Cornerstone Content: What Is It and How Can It Support SEO?
Let’s talk about cornerstone content: what is it and how can it support your SEO strategy?
For those of you who don’t nerd out at the thought of search engine optimization, SEO can feel like a black hole of confusion. (And let’s be honest, that’s probably all but one or two of us *cough cough* our SEO manager…), but don’t stress. We’re here to help! Let’s dive in.
What is Cornerstone Content?
Cornerstone content, sometimes referred to as evergreen content, includes the most important articles and pages on your website (not including your homepage). Cornerstone content is typically:
- Long-form (longer than your average blog post)
- Informative
- Very well written
According to Rank Movers, the purpose of cornerstone content is to “perfectly explain your business or the purpose of your website.”
Most websites’ cornerstone content is made up of three to five elements. These can be pages or posts, but regardless, it is important that they are frequently updated. Keep ‘em fresh!
As a final note, Yoast tells us that the pages that make up your business’s cornerstone content should consist of “the best, most important articles on your site; the pages or posts you want to rank highest in the search engines.”
So, don’t get lazy with these pages and/or articles. Your cornerstone content is your time to shine!
An Example of Cornerstone Content
Here’s an example of great cornerstone content (better yet, it comes from one of our clients!).
Our client, Milikowsky Tax Law specializes in IRS, EDD, and State Attorney law. This considered, some of Milikowsky’s cornerstone content includes:
- What to Expect from a California EDD Audit and Investigation
- What Triggers on IRS Audit
- The Difference Between EDD and CSLB Audits
Remember, cornerstone content is the core of your website. It must be relevant and hold a prominent, easy-to-access spot on your website.
Why is Cornerstone Content Important?
So, why the heck is cornerstone content so important for SEO? Well, when you first launch your website, chances are it will be small and nearly impossible to find unless someone is directly searching for it. *insert sad face emoji* It takes time to build up your site’s organic search traffic and organic keywords.
We hear it all the time from clients who are just beginning their digital marketing strategy with us. “How can I rank for XYZ?” “I want to show up on the first page of Google!” Awesome, we want that for you, too! Cornerstone content is an amazing, effective way to achieve this.
But remember, “sites don’t rank: individual pages rank. If you want to rank for a particular keyword, you’ll need to determine which specific page you want to rank for that keyword,” Yoast reminds us.
Unfortunately, ranking #1 on Google is not a magic overnight process. Like all things SEO and digital marketing, it takes time. (As your mother used to always say, ‘good things take time.’ She’s not wrong…) With a consistent effort, you’re sure to reap results.
The first step is to identify what keywords you want to rank for, and then to create a “hub” for that topic; a page that is the center of that topic.
With consistency and hard work, cornerstone content will help you increase the visibility of your site. And we all know site traffic leads to prospects and ultimately conversions—yay!
How Can Cornerstone Content Support SEO?
As previously mentioned, it can be difficult to rank for certain topics and keywords—especially broad or popular keywords with high volume or keyword difficulty. By implementing a cornerstone content approach, you can chip away at the difficult search terms that your business wants to rank for.
For our clients who have lots of content on the same topic or keyword (*cough cough* all of them), cornerstone content helps tell Google which pages are the most important. (Yes, even the algorithm needs a bit of help sometimes…)
Become an SEO Pro
If your head is still spinning at the thought of cornerstone content, contact our team today. Our awesome SEO manager is the best at breaking down SEO so you can understand it all, no problem.
Read on to learn more about why SEO is important for your company. We promise you’re not giving it as much attention as it deserves.
