Thread by @TheCoolestCool

Backlinks are key to any SEO strategy.

More backlinks = more trust.
More trust = more SERP visibility.

One of the best SEO strategies of all time is what @Glassdoor did early on by creating a content engine that drives backlinks consistently.

How? Weaved a web.

A THREAD🧵👇

In 2018, Glassdoor was acquired for $1.2B.

For context, today Glassdoor has:

> 520 million backlinks from 109,000 domains
> Generates more than 2 billion annual visits
> And n 70% of those come from organic search.

And that's Glassdoor US.

Here's the international numbers:

Glassdoor has built a brand so strong, and an SEO moat so deep that it is effectively unshakable.

The key?

Data driven content.

And that data driven content has been helping Glassdoor establish 'house hold name' level brand recognition within corporate circles for years.

The key to creating data driven content that works:

> Make sure the data is helpful / useful
> Make the story evoke emotion
> Make the data exciting
> Connect it to a cause
> Inject humor into it
> Timely info
> Ego

This is the Glassdoor playbook.

Some examples 👇

"These tech companies pay their interns more than the average US worker"

That's one of the headlines media publications wrote when covering a Glassdoor report in 2014.

This piece was covered by: Washington Post, Adweek, HBR, NY Times, Forbes and more.

A+ emotional content.

Data drives clicks & press.

Here's a piece from Q4 2015 that Glassdoor gave journalists and reporters to talk about:

"1 in 3 employees will look for new work if they don't receive a raise"

Once again... It took off and got people talking.

Published in Q1. It was timely.

Here's one of my favorites...

"San Jose Best City To Work In"

This is great because EVERY employer in San Jose will share this piece. It evokes a sense of pride for small and big employers alike. And it gives every local media publication in San Jose a story to discuss.

Right around Valentines Day in 2013 Glassdoor published a study that found:

"1 in 10 people have made love at the office"

This piece also took off...

It checked the right boxes:

> Data driven
> Evoked Emotion
> Elements of humor
> Timely (Valentines Day)

Infographics with data also spread like fire 👉 This one showed the most difficult companies to interview with & it was picked up by Forbes & Business Insider.

Again...

Helpful data. Insightful data. Humorous data.

It gets shares. It gets clicks. It gets links.

Ego bait is Glassdoor's superpower.

Companies & CEOs can't help but talk about, link to & share data published that says they're:

The Top CEO in [COUNTRY]
The Best Place To Work in [COUNTRY]

Every year the data is updated & every year it works.

See: twitter.com/search?q=Glass…

Journalists eat this up.

Like clockwork, Glassdoor is able to take old studies that go viral and update them with new numbers year after year and get the industry talking.

There are thousands of pieces written about reports published by Glassdoor. 3,000+ on Forbes alone.

And Glassdoor knows it...

Here's a slide they shared a few years back surrounding the role that awards and lists play in their growth:

One Glassdoors most successful pieces was a report:

Demystifying the Gender Pay Gap

The hook?

Cause + emotion.

It was referenced in journals. Covered by press. It went viral on social. It was talked about during webinars. It was discussed by politicians and at conferences.

The lesson in this piece is simple.

Not all data-driven content needs to be click-baity. You can actually use data to spark a dialog that crosses the chasm from internet clicks and shares to mainstream.

This study helped Glassdoor get politicians talking.

Today, Glassdoor has an ongoing research arm creating content covering everything from job reports to social issues effecting employers & employees.

And you guessed it.

The media eats it up.

What does any of this have to do with SEO?

Everything.

Not only does this help Glassdoor get links. It helps them establish themselves with expertise, authoritativeness & trustworthiness (EAT).

Three factors that Google considers when determining if content should rank.

Glassdoor's commitment to creating data driven content has allowed them to weave a web of digital assets that have paid dividends for years.

Research reports that get links. Infographics that get shared. Studies that build trust. And stats that will be discussed for years.

A lot of these ideas took off in 2013 or 2016 but even today they're able to be updated with new data and carry the same level of traction and engagement.

Why?

Because people don't change.

We crave data today the same way we did in 2014.

The data just needs to be updated.

This is what creating a scaleable content engine is all about. Identifying content-market fit & investing consistently in creating content drives results.

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