Content Analytics Made Easy | Collect Feedback with Survey Tools

Content Analytics Made Easy | Collect Feedback with Survey Tools

by | Jan 17, 2024 | Insights

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Content Analytics Made Easy | Collect Feedback with Survey Tools
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The Challenge of Assessing Performance with Content Analytics

As a digital marketer with 10 years of experience, I understand the frustration of trying to determine what content truly resonates with your audience.

Sitting in a dashboard, analyzing various numbers and metrics, can be incredibly boring and time-consuming. I decided to speak to other digital marketers to see if they shared the same struggle, and it turns out that many do. Here are the three main challenges we all face:

1. Using Multiple Platforms

Digital marketers today rely on a multitude of platforms, such as GA4, Search Console, Ahrefs, and SEMrush, among others. Each platform provides valuable data, but managing and analyzing all of this information can be overwhelming.

It’s tedious to navigate through different dashboards and attempt to piece together a comprehensive understanding of what content is performing best.

2. Time Constraints

Due to the aforementioned reliance on multiple platforms, digital marketers spend a significant amount of time each month content analytics data. On average, we dedicate a full day to sorting through numbers and trying to decipher what works and why.

This time-consuming process takes away from other important marketing tasks and slows down our overall productivity.

3. Relying on Guesswork

Despite our efforts to analyze data, we often find ourselves guessing the reasons behind the success of certain content pieces. While the numbers may provide indicators of what works, they don’t provide the full story.

We need insights into why certain content resonates with our audience, and that’s where traditional data falls short.

The Solution: Blending Customer Feedback and Traditional Metrics

To address these challenges, we’ve developed a new approach that blends customer feedback with traditional metrics of success, like GA4 content analytics.

By combining insights from our audience with conventional data points, we gain a deeper understanding of content performance.

Using our easy-to-create survey widgets, you can achieve four powerful outcomes:

1. Collect a Content NPS Score

The Content NPS (net promoter score is a simple rating that quickly tells you if your content is meeting the expectations of your audience.

Whether it’s traffic from SEO and a certain keyword, or a user who saw the title of your content elsewhere and wanted to find out more. Ratings range from one to five, allowing you to gauge how well your content is performing.

These widgets can be fully customised to match your brand’s aesthetics and are incredibly user-friendly.

2. Ask Custom Questions

In addition to collecting ratings, you can further validate feedback by asking custom questions tailored to your target audience.

For example, if you’re in the B2B space, you might ask respondents about their department and seniority level. If you’re targeting B2C, you can inquire about their stage in the customer journey or specific demographic information.

These custom questions enhance the quality of feedback and provide valuable context for analysis. In short – think of any data point you can’t get right now from GA4 and add it in here.

3. Understand What Works and What Doesn’t

With the feedback and ratings collected, you can gain insights into what resonates with your audience and what doesn’t. This information is invaluable for improving your content strategy.

For instance, you might discover that your blog is too long or that guide you wrote doesn’t get to the point quick enough. Armed with this knowledge, you can make informed decisions when creating future content.

4. The Best of Both Worlds

Now, here’s where it gets really exciting. We’ve combined the power of content analytics metrics from platforms like GA4 with the feedback and ratings obtained through our survey widgets.

In just a few clicks, you can access key metrics such as views, user engagement, conversion rates, and more, alongside your audience’s content ratings and feedback.

This integration allows you to quickly identify your best and worst performing content and understand the reasons behind their performance.

By leveraging both traditional metrics and customer feedback, you no longer have to rely on guesswork when assessing content performance. Our solution, Rockee offers you a comprehensive and streamlined approach to measuring content success.

Make Your Life Easier with Rockee

If you’re tired of the content performance guessing game, it’s time to embrace Rockee.

Setting up a widget and gaining insights can be done in just minutes. Get started here and unlock the full potential of your content.

