Time and time again, I defer to Nordstrom and their success in creating recipe blog posts that rank for a significant number of keywords. At first glance, there may seem to be some dissonance between these two ideas. The focus here is not on the product mix itself, but rather on understanding consumers on a more fundamental level and positioning yourself as “useful” even before users enter the discovery phase. Although Nordstrom uses this page to drive consumers to their in-store restaurant, let's assume that's not the case.
When developing loosely or indirectly related content, start by creating a user persona that can help you visualize the lifestyle, behavior, and needs of your consumers. For the purposes of this example, we will assume the following: Nordstrom's customers are fairly jewelry retouching service affluent ($100,000 HHI and above). Mainly females, tend to be a bit older (36–45). The average customer is a stay-at-home mom with kids. She entertains occasionally and enjoys cooking from scratch. She's willing to pay more for something if it saves her money in the long run. With this information,
it's no coincidence that Nordstrom chose to post a recipe for "Best From Scratch Lemon Ricotta Cookies." In order to link this to their product line, Nordstrom could easily link this page to the cookware landing page. However, someone looking for a recipe is looking to satisfy an immediate need and probably isn't looking to whip out their credit card. The strategy here is to appear as frequently as possible in the SERPs for your target consumers,