- Google Analytics isn’t just for technical SEO, it can be used for content, too.
- By using GA to collect data and find patterns, you can determine how effective, or non-effective, the current content is on your site.
- G.A. is more effective when you integrate Search Console data. Once you connect your Google accounts you’ll be able to see things like query, impression, and click data.
- Acquisition, Visitor, and Behavior reports are three GA features that can be leveraged for content production.
Google Analytics isn’t just for technical SEO. In fact, there are many ways you can leverage Google Analytics for content marketing purposes. Below are three key features of Google Analytics, otherwise known as G.A., which can help inform marketing decisions:
- Acquisition report: Most marketers want to know how visitors are arriving on a site and G.A.’s Acquisition feature helps you understand what search engine, blog, or social channels drive traffic to your site. Navigate to Acquisition > Overview.
- Visitor report by Country: Navigate to Acquisition > following Countries to see what countries are primarily driving traffic to your site.
- Behavior report: Google Analytics’ Behavior feature shows marketers what pages visitors are landing on. Navigate to Behavior > Overview to get acquainted with this feature.
The three features mentioned above are great places to start. Remember, you are simply collecting data and finding patterns to help you determine how effective, or non-effective, the current content is on your site. Furthermore, examining the data contained in these reports will help you decide what section of your site needs the most attention. For example, if you notice a specific blog is getting a lot of traffic from search engines you may decide to revisit the blog and update it to make it even more relevant.
Creating content based on demographics
Most brands have a target demographic, whether it is based on age or gender. Google Analytics can help marketers identify those key attributes under Audience > Demographics > Age > Gender. You can then use the data to craft unique content that speaks specifically to one audience (25-35 year olds, 35-45 year olds, etc.)
For example, if 53% of your visitors are female perhaps you can tailor the CTA on a landing page that speaks directly to female visitors. The same can be done for the 47% of male visitors that land on a specific page; optimize content that resonates with your male audience.
Creating content based on geography
Let’s say you run a business that has multiple locations and markets products to specific regions. Use the visitor report by country to discover what region traffic is originating from. For example, if you primarily serve people in New York and you notice visits from New York are surprisingly low you can create optimized content that includes “New York” with the keyword or phrase around your core products (e.g. “Commercial Roofing Services New York”.)
Key takeaway: Make sure your content speaks to your audience. If your audience lives in New York then create more content that focuses on New York.
Analyzing content performance
Conversely, a lot of good value can be found under the Content Drilldown feature in G.A., conveniently located under Behavior > Site Content > Content Drilldown. Use this feature to determine the effectiveness of content found on your most valued pages.
Let’s pretend for a moment that you promoted a free roofing estimate to people in New York that drove traffic from a Facebook ad. If you discover that you received a decent amount of page views on your New York roof estimates page you can safely say that your Facebook ad did its job. However, if you discovered not many people are visiting your company blog after boosting a blog post on Facebook then you might determine the content didn’t resonate with users and that it might be best to go back and make some edits.
Bonus tips
Navigate to Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages and you will see how many sessions a landing page is receiving as well as its bounce rate and average session duration. Generally speaking, a bounce rate of 41-55% is average and anything over 65% could be an indicator that the content on that landing page needs attention.
When it comes to tweaking the content on your site, sometimes it’s best to start with the low performing pages. You can easily measure the impact following content updates after a few months have passed. Chances are you’ll see improvements and then forever be hooked on using G.A. to inform your content marketing campaigns.
Lastly, G.A. is more effective when you integrate Search Console data. Once you connect your Google accounts you’ll be able to see things like query data, click data, and impression data.
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