If you’re working on your website, trying to grow your audience, or aiming to rank in Google, there’s one strategy you can’t afford to overlook: cornerstone content.
At Progress Planner, we believe so strongly in the power of cornerstone content that we actively encourage users to complete the cornerstone content workout in Yoast SEO. It’s one of the most effective ways to strengthen your site’s structure and amplify your most important content.
In this blogpost, I’ll explain why cornerstone content matters more than ever and how to make it work for you.
What is cornerstone content?
Cornerstone content refers to the key articles on your site. These are the pages you most want to rank, the ones that best reflect what your website is all about. They’re typically in-depth, thoughtfully written, and designed to comprehensively cover a topic.
Think of them as the foundation of your site. They support everything else, and they’re the pages you want both users and search engines to see first.
Why it’s even more important in 2025
Search behavior and technology have changed. Google can now link directly to specific sections of an article, not just the top of the page. This means being complete matters more than ever. If you want your content to show up in search, it needs to offer a thorough, trustworthy answer to the user’s question.
This marks a shift from older SEO strategies that advised publishing many short posts around a single topic. Today, that approach can actually harm your visibility.
Beware of keyword cannibalization
Previously, you might have gotten away with writing a series of related posts and linking them together. But now, writing too many similar articles can confuse search engines. They may not know which page to rank, and you could end up with none of them performing well. This issue is known as keyword cannibalization, and it’s more common than many people realize.
A better approach is to create one valuable article per topic. Only add new content if it offers a fresh perspective or new insights. Your cornerstone pieces should be comprehensive overviews that cover an entire subject area. Support them by linking to them from other relevant articles that cover different angles or subtopics.
An example of a cornerstone content structure
Let’s say you run a website that sells pet food. One of your keyword groups is guinea pig nutrition. People search for terms like guinea pig nutrition, guinea pig food, and guinea pig snacks. You create one strong article that covers guinea pig nutrition in full, incorporating all relevant search terms.
You also write other articles about guinea pigs, such as how to care for a sick guinea pig or what to do if your guinea pig is overweight. These are separate topics aimed at different questions and audiences, so they deserve their own pages.
To help your cornerstone article rank well, make sure you link to it from each of these more specific articles. That signals to search engines that your guinea pig nutrition page is the authoritative source on that topic.
How to fix it: do the cornerstone content workout
If you’re not sure where to begin, we recommend starting with the cornerstone content workout in Yoast SEO. This practical tool helps you:
- Identify which articles should be your cornerstone content
- Improve their structure and overall quality
- Add the right internal links to support their ranking
- Prevent overlap with other content
It’s a hands-on way to ensure your most valuable articles get the attention they deserve.
Build a website that lasts
Cornerstone content doesn’t just improve your SEO, it serves your audience. It helps visitors find the information they need, builds their trust in your expertise, and gives them a reason to return.
By structuring your site around high-quality, complete, and relevant cornerstone articles, you create a strong, lasting foundation. It makes everything else easier. Your internal links become more logical, your content strategy becomes clearer, and your site gains resilience in a changing search landscape.
Good luck with setting up your cornerstone content strategy!
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