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How Content Marketing And Google Analytics Score

Higher Together

IntroductionWhen brought together, content marketing and

analytics are the greatest a dynamic duo since

Batman and Robin (or Ben and Jerry, if you’re more

of a foodie than a DC fan). Though you may be

seeing an increase in traffic or lead generation

while just focusing purely on your content

creation, the truth is there is no way to know for

sure just how your content is performing without

analytics.

The insights that you gather from your analytics

report can help you make data-driven

improvements that will bring real results, making

you the superhero of your content marketing

campaigns.

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Why Content Marketing Professionals Need AnalyticsWhen it comes to content marketing, many companies consider this piece of their marketing

strategy to be a strictly creative process. However, while creativity in content marketing is

crucial, analytics and data monitoring are also essential in order to produce content that

makes a real impact.

While content creation alone can help boost traffic to your website over time, the key to

ongoing, consistent lead generation and increased web traffic is making improvements to your

content that help you attract more visitors and leads. The best way to find out how you can

better optimize your content for lead generation and conversion is by reviewing the data to

see what is working and what isn’t.

After you’ve gathered and analyzed the data, you can then develop a strategy for better

optimizing your content. In the end, the only way to make your content the best it can be is to

combine content marketing and analytics.

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Top 4 Analytics Reports Every Content Marketer Should UseNow that you know why analytics are important, it’s time to talk about which analytics reports

will help you better understand your content performance. Below are the top 4 analytics

reports in Google Analytics that every content marketing professional should use to measure

performance and optimize content:

1. Pages ReportThe Pages Report in Google Analytics allows you to see your page traffic on your website. In

addition to showing you how many people are visiting each page, you will also get a look at the

time on site and bounce rate, which Google Analytics provides by default.

To find this report in Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages. Then you can

adjust how many pages you are able to see by changing the number in the “Show Rows” section

at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.

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You will also want to adjust the time range when looking at this report. Make sure that the date

range is sufficient to get enough data. Look at the search volume for the past quarter and six-

months period. You may even want to look at traffic data from the past year to get a better

idea of how the content has performed over time.

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Once you have accessed this report in Google Analytics, there are a variety of ways that you

can take the information you’ve learned and apply this insight to your content strategy and

implementation:

• Keep an ongoing list of which pages get the most traffic. This will help you determine which

content topics and formats may be most popular with your online audience. Look for

patterns in the content pieces to see which elements may be driving traffic.

• Try testing new content with this insight in mind. Once you’ve taken a look at which pieces

bring the most traffic to your page, use what you have learned to test new content. For

instance, if your most popular content pieces are How-To blogs, try creating more of this

content to see if you can continue to increase traffic.

• Review the pages that get the most traffic. Just because a piece brings in a lot of traffic does

not mean that it is as effective as it could be. Go back and continue to optimize these pieces

by ensuring that the content is on-brand and includes quality links to other relevant posts

and pages.

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2. Navigation SummaryThe Navigation Summary Report is another useful way to gain powerful insight into your

content. This report allows you to see how visitors are behaving on your site, including how

they get to the page and what they click on and look at once they are there. This information

can be invaluable while you work to optimize your content.

You can navigate to this information in Google Analytics from the Traffic Report. To see this

information, click on any page in the traffic report and look at the Navigation Summary at the

top of the page. Just as you can with the Traffic Report, you can adjust the number of rows

displayed in the Navigation Summary.

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Once you have accessed this summary, you’ll want to pay attention to two elements of the

report: Previous Page Path and Next Page Path. Previous Page Path allows you to see which

page the visitor was looking at on your site before they arrived at this piece of content. The

Next Page Path allows you to see what website page your visitors navigate to after looking at

the piece of content.

These elements of the Navigation Summary can help you better understand how people get to

your pages and where they go from there. This is important because it offers you insight into

what your visitors already know and what information they still need. By looking at this data,

you can see where there may be gaps in your content and create new pieces to account for

these informational gaps.

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3. Organic Search TrafficIt's helpful to understand not only which pages are getting the most traffic but also which

pages are getting the most organic search traffic. When a page is getting a significant amount

of organic search traffic, this offers you the opportunity to learn more about the traffic on

these pages and take that insight to improve the rest of your content. It’s also important to

understand which pages get the most organic search traffic so that you can take care when

editing these pages so as not to upset the Google search engine ranking.

To view the traffic channels on Google Analytics, go to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels. This

will allow you to see a list of the channels that have been driving traffic to your pages. To look

at organic traffic, you can then select "Organic Search" and "Landing Page." If you want to look

at traffic on a particular page or post, take everything after the primary URL and paste it into

the search box. Look at the absolute number of sessions and percentage of your search traffic

to better understand your organic search traffic to that page.

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Keep this information in mind when making changes to your website. If a page brings in a lot of

organic search traffic, you will want to refrain from completely re-writing this page. If you

make any edits, be sure to monitor performance afterward.

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4. ConversionsMost content marketers are already aware of how important conversions are as a marketing

metric. Conversions will vary based on what action you want the visitor to take. In fact,

conversion does not always mean that you’re making a sale. If the piece of content is aimed at

increasing webinar or event sign-ups, then this will be how you measure conversions.

Since conversions will vary based on your objectives, it’s important to set up your unique goals

in Google Analytics. Once you have set up your goals, you can track them by going to

Conversion > Goals > Overview. This allows you to see a summary of which pages are

converting the most visitors based on the specific goals that you have set up.

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To find your conversion percentage, simply divide the number of conversions by the number of

total page views. This will give you a better understanding of how likely a visitor is to convert

after visiting that page. The pages with the highest conversion percentage should be the pieces

of content that you share and promote most often as they have proven to be effective in

getting visitors to take the actions that you want them to.

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ConclusionThere you go—you're ready to be a marketing analytics superhero! Using these four analytics

reports will help you get a better grasp of how your content is performing and what specific

changes you need to make to improve it. For more information about content marketing with

Google Analytics, contact the experts at SevenAtoms today to set up a free consultation.

SevenAtoms is a San Francisco based inbound marketing company that helps businesses market their products and services online to achieve tangible,

bottom-line results. We have a passion for inbound marketing and love helping our clients grow their brand and create sustainable lead generation sources.

Our expertise extends to SEO, PPC, social media, and content marketing, and we are especially adept at integrating these channels so that they work

together to drive maximum performance.

Request a Free Consultation

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