Content is one of the most important considerations when looking to build the organic (or natural) online presence of your business. But what content writing is best? Sadly, the answer is not clear cut. The solution you decide on needs to be carefully considered and must be based on things like your audience, industry, services and target keywords. Once you’re clear on all of these factors, you can combine findings to form a content marketing strategy. This will better inform your decision on what content you need to be writing.
In this post, we look at three terminologies that are commonplace in content writing for SEO strategy. The three terms in question are pillar pages, flagship pages, and cornerstone content. Even though these terms are often used interchangeably, they each serve a distinct purpose. But what are they and how do they differ? Continue reading to learn more.
What Is the Principle of Pillar Pages, Flagship Pages and Cornerstone Content?
By creating comprehensive content which focuses on a carefully selected topic, a business can establish themselves as being knowledgeable in that field, as well as to provide valuable insights to their audience.
What Are Pillar Pages?
Pillar pages are comprehensive pages that cover a broad topic in detail. They serve as a foundation piece of content for a website, and are often linked to other pieces of content. For example, a digital marketing agency may create a pillar page on inbound marketing that covers everything from SEO strategy to email marketing campaigns.
What Are Flagship Pages?
Flagship pages are similar to pillar pages in that they cover a broad topic. However, they are typically more focused on a specific product or service offering. For example, a PPC agency may have a flagship page dedicated to showcasing their campaign management tool.
What Is Cornerstone Content?
Cornerstone content refers to essential pieces of content on a website that provide the most value to readers. These pieces of content are often blog posts, which cover evergreen topics that are relevant for a long period of time. Examples of cornerstone content may include an ultimate website hygiene guide to increase leads or a case study on a previous project.
How Do Pillar Pages, Flagship Pages and Cornerstone Content Differ?
While all three of these types of content serve a unique purpose, they can also work together to strengthen a website’s content strategy. Pillar pages can link to flagship pages and cornerstone content, while flagship pages and cornerstone content can link back to pillar pages. This tactic should be part of your website’s link strategy and serves a purpose to share equity across pages.
How Do You Create a Pillar Page?
To create a pillar page, start by choosing a broad topic that is relevant to your business. Break that topic down into subtopics and create content for each of those subtopics. Be sure to include internal links and compelling calls to action (CTAs) throughout the page.
An example of a pillar page might be ‘digital marketing strategy’. The page can be broken into sections like:
- Planning your SEO strategy
- Mapping out your PPC campaigns
- Outlining your social media strategy
- Defining you eMail marketing plan (and so on)
How Do You Create Flagship Pages?
Creating a flagship page follows a similar process to that of a pillar page (see above), but with a more focused topic. Choose a specific product or service offering and create content that highlights its features and benefits.
For example, a flagship page might be ‘define an email marketing plan’, which breaks out each element of the plan and what the benefits of this process are.
How Do You Create Cornerstone Content?
To create cornerstone content, focus on evergreen topics that are relevant to your audience. This could include how-to guides, case studies, or in-depth industry reports. For example: How to cultivate a successful email marketing strategy.
We hope this blog has shed some light on how to define and structure your content strategy. Remember, while pillar pages, flagship pages, and cornerstone content are all distinct in their own ways, they can all work in unison to strengthen your content marketing strategy.
Contact us to see how we can help level up your business. In the meantime, for more best practice guidance and exclusive news, sign up to our newsletter.
