SEO: CONTENT

Cornerstone Content: Definition

The Cornerstone; the first stone that is set when building a house and determines the orientation of all subsequent stones. A stone of fundamental importance that forms the basis of the building and is associated with rituals in various cultures that go far beyond the ceremony of laying the foundation stone. The Cornerstone Content is named after him, which in the world of search engine marketing describes particularly relevant content of a website, which forms a basis for further relevant and ultimately all further content.

The term was defined a good decade ago by content SEO expert Brian Clark. In Cornerstone Content, he sees the relevant content of a website that inspires visitors so much that they want to read and share it.

Since it is the core interest of search engines to display the pages at the top of the search results for each topic that bring the visitors the most, Cornerstone Content is very good for ranking.

As a leading search engine operator, Google is also a leader in software adjustments that are intended to promote the best ranking of the best pages. Much of the technical requirements specified in the Google guidelines for achieving a good ranking are used to mark certain pages and page content as Cornerstone content - and Google's software is also getting better and better at producing high quality texts to identify.

These requirements for the content and structure of Cornerstone Content can be broken down more precisely:

Cornerstone Content Features: Content

Cornerstone Content is designed to present basic, high quality content. A subject that the operator of the website is really familiar with should be dealt with comprehensively; the visitor should be offered a thorough overview of this topic.

This means that the Cornerstone Content is a "found food" for all companies that are passionate about offering high quality products and services: If they present the background to their offerings very precisely and comprehensively on their website, Cornerstone Content is pure culture, in a search engine-friendly manner very closely related to the services offered (in the shop).

Finding basic content is usually not very difficult: When you sell dog food, your (potential) customers are interested in dog food. Vacuum cleaner sellers share tips to make cleaning easier; Tool vendors have clever building guides on their Cornerstone website that use specific tools. Service providers report on good preparation of the service or products related to the service that make life easier / more beautiful.

Logically, in most cases, Cornerstone Content is quite large that cannot be displayed on one page (or would then only be read by very few people). However, this is by no means required - rather breaking it down into "digestible" snacks is a basic requirement when creating Cornerstone Content, because it significantly increases the added value for the visitor. Therefore, in all parts of its guidelines directed at text content, Google demands a content presentation in the Einsteinian sense: "Make things as simple as possible - but not simpler."

The Cornerstone content should therefore be broken down into individual articles, each of which deals exhaustively with one sub-item. Each and every one of these Cornerstone Content articles should give the reader a quick start, be easy to read, demonstrate a high level of expertise, and arouse the curiosity of the reader to read the other articles. Users do not want “experts” to explain facts to them from above, but want to be addressed respectfully and in a language they understand.

Cornerstone content

Cornerstone Content Features: Structure

The more difficult the specialist knowledge that is to be conveyed to the user, the smaller the nibbles of knowledge that are served at once must be. In return, this knowledge can be richly garnished with references to expert pages and illuminating graphics, films and videos, the integration of small auxiliary programs and an orderly listing of the basic literature.

This is why the Internet is also the natural home of Cornerstone Content: Much better than in any written publication, you can stimulate, interest and keep the reader engaged by linking various articles on certain sub-points of a topic; You can add new developments and / or new ideas on the topic to your Cornerstone content much better than with a regular book.

In the end, this creates entire Cornerstone websites, which are ideally simpler structure are linked internally and with one another (and to and from the outside) and in which every level (every page, every article) can be easily found using matching Cornerstone keywords. With the ease of finding, the internal and external linking and the enthusiasm that these texts trigger, the relevance for the search engine also increases:

The Importance of Cornerstone Content to Search Engine Optimization

It was briefly indicated above: Cornerstone content is actually the content that search engines want. The entire Google guidelines for creating websites are from A-Z a guide for creating cornerstone content.

And the software from Google is not only continuously adapted in the direction of spamming and co., But also on the positive side - Google is getting better and better at providing high-quality texts, structuring well on the content, real and usable recommendations through links and easy to recognize good usability.

Google already points out in its starting guide for search engine optimization that the established scientific standards should always form the basis for web publications on scientific topics. Google also recommends that website operators have the content of their websites created by people who are very familiar with the topic in question; and to prove the technical correctness of the statements made by citing sources or references to knowledgeable or experienced persons. Because it increases the quality of a website if its content demonstrates a high level of professional competence and commitment.

But Google cannot and does not want to pre-sort more than something - the final decision about whether a website contains accessible, useful content and also “gets it across” is always made by the user. This is exactly one of the “aha moments” for writing cornerstone content: The logic of the search engine algorithm also rewards the effort that must be made to first interest users in content that is useful to them. Basically, the following tips for creating Cornerstone Content ultimately only serve the goal of addressing users (customers / readers) as well as possible:

Create Cornerstone Content

1. Find the right keyword or phrase for the topic presented

It doesn't matter which technical terms are best used to represent a topic. But that you start the article with the words that potential readers of this topic are looking for. The most frequently used terms in the search are the keyword or the keyword phrase.

2. Include this keyword in the headline and page title

Search engines have to orientate themselves on words because they are not very good at understanding contexts. This is much easier for you if the crucial words are mentioned in the headline and in the page title.

3. Write good, topic-focused content

The individual Cornerstone content deals with different sub-points of the topic - as exciting as possible, appropriate largely for the respective target group, provided with credible evidence.

4. Create the Cornerstone Content Landing Page

A Cornerstone website can be integrated into an existing website with a shop or set up in addition to it (ask your online marketing agency what is best and when) - but always wins with its own landing page that receives visitors and them helps orientation.

This landing page has a number of advantages for the user and for the evaluation by the search engine:

- The landing pages for the Cornerstone content acts as a reliable archive that the reader can refer to again and again

- It is the natural target of all links not initiated by the website operator himself

- It makes it easy for enthusiastic but busy readers and influencers to share any subsequent content

- It is the opt-in place that will bring many new email subscribers

5. Liven up and add to cornerstone content

Subscribers, undecided occasional visitors and search engines “really like” new content and should therefore receive it regularly. Cornerstone Content should certainly cover basic topics that have remained topical for a long time - but there is probably no topic that is never new. Even traditional goods that must never be changed can be viewed and used in a completely new way if you encourage your readers to do so. You can also expand the topic and become an expert on the entire overarching topic.

Cornerstone Content, Evergreen Content: From the technical term to the “cornerstones” of your company

The term Cornerstone Content became generally known through the WordPress SEO plugin “Yoast”, from which the idea of ​​Cornerstone Content was not developed.

Yoast lets you filter posts and pages by Cornerstone articles and mark them as Cornerstone content, but website owners shouldn't rely on this tool to help them create Cornerstone content. Because Yoast also sets its requirements for texts here, which with specifications such as “easy readability” and “sentences under 20 words” do not correspond to Google guidelines, but rather address visitors at primary school level.

And the Cornerstone content is not only good for the “typical blog”, but helps every website to get more attention, which deserves this attention in the eyes of the users. The fact that Cornerstone Content is also the content that search engines love most helps all website operators who know something and have something to say.

Because these people find it easy to write good, holistically far-sighted, but centrally focused content. Those who are not yet so trained in the comprehensible presentation and semantically diverse preparation of their content can learn this - which then also helps them to better understand their readers, visitors and customers and to reach them better.

Some experts are also happy to take care of the systematic linking of the selected references, the procurement of external links and the other technical preparation for the search engine. But it doesn't have to be, because that's exactly what online marketing agencies are for - and we'd be happy to help you pack concentrated expertise for interested parties and search engines correctly.