I think it’s safe to say that in light of continual updates (poundings?) from Panda and Penguin, content marketing is all the rage in online marketing circles right now. While some have been forced to march the content marketing path due to these updates, others have been far ahead of the curve and have for quite some time been producing excellent content that attracts customers and natural links. For those just accepting that content is a must I wanted to spell out the three primary types of content that every company should create and have on their site where appropriate. While I know there is a plethora of specific content forms (infographic, meme, whitepaper, video, summary or abstract, etc.) and objectives for these depending on the situation, I think there is value in seeing the forest for the trees in the content marketing world and looking at the broader types of content requisite for success.

As such, I would propose that very broadly there are three types of content required for a successful content strategy. These types include content designed for link attraction, content specific to your product or service and finally content geared towards your target market or audience. Each of these plays a different role and the mix will vary based on the campaign or business, but never should any one type be completely neglected or exclusively used. Let’s take a look at each type and some examples.

Link Attraction Content

Link attraction content is content solely designed to attract links. This would fall at the bottom of the hierarchy if you were to rank the three types of content in terms of importance. This is due to the fact that content marketing needs to be more than just content designed to attract links. While good content should attract links (we’ll get to that in a minute), if your entire strategy is to hastily assemble the latest meme or article to piggyback on hot news, your content marketing strategy needs an overhaul. While these pieces of content aren’t bad things to mix into a content marketing strategy, exclusively following this path won’t bring the results you’re looking for. Rather than find a blog or company that fails miserably by only doing this type of content creation, let’s look at a few examples of link attraction content that is also mixed into a more well-rounded content strategy.

The first example comes from our own SEO.com blog.  Last summer we did an infographic on the social media usage during the London Olympics. This is a perfect example of link attraction content as it doesn’t speak of our services as an agency nor does it intentionally target our audience. Despite this, there is still value in doing such pieces of content as can be seen from the links and social shares below.

The second example is from SEER Interactive who did an awesome mash up on the way technology companies make their money and whether they are profitable. Again, not necessarily talking about SEER’s service offering but content designed to attract links and social signals – which they successfully did!

It could be argued that social media and technology users line up nicely with SEO agencies and that these examples are not purely for links. But while social media users and tech enthusiasts may be more likely to share such content, they are not the target audience of SEO agencies (small business owners, decision makers, marketing managers, etc. are) In the end, both digital assets are perfect examples of pure link attraction content as part of a broader content strategy.

Product / Service Content

The second type of content is that which speaks specifically about your product or service. While some might say this is for landing pages only, an in-depth blog post on specific product questions (pricing, warranty, etc) may be the perfect supplement to a landing page. It will not only bring in long tail traffic but provides relevant content to link back to your mapped page. While this content might not be highly shareable the value shouldn’t be discounted in having this content written about regularly on the blog.

River Pools writes lots of content like this. One example talking about fiberglass kits undoubtedly brings in all kinds of long tail traffic. Further, it is clearly intended to bring in people looking to do their own pool who may, after reading the article, decide that they actually want to have a professional install their fiberglass pool. Unlikely to get shared, but excellent content all things considered!

Another example below shows Pacific Fence and Wire discussing the advantages and disadvantages of vinyl fencing. While they provide all types of fencing, in this article they elaborate on pros and cons of vinyl and probably get some qualified traffic for long tail terms as a result.

Even better than just writing about your products/services for internal linking opportunities and long tail traffic is if you can produce content that weaves in your products in an interesting way. General Electric is a great example of this.  Instead of only producing content about their products and all the requisite information such a buying decision would entail, they take it a step further and produce content that puts their products into the bigger picture in a creative and interesting way. Unsurprisingly, the products they sell would help facilitate savings in such a scenario.

Target Market Content

The third type of content is what I’ll call “target market content”, simply referring to the fact that the content itself may not be perfectly about your product or service but is content that your prospective customers may find interesting or relevant to themselves. In short, people who may end up buying your product are also interested in “x” or “y” topic. Going beyond simple demographics and building out a complete persona of your prospective customers will provide these types of content ideas. Mixing in this type of content will help attract your potential customers that may otherwise not be reached.

