Insight Report

October 2018

Online EducationalPlatforms

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This is your industry report.

Data is ground zero for everything we do in digital marketing. That’s why we’re reaching out with the latest industry data for Online Educational Platforms.

The data in this edition of the annual Online Educational Platforms Market Report highlights the successes and shortcomings of your site against your competitors. From your market share of visibility in Google to organic trends across the market, the report is packed with valuable insights.

Get stuck in.

We are Salience.

Richard WatersSales and Marketing Director 01244 564 501richard@salience.co.uk

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Brand Reach Score

Link Authority

Search Volume Trends

Dreams Case Study

Set us a challenge

Visibility Year on Year

Underperforming Sites

Our Services

Visibility Vs Authority

Keyword Potential

High Competition Keywords

Opportunity Keywords

Digital Magazines

Education Centres

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We combined brand search volume with a score representing the effectiveness of content performance across social channels to rank how much umph a brand has online in their industry.

Brands with a high rank but low brand searches suggests positive action to improve overall brand reach, while a low rank with high brand searches could suggest that on-site optimisation and social strategy improvements are required.

Brand Reach Score

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Site Brand Searches Per Month

Owned Social Score

Rank

udemy.com 110000 9219 1

memrise.com 201000 1675 2

khanacademy.org 60500 3863 3

pluralsight.com 49500 3029 4

codecademy.com 49500 2110 5

skillshare.com 18100 5612 6

coursera.org 40500 2415 7

edx.org 22200 3400 8

code.org 22200 3085 9

lynda.com 18100 2491 10

futurelearn.com 60500 564 11

udacity.com 14800 1316 12

creativelive.com 4400 3110 13

citrix.co.uk 22200 280 14

generalassemb.ly 5400 1148 15

openculture.com 1600 1208 16

teamtreehouse.com 1600 862 17

sololearn.com 6600 175 18

cybrary.it 3600 259 19

blackboard.com 22200 38 20

openclassrooms.com 1000 818 21

freecodecamp.org 2400 258 22

linuxacademy.com 2900 201 23

tutsplus.com 590 937 24

qa.com 14800 34 25

alison.com 12100 31 26

datacamp.com 1600 175 27

highspeedtraining.co.uk 12100 20 28

arttutor.com 1300 136 29

mheducation.com 880 199 30

Monthly brand searches shows an indication of brand recall within search behaviour. The top five

are the most recalled names within search.

Social score considers followers and engaged conversations on all major social platforms.

The top five have a strong following, creating engagement through content and product

campaigns.

Site Brand Searches Per Month

memrise.com 201000

udemy.com 110000

khanacademy.org 60500

futurelearn.com 60500

pluralsight.com 49500

Site Owned Social Score

udemy.com 9219

skillshare.com 5612

khanacademy.org 3863

edx.org 3400

creativelive.com 3110

Brand searches top 5

Social Score top 5

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Search Volume Trends

The graph below shows how the UK weekly search volume for your industry compares between 2016 and 2018.

As of October 2016, core Google search accounts for 58.84% of market share. (source, Jumpshot)

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215

2016

2017

2018

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An overall indication of search trends is a good place to start, but understanding your own data will lead to better decision making.

Andrew JobberSearch Director01244 122 3534andy.jobber@salience.co.uk

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Let’s TALK

01244 564500

ChesterNewgate HouseNewgate StreetChesterCH1 1DE

LondonOne Euston Square40 Melton StreetLondonNW1 2FD0203 507 0077

inspired@salience.co.uk

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Links are still one of the most important ranking factors in 2018, so consistently gaining new high-quality links can be great for business. Don’t lose focus on the high quality part, though. High link volumes without the quality could spell trouble ahead.

Our link authority score ranks sites in your industry based on number of links per month vs. the quality of those links.

