Everyone says build topical authority, cover the whole topic, etc. Fine. But nobody gives a number.
I’m working on a small site in the home workshop space. Picked one sub-topic (dust collection), wrote 9 articles so far, all interlinked, one pillar page on top. Six weeks in and the pillar is sitting around position 25-30 for its main term. The supporting posts get a few impressions each in GSC and that’s it.
So for people who have done this a few times: roughly how many pieces did the cluster have when things started moving? Or is it more about time than count?