One example below is the annual Ultimate Flavor tournament by Turkey Hill. Patterned after the March Madness tournament, the idea is to have a contest of ice cream flavors. Presumably it is designed to attract 18-34 year old males who are interested in basketball and also like to eat ice cream. A perfect example of content that isn’t about the ice cream making process or simply a contest to share but rather intentionally designed to bring in potential customers that otherwise have no reason to visit the Turkey Hill blog, like myself.

Southwest Airlines also does this on a regular basis with their “Going Green” posts. These posts as highlighted below really have nothing to do with flying and jet engines, so while it may be a way to positively show Southwest’s green efforts, it is just as possible that Southwest knows that their customers are also those interested in an environmentally friendly lifestyle. With this in mind, Southwest then creates regular green content to bring in visitors who fit this description and who also hopefully then fly around the country on Southwest.

Content Perfection

I would contend that there is actually a fourth type of content. This type of content is the combination of the three types we just discussed. Undoubtedly there will be industries that make it difficult to have such content, but whenever possible content that is designed to attract links, ties in your product or service and appeals to the different segments of your target audience are going to be your “home run” pieces. While it may sound obvious, these pieces of content are oftentimes much harder to produce than one would think. Doing so on occasion shows a holistic understanding of content marketing, and doing so regularly can catapult a brand or company from afterthought to industry leader if done correctly and consistently for a prolonged period.

In my opinion the default winner in this category is the Blendtec “Will It Blend” series. It attracts links, brings in people who normally wouldn’t be looking at blenders and demonstrates the benefits of a Blendtec blender.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko  ß embed this video

Having a proper mix of the three types of content will ensure that your content marketing strategy is effectively presenting your product/service as well as attracting real customers and building links that will have the staying power to drive rankings for the long term.

3 Types Of Content For A Well-Balanced Content Marketing Strategy is a post by SEO expert Dustin Heap. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

In a post penguin world, the importance of quality links and solid on-site optimization hasn’t necessarily changed. However, the urgency of many SEOs to acquire them should have.  While there are still many types of links and tactics that work despite their shade of gray and low quality, Google’s efforts are making it more difficult to achieve long-term success using these tactics.

Going forward, SEOs will have to recognize and adapt to the shifting link ecology to ensure that their clients achieve success.

Let’s take a look at the old link ecology compared to the new one and examples of places that SEOs can seek the best link opportunities in a post-Penguin world.

There Are Three Types of Links:

For simplicity’s sake, let’s classify all links broadly into three buckets as explained below.

1. Pure SEO

These are links that are built solely for the purpose of improving rankings and SEO value. There are many examples and you can pick your own poison.  These links range from mass submissions to low quality directories, automated or manual blog comment spam, social profiles built only for a link to excessive article marketing for exact match anchor text.

2. SEO + Traffic

The next type of link is one which provides SEO value but only generates in most cases minimal traffic to the target site. An example of this type of link is a guest blog post on a semi-relevant blog or a business listing on a popular and legitimate vertical search engine that is rarely actually seen.

3. ROI Links

The best kind of link is one which not only carries SEO weight and sends qualified traffic to a website but also generates on or offline conversions. These links can lead to a goal completion, lead generation or revenue depending on your KPI for the target site.  An easy example of an ROI link is a definitive piece of content on a relevant and authoritative website other than the client’s site.

The Old Link Ecology

In the old link ecology, link profiles could often be depicted as such:

Link profiles in this old ecology were dominated by “Pure SEO” links that are easy to obtain and rarely provide any traffic or conversions.  In addition, there would be a few “SEO + Traffic” type links sprinkled in the link profile and very few if any “ROI Links.”  With this type of link profile is it any surprise that many companies were hit by Penguin? From this it’s easy to see why SEOs fear algorithm updates when they know their link building efforts are constructing pyramids that have the above profile.

