide. If you split out the old topic’s main guide, the old topic has none either.
Posts you moved by merging or splitting stay where you put them at later scans, unless they leave your site.
What you should see
The screen reloads with the new names, posts and counts. Editing a topic changes only how Silotree groups and names your posts: no post, address or link on your site is touched, and nothing is written. The links Silotree suggests are still worked out at each scan from what your posts say.
If it doesn’t work
- There is no Edit, only a sample
Topics are built on paid plans and during the trial. On the free plan the screen shows a sample, the topics among the pages your site links to most, and the plan that builds them all.
- “Not enough posts yet”
Topics need at least ten posts of a hundred words or more. Other messages in the same place say why this week’s scan built none, and when it will try again.
- My main guide changed back after a scan
A pick is kept only while the post is in the topic and live. If the scan moved it to another topic, or it was unpublished or set to noindex, the scan works the main guide out again: first how many of the topic’s own posts link to a post, then how squarely it is about the subject and how near the top of the site it sits. Open the topic and pick again, or link the topic’s posts up to the post you want to lead it. A guide made with Create the main guide after your pick also takes over.
- I merged the wrong topics
There is no undo for a merge. Open the topic you merged into, tick the posts that came across under SPLIT OUT, and split them back out under their old name.
Questions
Does editing a topic change anything on my site?
No. Renaming, picking a main guide, merging and splitting change only how Silotree groups and names your posts. No post, address or link is touched and nothing is written. A main guide or a merge applies when you press Set or Merge, not when you pick from the list.
Will the next scan undo my edits?
A name you type is kept as long as the topic still has at least half of the same posts. Posts you moved by merging or splitting stay where you put them, unless they leave your site. The main guide you pick is kept while that post is still in the topic and published; if it leaves the topic or is unpublished, the next scan works it out again from your posts and the links between them.
Do my edits change which links Silotree suggests?
Mostly not. Suggestions are worked out at each scan from what your posts say. The one edit they follow is the main guide: from the next scan, a topic’s posts are suggested links up to the main guide you picked. To get links between a topic’s posts, use Links to add inside it on the topic’s row.
Is it on the free plan?
Topics are built on Solo, Studio and Agency, and during the trial. On the free plan the screen shows a sample of your topics, from the pages your site links to most, and the plan that builds them all.