LinkAuthority Score

Site Avg Monthly Referals

Avg Quality of Referring Domains

Rank

memrise.com 5283 5.16 1

coursera.org 3635 5.24 2

udemy.com 5749 4.45 3

futurelearn.com 3149 5.16 4

javascript.info 3429 4.78 5

codecademy.com 5158 4.10 6

khanacademy.org 3565 4.61 7

simplilearn.com 3430 4.64 8

edx.org 3068 4.41 9

alison.com 1883 4.72 10

highspeedtraining.co.uk 1583 4.46 11

creativelive.com 1346 4.52 12

blackboard.com 1525 4.24 13

sololearn.com 1240 4.51 14

linuxacademy.com 1547 4.16 15

pluralsight.com 1073 4.68 16

udacity.com 1313 4.24 17

wearesquared.com 850 4.76 18

freecodecamp.org 1205 3.50 19

open2study.com 571 4.41 20

citrix.co.uk 924 3.52 21

analyticsvidhya.com 617 4.01 22

learningtree.co.uk 587 3.80 23

arttutor.com 375 4.31 24

openclassrooms.com 536 3.79 25

avadolearning.com 941 3.06 26

academyclass.com 248 4.74 27

skillshare.com 399 3.69 28

e-learningforkids.org 233 3.94 29

totaralms.com 254 3.82 30

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Consistently gaining a low quantity of high-authority links could show that a brand has the right link-building foundations in place, but needs to work on

scaling that activity to successfully compete in their marketplace.

Consistently gaining a high quantity of low-authority links highlights an urgent need to redress your off-site reputation. Creating a regular disavow process and reconsidering your link-building strategy should be high priority for you to ensure the now real-time Penguin 4 keeps its anatomically redundant yet

commercially terrifying wings off your rankings.

High quality, low volume

Low quality, high volume

Site Avg monthly referals

Avg Quality of Referring Domains

academyclass.com 248 4.74

cybrary.it 28 4.63

open2study.com 571 4.41

arttutor.com 375 4.31

grovo.com 141 4.12

Site Avg monthly referals

Avg Quality of Referring Domains

codecademy.com 5158 4.10

freecodecamp.org 1205 3.50

citrix.co.uk 924 3.52

analyticsvidhya.com 617 4.01

learningtree.co.uk 587 3.80

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195%INCREASE IN ORGANICTRAFFIC

Our core-site tech improvements and large-scale content marketing campaign made Dreams the owners of sleep in digital.

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Free Audit?

Let’s TALK

With nine years of search marketing experience, we excel at providing results. Whether that’s

increasing ROI, building your audience through content marketing, or getting you out of a tough

spot, set your challenge and we’ll get to work.

0800 122 3534inspired@salience.co.uk

Richard WatersSales and Marketing Director

01244 564 501ric@salience.co.uk

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VisibilityYear on YearHere we see how each domain fares against its competition in the wider market.

A domain may have increased visibility Year-On-Year, but if the market has grown by a greater margin, has there been an opportunity lost?

SITE Jun-18 Jun-17 Difference Compared to Market

coursera.org 91540 84397 8% -93%

khanacademy.org 89003 66044 35% -67%

lynda.com 47072 60828 -23% -124%

edx.org 16556 6651 149% 47%

futurelearn.com 13294 18408 -28% -130%

udemy.com 10209 8816 16% -86%

openculture.com 9574 5569 72% -30%

tutsplus.com 7085 9451 -25% -127%

qa.com 5951 4536 31% -71%

codecademy.com 5867 4213 39% -63%

highspeedtraining.co.uk 5446 3376 61% -41%

freecodecamp.org 5418 3501 55% -47%

blackboard.com 4980 2319 115% 13%

alison.com 3744 8715 -57% -159%

hotcourses.com 2674 3483 -23% -125%

memrise.com 2633 6505 -60% -161%

virtual-college.co.uk 2426 1459 66% -36%

udacity.com 2369 3301 -28% -130%

pluralsight.com 2100 2359 -11% -113%

javascript.info 1579 220 618% 516%

creativelive.com 1578 1009 56% -45%

avadolearning.com 1319 189 598% 496%

code.org 1306 993 32% -70%

codeburst.io 1216 6 20167% 20065%

citrix.co.uk 1134 1300 -13% -115%

skillshare.com 1096 69 1488% 1387%

teamtreehouse.com 1082 1402 -23% -125%

stonebridge.uk.com 899 1601 -44% -146%

simplilearn.com 782 813 -4% -106%

learningtree.co.uk 618 944 -35% -136%

goskills.com 576 178 224% 122%

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The top 5 have successfully grown with the market. In some cases they’ve even exceeded market growth. Nice.

