What Is Cornerstone Content and How Do You Create It?
Cornerstone content is an important concept and one that may need to figure in your content strategy.
Modern business websites can, over time, build thousands and thousands of pages of content. While quantity is useful in this regard, it is helpful to have a set number of pages that feature the core fundamentals of your site – and by extension, your business. These can show what your business is and what it can offer potential consumers. One of the best ways to achieve this aim is by introducing cornerstone content to your site.
What is cornerstone content?
Cornerstone content is content that really focuses on the core of your business. These pages are a vital component of your SEO strategy. Hopefully, your cornerstone content will be among the highest-ranking content on your site. For the most part, these pages are usually individual, standalone pages. They should be highly authoritative and beneficial to the reader.
Additionally, “cornerstone content” is sometimes used to refer to a “hub” page that links to a number of different posts and pages across the site. This hub should also feature content that focuses on the core of your business and optimizes SEO. So, for our purposes, all types of cornerstone content – be they primarily standalone or a hub to link to other areas of your site – should be approached in the same manner.
How do you create cornerstone content?
You can either create a new page on your site or update an existing page to create cornerstone content.
- Your cornerstone content should be useful to the reader. Research what your target customer might Google for in relation to your business and let that guide your cornerstone content.
- Your cornerstone content should be highly authoritative. It should position your business as a leader in a particular business sphere.
- Cornerstone content can be any form of content; a podcast, a how-to guide, a video – provided it is useful and reflects well on your brand, the specific type of content is not relevant.
- Cornerstone content should be SEO optimized and targeted, but this should not interfere with the standard of the content. Quality is vital for cornerstone content.
- It’s useful to link to other pages on the rest of your site when creating cornerstone content. This is especially important if you are seeking to create a cornerstone “hub”-style page.
How does cornerstone content differ from standard content?
- Cornerstone content should, essentially, be the best content on your site. Just as a compilation of a musician’s best singles makes it onto the “best of” album, your cornerstone content would make it onto the “best of” for your site.
- Long-form. Cornerstone content can be short if done well but, realistically, you should aim for long, in-depth pieces. Look for articles that really give you the opportunity to showcase your expertise.
- Free from “sales” language. Cornerstone content is not designed to drive conversions. It’s nice if it does, but that isn’t its purpose. Its purpose is to ensure your website is able to be seen as genuinely expert in its field and is able to provide useful information to consumers. If you do this well, then readers will likely explore the rest of your site anyway; this is particularly true for “hub”-style cornerstone content. As a result, the cornerstone content, in and of itself, does not need to be promotional.
In conclusion
Whether you choose to write cornerstone content that seeks to promote posts on the rest of your site, or standalone authoritative pages that you can continually link to provide advice and guidance, a modern business website cannot afford to be without cornerstone content.
The team at Impressona are experts at getting content in front of the right eyes, and making that content inspire action. If that sounds like something your business needs, please do reach out and get in touch.
