Introduction
Content is everywhere - it has become inevitable for brands to communicate with their audiences and build brand awareness.
Everyone involved in content dedicates their time to thorough planning and quality writing. But, some companies don’t pay enough attention to measuring the effectiveness of their planned and distributed materials.
Thus, we have decided to produce a blog about measuring content marketing. Together we will go through all the details that persuade us of the equal importance of tracking in the evergrowing content world.
So, let's explore why the right approach with KPIs can help you see the picture and maximize your return on investment.
What Are Content Marketing Metrics?
Content marketing metrics (KPIs) are your assets that measure the performance and impact of your strategy. They showcase quantitative data that measures and analyzes your brand awareness, content effectiveness, leads, conversions, traffic, etc.
The metric may include various aspects such as open rates, time spent on pages, click-through rates, etc.
Now you might ask yourself - among hundred of KPIs which one should I track? It depends on the goals you prioritize in your content strategy.
For example, if you are new to content marketing and just starting, you may focus on growing brand awareness, building authority, and tracking metrics like impressions, clicks, social media followers, etc.
User engagement-wise, you may focus on increasing blog-post conversions by measuring click-through rates and website visits.
It is also important to benchmark your performance against industry averages to understand how well you are doing. Ultimately, the content metrics you measure depend on your content marketing goals and the priorities you set.
SEO Metrics
1. Keyword Rankings
Keyword rankings are essential performance metrics in SEO content marketing as they showcase the relevancy of your content compared to search intent. This KPI will help you understand how your SEO strategy is evolving and then make adjustments accordingly.
If the page appears on Page 1, you increase the chance of attracting relevant traffic with the potential of converting sales or getting leads.
2. Traffic
Traffic refers to the number of visitors coming to your website and indicates the level of brand awareness. It is the must-have element for your digital presence and is another relevant metric to measure content marketing success.
3. Brand Mentions
Mentions reflect the visibility and reputation of a brand in the marketplace. They signify how many times a brand is being talked about and referenced online, and can be an appropriate way to gauge its reach and influence.
High brand mentions indicate that more people are aware of your brand and its products or services and are talking about your brand.
Brand mentions can be measured with tools such as Mention, and can be tracked for sentiment to see how positively or negatively people are talking about the brand.
Go to Google Search Console, and analyze your traffic achievements by checking the total number of page views, views per page, and unique pageviews.
Additionally, you can break down the data by geographical regions and check whether generated traffic is relevant to your target markets.
4. Authority Metrics
Authority metrics are metrics used to measure a website's "strength" and overall quality. These metrics determine how well a website ranks in search engine results and can impact organic traffic. Authority metrics such as Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) scores measure the overall authority of a website, ranging from 1 to 100 where higher scores correspond to a greater power.
If you need a tool for tracking this KPI, check Ahrefs Website Authority Checker
Customer Behavior Metrics
5. Pageviews
Pageviews is a metric that measures the total number of times a page on your website has been visited. It can give you an understanding of the effectiveness of your content and what topics attract your audience the most.
Also, you can analyze the unique pageviews of each page and determine how many times a single user has viewed a page.
Moreover, page/session metrics show you how many pages a visitor checked during their session on the website, providing insights into the quality of content published and visitors' engagement levels.
To measure pageviews, you can use Google Analytics or a Content Audit tool such as Semrush.
6. Bounce Rate
The bounce rate indicates the percentage of users who left the website after viewing a single page.
In other words, the bounce rate shows the number of people who returned to the search engine results after opening your webpage.
A high bounce rate may suggest that some changes need to be implemented such as: improving the user experience, writing more scalable and easy-to-understand content, tweaking the website design, reducing page loading times, etc.
7. Traffic Sources
You should understand where your visitors are coming from. Do you attract them from search engines, social media, or referral links? Answer these questions to identify where your audience tends to be more active.
Also, this metric will showcase the effectiveness of your distribution channels and promotional activities. For example, if you activated social media channels to drive traffic to your new website, you can track how many of them clicked on your link.
The traffic source data will help you make a content marketing strategy suitable for your audience.
8. Average Time on Page
The average time on a page can be an indicator of how engaged visitors are with a particular page. If visitors spend a long time on a page, it could indicate that the content is valuable and appealing to them. On the other hand, if visitors leave your page at the drop of the hand, your content may be irrelevant to them.
Also, it can give signs of whether your user experience is on point. The poor average time on page stats could be an indicator that the page is difficult to navigate or hard to understand.
9. Pages Per Session
Pages per session indicate the average number of pages visitors view during a single session on your website. A session showcases the visitor's period of activity from the beginning to the end, until they leave the page.
Pages per session are calculated by dividing the number of pages viewed by the total number of sessions.