Even if the bottom 5 have increased visibility year-on-year, their market share has taken a pounding. Blame the top 5.

Winners

Losers

SITE Jun-18 Jun-17 Differencekhanacademy.org 89003 66044 35%

edx.org 16556 6651 149%

coursera.org 91540 84397 8%

openculture.com 9574 5569 72%

blackboard.com 4980 2319 115%

SITE Jun-18 Jun-17 Differencelynda.com 47072 60828 -23%

futurelearn.com 13294 18408 -28%

alison.com 3744 8715 -57%

memrise.com 2633 6505 -60%

tutsplus.com 7085 9451 -25%

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These brands could benefit most from a more expansive search marketing campaign. Things are looking good technically, and a strategic content marketing campaign is likely to yield positive results.

Underperforming Sites

High visibility, low authority

Low visibility, high authority

These brands could benefit most from resolving their on-site tech and structural issues. Identification of those problems, and dealing with them in a priority order should be in their sites.

Site Domain Authority Organic Visibilityqa.com 49 5951

highspeedtraining.co.uk 51 5446

hotcourses.com 52 2674

virtual-college.co.uk 51 2426

javascript.info 50 1579

Site Domain Authority Organic Visibilitymheducation.com 72 219

openclassrooms.com 67 235

generalassemb.ly 66 158

academicearth.org 65 65

class-central.com 63 475

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Our Services

Auditing

• Tech• Content• Analytics• Penalty Recovery• SEO

Strategy

• Persona Development• Content Strategy • Branding

Content Distribution

• PR• Outreach• Social Media

DATA

STORY

AUDIENCE

Monitoring

• On-site• Links• Competitors• Reporting

Platform Development

• Site Creation• Digital Magazines• Education Centres• Landing Pages• Shoppable Content

Planning

• Omni-Channel Strategy• Media Planning• Budget Optimisation

Optimisation

• CTR• Organic• Paid• Conversion• Keyword Strategy

Content Production

• Editorial• Influencers• Copy• Visual Assets

Paid Media Marketing

• Adwords (Search, Display-Shopping & Remarketing)

• Bing• Social

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Visibility vs AuthorityAs a general rule, there is a positive correlation between the number of inbound links and domain authority. Likewise, there is a positive correlation between domain authority and the potential the site has to rank.

The scatter graph below shows how each site’s organic visibility score correlates with its domain authority score.

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BA

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Key:

What does this mean for you and your business?

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Those with high visibility but low authority have laid good foundations for their site and would benefit from increased search marketing activity to build on those foundations.

Sites with low visibility and authority - look on the bright side, as there’s a lot of room for improvement. Brands in this zone should consider urgently rethinking their on-site technical and structural setup, as well as their keyword strategy and off-site campaigns.

Hats off to these guys. They’ve built their house right and have the search marketing strategy to expand. Just promise you’ll go easy on us when you start conquering the world.

Low visibility, high authority. At school, these sites were the kids who ‘had potential.’ There are clearly some on-site issues holding these brands back. Whether those issues lie in content, structure, or tech, an on-site review is highly recommended.

coursera.org 1 freecodecamp.org 11 creativelive.com 21

khanacademy.org 2 udacity.com 12 hotcourses.com 22

lynda.com 3 alison.com 13 virtual-college.co.uk 23

edx.org 4 memrise.com 14 javascript.info 24

udemy.com 5 pluralsight.com 15 simplilearn.com 25

tutsplus.com 6 highspeedtraining.co.uk 16 codeburst.io 26

openculture.com 7 code.org 17 class-central.com 27

futurelearn.com 8 qa.com 18 datacamp.com 28

codecademy.com 9 skillshare.com 19 stonebridge.uk.com 29

blackboard.com 10 teamtreehouse.com 20 mheducation.com 30

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The keyword potential graph shows ranking figures across three distinct groups for each site in the sector, providing a snapshot of a brand’s keyword health, but also highlighting areas for improvements and fixes.

