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When the rise of the content marketing industry over the past decade has shown that the right content in the hands of the right consumer can have a significant impact on business results.

Of course, content can generate cash flow in a variety of ways, but a valuable application is that of Increase organic search traffic,

How can a brand improve its organic ranking? By giving Google what it wants.

The idea is pretty simple: Google really wants end users (like you and me) to do this Here you will find the answers we are looking for and be able to Trust the results we find, If Google believes these two criteria are met, sites will be ranked higher or lower based on the query. By placing Google at the top of search results, Google effectively vouches for the source, both in terms of the quality (and relevance) of the content and the trustworthiness of the source it provides. They put their own reputation and business model on it.

Google’s ranking algorithm will likely never be known, as the search giant did made clear that it appreciates the content that "Demonstrate expertise, authority and trustworthiness, ”it says in particular that incoming links from trustworthy websites help to determine the trustworthiness of websites. That's where Link building SEO strategies come into play, and where there is exceptional value in a diverse content portfolio.

In order for brands to successfully take advantage of the SEO benefits of great content, they need to develop a strategy that takes both aspects of Google into account.

The most effective way to do this in a content strategy is to include both current niche content and general appealing tangential content. By editing both current and tangential content at the same time, a brand receives the answers to the questions asked by Google and generates the links that Google needs to trust the source.

Current content vs. Tangential content

Let's say you own a store that sells high quality running shoes. They know everything about orthoses, midsoles, polyurethane and even types of sidewalks. By default, if you want to create content, stick to what you know best. Blog posts may indicate which running shoe is suitable for different foot types and how many kilometers you can run before changing your running shoes.

This type of content would be typical for current content because it hyper-specifically refers to your brand and your core audience, The people who are looking for these questions are probably runners, and more specifically, serious Runners: Those who not only know that shoes need to be replaced regularly, but also know how many kilometers they need for their current pair. This type of information is usually useful for your audience and is in a prominent place on your website so that users can easily find and look it up.

Delivering your content to your target audience is critical, but your sales would increase if you could reach more runners, athletes, or even people try to stick to their New Year's resolutions, That is a a lot of a broader audience and thus a much wider range of interests. They may not be so interested in the mileage of shoes, but in larger issues such as health, wellness or sports. You can create nutritional and wellness guides, inflatable playlists, or even infographics with Olympic stats.

These would be examples of tangential content because they Don't relate to your brand so closely and are purposefully aimed at a wider audience,

Note, however, that this content may not be directly related to your core offering (running shoes), but credible, if not understandable, from your brand. This type of content is usually more engaging and general than current content because it is not limited by so many brand and topic restrictions. It is more likely to be shown off-site and used to create links.

The key is to ask yourself: even if this content is not directly linked to my brand, is it valuable for my target group? If the answer is yes, it is most likely a fair game.

How content can drive organic search

This report from the horse's mouth brings up a few moving truths that content marketers interested in SEO need to know when creating content:

1. Expertise (read: quality content) is important.
2. Authority and trust are important.
3. Google uses links from other websites as a sign that they can trust a website.
4. Links from some sites (like "celebrities") are more important than others.

These four takeaways highlight the need for content that will appeal to both your niche and high authority websites in your industry. It is difficult to do both with the same type of content. For this reason, we recommend a mix of brand-internal, current content and more general tangential content.

The arguments for current content

With targeted current contentshows a brand expertise and established itself in its niche relevant links, Because this type of content is typically aimed at a specific audience, publishers and other websites from a specific niche will point to current content rather than research results. This establishes a brand as part of the niche and as an authority on the issues that matter to this audience.

Let's go back to our running shoe store. If Runner & # 39; s World created a link to our blog post, it would be a big deal as it is a well-respected publication in the world of running. In return, Google recognizes and processes the link internally under the following conditions: "If Runner & # 39; s World, an authority in the field of running, vouches for them, they must be authoritarian and related to running."

