Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “put your best foot forward”. Building cornerstone content is putting your best article forward. Your cornerstone content communicates what you are about, your mission, and gives your visitors a general impression of your site and its purpose.
Aside from impressing site visitors, cornerstone content can also play a role in SEO. When it is done right and is effective, it can be a ranking factor. Building a cornerstone content structure can give your site a boost for specific keywords as well as some of the long tail keyword phrases. A good analogy might be a cornerstone as its used in the construction industry. The cornerstone is set in place and provides a foundation for the building. Then, the other stones are set in place around it. This determines the positioning of the entire structure. A cornerstone article is a central place to set the foundation for your content.
At Bright Vessel, we generally build a cornerstone article to have three topics. Below is an example diagram on how to set up a Cornerstone article for a Montessori School Article.
The Anatomy of an SEO Cornerstone Article:
Cornerstone Article Structure:
On the article structure, we would recommend adding the following:
Building sub-articles based on each topic in your Cornerstone articles
Internal linking is an important ranking factor and providing Google with a clear map to follow when indexing your site is beneficial. Think of the content on your site as a graph. Your homepage is at the top of the graph, and the rest of the content trickles down. Articles of lesser importance are filtered down through the graph. Cornerstone articles will be located close to the top and preferably linked from the homepage. Cornerstone topics are discussed throughout the other content with links back to their respective cornerstone articles. This link structure tells Google bots how to interpret the importance of all the pages. For instance, if you are writing about marketing and using it as a cornerstone, you’d like back to it from articles with related subjects. “Marketing to Lawyers” or “Developing Effective Marketing Strategies” would link back to your cornerstone content.
One of the most basic concepts behind creating a cornerstone content structure is establishing domain authority. After you achieve this, your site can rank higher in SERPs. To accomplish this, spend time researching and producing a structure around 3 to 5 cornerstone articles using competitive keywords and long tail words or phrases you want to rank on.
Here is a great article from Moz.com on what is Domain Authority: https://moz.com/learn/seo/domain-authority
Statistics show that if you can get a customer to stay on your site for 30 minutes, you are more likely to retain that customer—and they are more likely to recommend the site to others as well. But if a customer visits your site and is unable to find answers to their questions quickly and efficiently, they won’t last five minutes on your site, much less 30. Good cornerstone content is easily accessible, grabs and holds a customer’s attention, and keeps them coming back to your site for more. The best way to make sure that customers get and stay engaged in your content is ensuring a good foundation and structure that allows them to navigate your site easily and keep on clicking.
Cornerstone content is what will establish credibility for you and your site in the world of SEO rankings. You may have several high-ranking keyword posts, but a cornerstone page will give you more relevance and boost your site in SERPs while connecting your best content together. Not only does it boost your ranking, it allows customers to:
With all this in mind, there is really no reason not to have a solid cornerstone content page on your site. Creating cornerstone content is relatively simple, especially when you already have content that you have worked hard on. With just a little restructuring, your site will have a useful map for customers to follow, higher SEO rankings, and more visibility.
Conclusion
In today’s competitive market, one must look for ways to stand out and stay ahead. With so much content out there, it’s necessary to do everything you can to achieve high SEO rankings and draw people in before they lose interest or switch to a site that’s more user-friendly or interesting. Following simple steps to compile and create cornerstone content gives you a leg up on the competition by streamlining your site and rankings to achieve a better SERP position and can only increase traffic. What are you waiting for?
Are you ready to create powerful cornerstone content for your site? Bright Vessel can help you reach your SEO goals through keyword research and the creation of stellar cornerstone content. Contact us today to find out how we can help. Contact us today and learn more about our SEO services.