The keywords are divided into groups dependent on the opportunities they present. Micro-optimisation (page 1), quick wins (page 2 & 3) and underperforming (page 3 & beyond).

Keyword Potential

Page 1 (%)

Keyword Opps %

Below Page 3 (%)

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These sites have the biggest opportunity for quick results within their current ranking keywords. Their best next steps should be to employ technical optimisation of relevant pages to bring those keywords onto page 1.

Quick win opportunities

For those who reside mostly on page 1, focusing on maximising traffic from their current position through micro-optimisation and click-through- rate optimisation will help fine-tune performance.

A large percentage of keywords appearing on or below page 3 indicates serious technical issues with your site or a misguided keyword strategy. Deeper analysis of the site performance will indicate the changes needed to improve.

Prime for Micro Optimisation

Strategy and Technical Issues

Site Keyword Opps%class-central.com 49%

goskills.com 49%

hotcourses.com 48%

teamtreehouse.com 47%

udemy.com 47%

Site Keywords on Page 1codewithchris.com 53%

alison.com 42%

highspeedtraining.co.uk 42%

citrix.co.uk 39%

qa.com 37%

Site Keywords Below Page 3code.org 48%

openclassrooms.com 45%

skillshare.com 44%

codeburst.io 43%

mheducation.com 42%

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High CompetitionKeywordsFor your industry, these keywords are the heavyweight belts, the golden tickets, the ones to tell your nan about. For those holding these positions, close monitoring and continued search marketing activity is needed to safeguard them. For smaller brands looking to weigh in on these terms, consider first breaking through on the opportunity keywords to strengthen your authority and visibility.

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Keyword Order Competitiveness Local Monthly Searches (UK)learn to code 1 61 8100

online courses 2 43 14800

learn html 3 54 1600

online learning 4 43 2900

learn programming 5 53 1300

online training 6 42 2400

online schools 7 41 2400

data analytics courses 8 41 1600

online education 9 50 590

online coding courses 10 50 590

online classes 11 61 320

learn code online 12 52 480

*Keyword numbers 9 & 10 have similar metrics and as a

result are overlapping on the graph.

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OpportunityKeywordsThese terms have less competition yet high search volumes. As such, they are a perfect battle ground for all brands in the industry to increase their competitiveness. Expanding your keyword strategy around these keywords is a clear route to improving performance.

Keyword Order Competitiveness Local Monthly Searchesdistance learning 1 38 5400

web designing course 2 30 1900

photoshop course 3 26 1600

online it courses 4 26 1300

leadership training 5 26 1000

web development courses 6 37 1600

leadership courses 7 27 1000

learning platform 8 20 720

leadership and management courses 9 29 1000

online training courses 10 29 880

ux design course 11 28 590

online study 12 37 720

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Digital Magazine?

Pros: Cons:

Digital magazines focus on selfless awareness content. Instead of pushy sales messages on a corporate blog (we don’t like that word), a magazine aims to help customers by

answering questions and raising intrigue within your niche. The potential for new organic traffic is pretty monstrous.

• Huge long-tail keyword potential

• Email Signups• Brand Recall• Link Acquisition

• Results take 6-9 months• Low conversions

4 MILLION +SOCIAL REACH

185% INCREASE IN ORGANIC REVENUE

PAGE 1 RESULTS FOR OVER 900 SLEEP RELATED TERMS

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Or Education Centre?

Pros: Cons:

Education Centres focus on bringing customers into your sales funnel through answering complex questions about your product or service. By creating a carefully

planned network of education content, users are sure to get the information they need, while continually moving closer towards a conversion.

• Great ROI• Conversion Focused

• Less suitable for products or services with a low price point

• Competitive space, depending on market

143% INCREASE IN PAGE VIEWS

246% INCREASE IN ASSISTED REVENUE

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Get in touch to schedule your free audit0800 122 3534inspired@salience.co.ukwww.Salience.co.uk