A while ago I posted a video by Rand Fishkin on how to create 10X content- content that is 10X better than your competitors. So how do you know if your efforts are working? Can you measure the quality of your content?
The quality of writing and visuals is very subjective. I may love something that you think is awful
But there are several indicators that can tell you how well your content is doing:
- The Google Quality Guidelines
Google has been kind enough to provide us with a list of their quality guidelines, so you can check all you content against this list and see if you are at least in the ball park as far as Google is concerned. See the checklist here
2. Research
Is your content based on research or did you just have a “bright ideas” and dash off a blog post or news item? Monitoring your audience and discovering what they’re interested in and what they respond to can give your content a real boost.
3. Facts and Figures
In the world of Fake News, fact-checking and getting it right is vital. It builds trust and credibility. Alwasy quote your souces and make sure that those sources are valid and reliable.
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4. Develop a Voice and a Perspective
There is a flood of content published every day. To attract an audience and earn good rankings in Google you must stand out in the midst of all that noise. Your content doesn’t have to be totally different or new, but it must offer a new angle or perspective. Tie two pieces of research together and make the connection. If you audience can read the same content in five other places, they won’t become loyal readers.
5. Make it Valuable and Applicable
The most important of all, does this content help your audience in some way? Does it answer a question, give them direction, or make their lives easier in some way. It might be as simple as you finding the news they need to read each week and saving them the time of searching for those gems of knowledge.
Tracking Success with Analytics
Google Analytics can help you discover how well your content is performing. The landing pages report can tell you how much traffic comes to each page or item of content. You can also segment your visitors into audiences, so you can see how well you are reaching your target market with your content.
For example, a financial services firm was eager to reach women over 45 in a specific area who are interested in financial planning and retirement. In the audiences section you can segment the traffic, so you can see exactly who is looking at your content.
Now you can track exactly how many of your visitors fall into this segment. and how many go to the goal page you set up for this content campaign.
The days of saying, I know half of my content is working, but I don’t know which half are over. With digital analytics it’s possible to know exactly how effective your content is.