For example, if a customer visits 6 pages in a single session your metric for page per session would be 6.
It is a valuable KPI for content marketing offers as it will help you understand the full picture - a high number of pages per session shows that users are engaging with your helpful content.
Content Marketing Revenue Metrics
10. Leads
Leads are users who have shared their contact information with you while consuming your content. This can happen through different means, such as clicking on a Call to Action (CTA), filling out a landing page form, subscribing to a newsletter, or requesting a budget.
Quality content has the power to entice users to share their information, regardless of whether they intend to make a purchase immediately or in the future.
It's important to note that the number of leads you generate is only an indication of interest and potential sales. Converting leads into actual sales depends on the quality of your content and the effectiveness of your marketing funnel. So, make sure to focus on delivering quality content throughout all stages of the funnel to maximize your conversion rate.
Overall, by measuring your leads, you can gain insights into the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy and make necessary adjustments to improve its performance.
11. Conversion Rates
Conversion rate is a metric that measures the percentage of visitors who take the desired action - downloading a form, requesting a quote, completing the purchase, etc.
Conversion Rate = The number of conversions / the number of total visitors
For example, if 200 people visit a website and 25 of them take the desired action, your conversion rate would be 12.5%
Conversions are crucial metrics to see in what direction your development goes as it indicates whether your activities convert prospects into customers.
It helps you analyze the effectiveness of your content marketing funnel, as a high conversion rate may suggest that you are targeting the right audience with the right content and positioning. It can also indicate an increase in revenue if you adequately align your efforts for marketing and sales.
12. Content ROI
To calculate content marketing ROI, businesses should measure the revenue gained from content marketing against the amount spent on it. This can be done using a simple formula: (Return on Investment - Investment) / Investment x 100.
Email Marketing Metrics
13. Email Subscribers
It reflects the number of email subscribers directly affects content marketing performance. A high number of email subscribers will generally lead to higher email opens, click-throughs, and conversions.
14. Email Open Rate
is a key performance indicator that tells us how successful our emails are at reaching the intended audience and pushing them to read the content. The email click-through measures content marketing performance in several ways. First, it can help you understand the effectiveness of your email campaigns. Knowing how many people click through your emails gives you insight into what type of content resonates with your audience.
Additionally, it can provide insight into the times of day and days of the week that are most effective for sending emails.
15. Email Conversion Rate
It is the percentage of visitors who take a desired action (click, registration, download, etc.) after interacting with your emails. It helps you analyze the effectiveness of your content marketing funnel, as a high conversion rate may suggest that you are targeting the right audience with the right content and positioning.
Why Measuring Content Marketing Performance Is Essential?
Identifying the Effectiveness of Content Marketing
Evaluating your content marketing success without specific numbers and well-defined KPIs is impossible. It’s like shooting in the dark without any strategic direction and understanding the full scope of customer feedback.
Take time and measure/compare your page performances, and you will understand
- Which topics are popular among your target audience and get more impressions
- How long your audience interacts with your materials
- The results of your search engine optimization tactics - interlinking, keyword targeting, improving user experience, and on-page elements
- Check your blog metrics - bounce rate, time spent on pages, conversion rates, etc
Adjusting Your Content Marketing Strategy to Increase Effectiveness
Constant content analysis will help you implement changes in your published materials and adjust your strategy to your needs. Therefore, you can gain valuable insights into what is working and not and have a data-driven approach to content production.
Indicating Whether or Not You Should Increase or Decrease Your Content Marketing Budget
You will understand which channels and formats drive the best revenue for your company.
The cost of content creation + distribution and the return on investment can measure the results of your recent activities.
If you see the company is on the right track and driving the desired results, you can increase your investments in that area. If not, change your direction, and you can lower the budget and find other resources for growth.
Tracking the Return on Investment (ROI) Of Your Content Marketing Efforts
Measuring content marketing ROI helps improve performance as it allows companies to understand the monetary value of their content and how much they can earn with it. It helps them determine if the time and effort they put into content production and distribution yield the desired results.
Companies can calculate the return on their investment in content marketing and get a clear picture of their ROI. It helps them to identify which content is successful and which strategies are worth scaling up, enabling them to make the most effective use of their resources and get the best results from their content marketing efforts.
How to Choose the Right Metrics for Your Needs?
Researching and selecting the right content marketing metrics can be an overwhelming process. A comprehensive understanding of your goals, target audience and desired outcomes can help you determine which metrics are most pertinent and beneficial to track. Here’s a step-by-step guide to researching and selecting content marketing metrics:
Step 1: Identify Your Goals
Start by asking yourself what you want to achieve with your content marketing. Are you looking to increase website traffic, build brand awareness, grow your email list, or increase conversions? Knowing your objectives ahead can help you determine which metrics to track.
