What Are “Cornerstone Keywords”?
“Cornerstone keywords” are an important concept in search engine optimization (SEO). They are highly important keywords that are closely tied to the core topic of a website or blog. These keywords typically have high search volume and fierce competition, but they play a big role in emphasizing a website’s expertise and relevance.
Cornerstone content is built around these keywords, and it is regarded as a website’s most important and information-rich content. This content generally has the following characteristics:
- Depth and breadth of information: cornerstone content provides deep, detailed information on a topic.
- Kept up to date: this content should be updated regularly so it reflects the latest information.
- Encourages user engagement: high-quality content draws users in and generates long-term traffic.
- Internal link structure: cornerstone content includes links to other related content on the site, strengthening the internal linking structure.
This kind of content clearly conveys a website’s main topics to search engines and helps build expertise and authority in the field. So when you’re putting together an SEO strategy, it’s important to define your cornerstone keywords and create high-quality content around them.
Is Writing Only About Cornerstone (Focus) Keywords the Answer?
Because competition for cornerstone keywords is so intense, a new website will likely find it hard to get indexed for them. In that case, the key is not to write only about your cornerstone (focus) keywords, but to write about supporting keywords as well.
For example, if “Pomeranian” is our cornerstone keyword, we need to keep writing about supporting keywords such as “Pomeranian adoption” to build up expertise on that topic.
Once you’ve accumulated a certain amount of data, the preferred strategy is to pour your full effort into your “cornerstone content” and get it indexed.
Things to Watch for When Writing Cornerstone Keywords
- It should cover the keyword comprehensively.
- It should hold users on the page for a long time.
- In other words, it needs to be long yet compelling enough that readers scroll all the way to the bottom (the hardest part!).
- It’s best if it is “internally linked” with your supporting-keyword content.
