Better measurement of content marketing

1@DavidIwanow

How to better measure content marketing

2@DavidIwanow

Who am I?I’ve been doing SEO for over 10 years and I’m currently the Director of Strategy at BlueGlass, a London-based digital

marketing agency with a focus on SEO and Content Marketing.

We also have BlueGlass offices in Zurich and Tallinn.

3@DavidIwanow

The Drum 2016 Content Marketing

Agency of the Year

5 x Search Awards winner

4@DavidIwanow

1. Measuring links acquired (Majestic)

2. Measuring shares (BuzzSumo)

3. Measuring estimated reach (CoverageBook)

4. Measuring referral traffic (Google Analytics)

5. Measuring organic traffic (Google Analytics)

6. Measuring uplift in impressions or average rank (GSC)

7. Measuring number of search terms driving traffic to page (GSC)

8. Keyword ranking uplift (SEOmonitor)

9. Automated measuring (SEOmonitor)

How can you measure content marketing?There is always a way to measure impacts if you plan ahead...

5@DavidIwanow

Bad ways to measureWhat are some horrible ways you can measure content marketing?

6@DavidIwanow

▪ Based on number of links opens it up to manipulation

▪ Targets may limit the opportunity to build more links

▪ Measuring links without considering TF/CF ends in tears

▪ Articles created without a reason should cause concern

▪ Set expectations of what you want at the end

Focus on the right aspects

7@DavidIwanow

Measurement is keyWhy do I need to better measure what we’ve done?

8@DavidIwanow

▪ Should be possible to calculate a ROI on all content

▪ Marketers will be held more accountable on spend

▪ You have to fight against PPC for budget

▪ You want to learn what impacts the business metrics

▪ How else can you learn from your mistakes?

Why is it important to measure?

9@DavidIwanow

Measuring linksDid you generate more links? Were they quality links?

10@DavidIwanow

Try to improve TF over CF

11@DavidIwanow

Measuring changesDid you acquire links or social shares?

12@DavidIwanow

Any content being shared?

13@DavidIwanow

Links acquired by content

14@DavidIwanow

Estimated reachHow many eyeballs might have seen your off-site content?

15@DavidIwanow

Top level content insights

16@DavidIwanow

Referral trafficDid you drive clicks from your off-site content back to your site?

17@DavidIwanow

Don’t try and track via UTM tags

18@DavidIwanow

Filter out the bots in Analytics

19@DavidIwanow

Can track via Google Analytics

20@DavidIwanow

Organic trafficDid your onsite or target content acquire more organic traffic?

21@DavidIwanow

Onpage content can lift traffic

22@DavidIwanow

Any SERP changes?Did Google Search Console show you a positive uplift?

23@DavidIwanow

Clicks and impressions uplift?

24@DavidIwanow

Did average rank change?

25@DavidIwanow

Number of keywordsDid the number of non-brand search terms driving traffic increase?

26@DavidIwanow

How many terms driving clicks?

27@DavidIwanow

Improved rankingsDid the rank of the target terms increase?

28@DavidIwanow

Track the focus terms

29@DavidIwanow

Automated insightsDid the content performance report highlight any impacts?

30@DavidIwanow

Performance of content

31@DavidIwanow

ForecastingWhat might be the impact of content marketing?

32@DavidIwanow

▪ How established are the competitors?

▪ What is the SEO difficulty score on target terms?

▪ Average links per piece of existing content?

▪ Average number of links competitors are building?

▪ Referral traffic to content pieces?

▪ Organic traffic to current pieces?

Forecast potential impacts

33@DavidIwanow

How much content?Work backwards from your goals to estimate resources needed

34@DavidIwanow

■ How much additional organic traffic is needed?

■ How many terms are being targeted?

■ How much referral traffic is needed?

■ How many quality links are you behind?

■ How much content do you currently have?

■ How does the content fit in with the purchase cycle

Honestly how much do you need?

35@DavidIwanow

Tracking successContent marketing should have a goal or KPI that is influential

36@DavidIwanow

▪ SEOmonitor can help (try it here)

▪ Dashboards in Majestic can help track competitors

▪ CoverageBook can track reach of content

▪ YoY comparison to avoid factoring in seasonal trends

▪ Compare target pages against a control group

How to report you results

37@DavidIwanow

Thank You!