The New Link Ecology In A Post Penguin World

Simply put, the new link ecology requires SEOs to flip the old ecology on its head as shown below:

In the new ecology, SEOs need to shift their focus on the types of links they are using their resources to acquire as explained below. Despite this new ecology having significantly fewer links than the old ecology the new ecology will have longer lasting SEO and marketing benefit for the business.

Pure SEO

The truth of the matter is that “Pure SEO” links still work. Acquiring these types of links shouldn’t be at the top of your priority list but putting a little effort towards them still serves a purpose. For example, limited and targeted article marketing can still work for diversifying old and unnatural link ecologies as well as acquiring anchor text variations of keywords and long tail queries. But because Google will eventually devalue these types of links you should add them to your portfolio in small amounts and focus most of your efforts on acquiring the other two types of links.

Traffic + SEO

As alluded to above, great examples of Traffic + SEO links are business listings on legitimate sites that in most cases may not send a lot of traffic back to your site but have the potential to generate business. A business listing on Yelp or Brownbook are great examples. These listings provide great SEO value (1^st image below – SEOmoz PA and DA shown), because they are trusted websites that allow business owners to list their business.  The trust and SEO value is in large part because they aren’t specifically built for the benefit of SEOs. Further, in some cases they may drive some traffic and/or revenue but in most cases both of these are minimal.  (2nd image below)

Another example would be a listing on a resource page like the one below on the Utah Health Department’s website. Most people are aware of the location of their local hospital but if they aren’t they will do a search for hospitals in their area where they will most likely find them in an integrated SERP. Alternatively, there will only be a very small percentage of people who find an official hospital site after visiting the Health Department’s official list of hospitals. Despite this, there would be no reason why a hospital that is left off the list would not want to be on it. It’s not advised to ignore these types of legitimate link opportunities because these are easy links to acquire that will balance your link portfolio.

ROI Links

The ultimate link target provides SEO value, qualified traffic and conversions. The major distinction between ROI links and Traffic + SEO links are the quantity and quality of traffic and the resulting conversions that flow from these types of links. While Traffic + SEO links may send occasional traffic, little or few conversions result from these links. ROI links are more valuable because they are built with the buying process in mind which results in quality traffic and conversions. In other words, these links are built in places where your potential customers not only gather but visit often when they are researching and have the highest potential to convert.

A great example for a local client is a “best of” list for restaurants as pictured below. How often do you find yourself reading through “best of” lists just to pass time? This probably does not happen very often because in most cases, when you are searching for a local restaurant, you aren’t performing an informational search but rather a transactional one. This type of query is often in preparation for a visit to a new city or when looking for a place to eat in the immediate future. Those who are running these searches are most likely going to visit the restaurant’s website for menu, pricing, location and hours of operation.  These details are often followed by a visit to the restaurant, which results in an offline conversion.

Obviously you can’t buy nor unilaterally place yourself on these types of lists because they are editorially given. These types of links are difficult to obtain and as a result they are trusted. As a result, these types of links are algorithm proof and should be the most sought after.

Another great example for a business that operates in a more technical, business-to-business niche and has a much more complicated buying process, is to publish authoritative articles targeted to decision makers.  This content should be hosted where there could be potential conversions.  Example here:

An excellent way to find opportunities such as these is to use Google Analytics.  Examine specific sites within paid channels that have a high number of conversions and /or often assist in conversions. From this information you can export a list and identify the sites and the types of content you can build out to gain an increased presence. This will not only assist you in obtaining an ROI link but allow you to reduce spend on that particular site and shift budget to more efficient marketing channels

Building link profiles according to this new link ecology is a win-win situation. This is especially true if you work in an agency as it will help you build better relationships with your clients who see not only improved rankings (a means not an end) but also increased traffic and a healthy ROI. This type of link building strategy will help insulate SEOs in their efforts against constantly evolving algorithms.

Also, while this post waited in the publishing queue Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land published a very similar post entitled: Link Building Means Earning “Hard Links” Not “Easy Links.” It is well worth a read!

I’d love to hear your thoughts and more ROI link examples in the comments below.

The New Link Ecology In A Post Penguin World is a post by SEO expert Dustin Heap. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.