This is, of course, a simplified version of the process, and the value of a link can go well beyond the "I trust this site, so they are probably related" relationship, but the idea behind it is: relevant links from related sites help identify skills and powers.

All of this is an added benefit for those Really Brand value of big current content, that's it When you answer your niche vendors' questions, you're more likely to become an instance for customers, not just Google.

If there is consensus on how SEO will evolve, search engines will strive to get a better result by better understanding how users search and what users are looking for. This creates a valuable feedback loop for brands who are twice encouraged to produce high quality, relevant content.

The case for tangential content

If links are Google’s trust currency, the following applies: tangential content is the 60-hour work week that deserves the paycheck. By creating content outside of your brand, you expand both your audience and other websites that are interested in your content and can thus earn valuable links to your content.

With tangential content, there is a higher likelihood that links will be generated both from high quality (highly regarded websites) and from a quantitative perspective (raw volume due to a wider audience).

Tangential content, in particular, is much more likely to include links from top news publishers because Journalists are more likely to report an article of greater interest that will be more relevant to your readers. Journalists are less likely to publish advertising content, and tangential content appeals to the masses much better.

Link building is just one benefit of creating tangential content. Because tangential content tries to catch customers with a broader network, it often creates brand awareness and positive PR for brands Proper use – it could even be the first contact that many have with your brand.

As every marketer knows, the ability to relate to a potential customer the first time you interact with the brand can help create a real customer. In addition, tangential content often succeeds in creating more engaging content and social sharing if the process of content creation is detached from the brand because people are more able to relate to the content.

Linking topic content and tangential content to achieve optimal results

Now that we understand the different types of content and their benefits, let's look at a real example of a brand that successfully uses current and tangible content driving organic traffic,

Porch.com is a home improvement marketplace that connects homeowners with trustworthy home improvement. They commissioned our agency with link building campaigns to increase their organic traffic.

Since DIY products are a niche that only applies to certain people, we considered how we could develop a content strategy that could be useful for both the core audience and the target group and Build trust in first-class publications

After looking at the landscape of the existing content in the hardware store, we have developed a strategy that includes thematic clusters related to home, Some were very specific to the do-it-yourself sector, and others were far-reaching tangential content that was partially home-related, like things you do in your home, family, and home.

On the current In addition, we wanted to focus on home repair and maintenance, cost, and home maintenance. While these only really refer to homeowners and people who may need to look after a house, we have designed our content to be useful for people in our market.

For one, we looked at Porch & # 39; s internal cost data for general maintenance tasks and asking homeowners how often they did these tasks. From there, we were able to estimate the annual costs that homeowners should expect to maintain their homes.

We used guest posts and relationships with other brands in the Porch industry to create relevant links. The publication of these guests on relevant websites strengthens Porch's competence in relation to SEO in its market segment and traditional PR. As Homes.com publishes Porch content, Google can be confident that Homes.com and Porch are up to date, and Porch can rely more on their expertise on these issues.

In thinking for ours tangential Content, we were looking for content that would appeal to more than home owners and home publications. We asked ourselves questions like "What do we do at home?" To develop ideas. Our answers typically concerned food, cooking, family, friends, relationships, and more. This gave us the opportunity to increase both the number of verticals (and beatwriters) and the number of publications (and their readers) who might be interested and could share. We focused on very emotional content, Like a survey where we asked people how often people in relationships sniff for their significant other.

By expanding our topic base and our relationship with more people, we have also expanded our publisher base and received links from more than 900 different domains and a large number of top tier publishers.

The results of this strategy? Over the course of a year, we have earned 23,000 organic visitors per month, 425 high domain authority links (DA> 75), more than 3,500 press reports and more than 37,000 social shares.

Conclusion

The best way to increase organic traffic with your content is to customize your content to best serve the audience you want to achieve your long term goals, By mixing current and tangential contentThey help search engines understand your brand's expertise, define how you fit into your market, and determine your competency.