Step 2: Understand Your Target Audience
Once you’ve established your goals, get to know your target audience. Learn how they interact with your content and which channels they prefer for consuming it. It will help you make more informed decisions when selecting metrics.
Step 3: Choose Relevant Metrics
Choose metrics that will provide insight into your goals. For example, if your goal is to increase website traffic, track metrics like organic website visitors, time spent on each page, and bounce rate.
Step 4: Analyze & Adjust
Once you’ve selected the most relevant metrics, analyze the results to determine which strategies are working and which need improvement. Use the insights to adjust your content marketing plan and establish an ongoing process for measurement and optimization.
By following these steps, you can select the best content marketing metrics to track and measure the success of your content marketing efforts.
F.A.Q
What Is a Good Content Engagement Metric?
Content engagement metrics are parameters used to measure the effectiveness of a website's content. They are typically used to evaluate how well the content creates a connection with readers by answering their questions and engaging them. Common metrics to measure content engagement include click-through rates, social comments, shares, mentions, total time reading, bounce rate, average time on site, and inbound links. A high content engagement rate indicates your content is resonating with your audience and helping to move them further into the sales funnel.
How Do I Measure the Success of My Blog Traffic?
With the right data, tracking your progress and success is simple and insightful. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you measure the success of your blog traffic.
- Understand Where Traffic is Coming From:
A key metric for blog traffic is understanding where your users are coming from. Use the Channel report in Google Analytics to identify what drives visitors to your blog. Are visitors coming from organic search? Referrals? Social media? Knowing this will help you determine which sources to focus on for better results.
The Source/Medium report in Analytics is a great way to look more granularly at your traffic metrics. If you're focusing on optimizing content for search, look at how organic traffic has improved month-over-month or year-over-year. If you're focusing on social media distribution, look at how referral traffic has improved over time and which channels drive the most traffic to your users.
- Track Basic Volume Metrics:
When measuring your blog's success, tracking basic volume metrics is the easiest way to get started. Use analytics software to monitor web traffic and look at metrics such as overall traffic, source of traffic, views per page, average time spent on a page, referral traffic, popular landing pages, and unique sessions. This data can help you make informed content promotion decisions, such as w
What Is a Good Content Optimization Metric?
Content optimization metrics are a set of measurements used to evaluate the effectiveness of a website or content piece. They can include - page views, click-through rates, conversions, organic conversions, page 1 keyword growth, organic traffic and clicks, and average rankings.
These metrics are crucial for understanding user behavior and can help determine which channels generate the most traffic and have the highest potential for success. They can also measure the ROI of various content channels and optimize CTA copy and power words to encourage clicks. Ultimately, content optimization metrics are necessary for any content marketing program if you want to survive in the competitive digital world.
What Is the Best Way to Measure the Success of My SEO Efforts?
Step 1: Track Your Site Authority
The first thing you’ll need to do when trying to measure your SEO success is to conduct a technical audit on your site. It will give you a better understanding of which keywords are rankings and which are not. It will also show you which domain authority you have, which will help you improve your SEO performance over time. You can use tools such as Google Trends, Search Console, and Google Keyword Planner to get insight into keyword data such as volume, CPC, and clicks.
Step 2: Track Your Keyword Ranking
The next metric you should look at is your keyword ranking. This means looking at your site’s keyword performance and ensuring that you target the right keywords for your content marketing efforts. Once you have identified the keywords want to target, you can track their rankings over time and see if you are getting the desired results.
Step 3: Track Your Backlinks
Backlinks are essential when it comes to measuring your SEO success. They are the key to gaining authority in your industry, so you must pay attention to the inbound links connecting to your content. You can use tools such as SEMrush and Ahrefs to track your backlinks.
Step 4: Track Your Organic Traffic and Clicks
Organic traffic and clicks can tell you a lot about how effective your SEO efforts are. You can track the proportion of your site visits that come from searches in Google Analytics, but to gain more insight, you should use metrics such as SERP ranking and page scores to see how well your site is performing in search engines.
Step 5: Track Your Organic Conversions
The ultimate goal of any content marketing campaign is to generate conversions. Track the conversion rate coming from organic search, and the metrics as time spent on the page, page views, and quality of leads, to get a better idea of how effective your campaigns are.
By tracking the metrics mentioned above, you can understand how successful your SEO efforts are. Use this information to adjust your strategies and improve the performance of your content marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
In conclusion, measuring the success of your content marketing efforts is crucial to the growth and success of your business.
However, creating quality content that engages and resonates with your target audience is not an easy task, and it requires time, effort, and expertise.
That's where greatcontent comes in. Our team of experienced writers and editors can help you create high-quality, engaging content that drives traffic boosts engagement, and generates leads.