Matt Laybourn - Rockee

Matt Laybourn

Matt is the founder of Rockee, who has over 10 years experience in B2B as a senior strategist in content and performance marketing, working on both agency and client side. When not obsessing over numbers, he’s out hiking with his dog or watching basketball

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    Mastering Product Idea Validation and Being A Content Creator w/ Sam Dickie

    Mastering Product Idea Validation and Being A Content Creator w/ Sam Dickie

    by | Aug 30, 2023 | Podcast

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    Mastering Product Idea Validation and Being A Content Creator w/ Sam Dickie
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    We recently caught up with Sam Dickie, a Senior Product Manager at Skyscanner, who is also an expert in the content creator space. But that’s not all – Sam’s expertise goes beyond his role at Skyscanner. He also lends his knowledge to startup consultancy and curates the super popular and informative Creator Club newsletter. This covers all things startups, no-code, Ai, and indie hacking. With his deep understanding of content performance, we were eager to get him on the podcast.

    During our chat with Sam, we dive into the essential art of product idea validation and explore why it is crucial to act fast on your concepts. He also shares valuable insights on why there has never been a better time than now to create something remarkable. As well as how to master content performance.  

    We’ve pulled out the top headlines from the episode with Sam, so you don’t miss anything!

    Takeaway #1: Validate validate validate – how to build a startup

    Sam believes that validating ideas for a start-up, be it an app, or SaaS solution – before diving into code or no-code solutions is crucial. To streamline the process, he divides it into two very important phases: problem validation and solution validation. 

    Problem validation focuses on starting with a clear understanding of the problem at hand. Something you need to do by speaking to your potential audience. A lot of the time, we come up with solutions right away, but no no no. It’s important to really understand the problem first before jumping to solutions.

    It’s time to ask yourself some content questions 

    Here’s what you should be asking yourself before committing to a solution:

    • How much of a problem is this? Is this something you encounter once a month or once a year? *You could still encounter it daily, but it’s just not a big enough problem that you’re actively looking for a solution or willing to even pay for a solution.
    • Are there any other existing solutions out there to that problem and how successful are they?
    • When is this problem encountered? 

    Once you’ve harvested all that insight, you can then move on to solution validation. Now it’s time to build that solution as fast as you can. All your previous research will help you to get the right MVP in the hands of your users as quickly as possible. 

    At this point of the process you’ll be receiving important signals. Signals and strong evidence to suggest that the user is actually willing to use your product and potentially pay for it. That’s why speed is important here.

    Another important piece to the puzzle is ensuring that there are multiple feedback loops buried into the product. 

    Always be searching for feedback, don’t be the founder who launches without any feedback loops, “they’re basically sitting in a car with their headlights off driving in the dark. They have no idea what’s going on. So you can’t quantify success when you’re in the dark.

    You need to be able to have a feedback loop to understand whether you’re doing good or doing bad, you want to understand if you’re doing a good job or not”. 

    Basically, don’t get lost in the dark. Make sure you’re switching your headlights on, full beam.

    Takeaway #2: 1,000 true fans – building a newsletter following

    Sam’s newsletter journey started as a passion project. Driven by his love for sharing cool products and interesting content with friends and family. After running various newsletters, he decided to take on the challenge of creating his own, and that’s how the Creator Club newsletter was born.

    Inspired by Kevin Kelly’s concept of a thousand true fans, Sam saw the potential of using the newsletter as a launching pad for future projects and products. Kevin’s idea predicted a thriving industry of creators with just 1,000 dedicated fans.

    Sam was also open about his dyslexia, which once held him back from writing. However, he soon realised that content performance outweighed perfect spelling.

    Authenticity and valuable content mattered most to his audience, and negative feedback was rare. So, Sam encourages everyone to embrace their uniqueness, keep creating, and you’ll find your 1000 true fans too!

    Takeaway #3: Authenticity wins when creating content

    Sam is a purist and we love that. He’s all about writing about what you’re generally interested in, “I think I’ve always looked at it where I kind of write based on my interests and like not for algorithms. You’ll see a lot of writers are just building their content around the algorithm, and you can see through it straight away, right?” 

    He emphasises the fact that it’s important to steer clear of content that seems contrived or built solely for SEO optimization. As more and more people are building to satisfy SEO, there seems to be less authenticity hanging about.

    For Sam, the tone of voice and the author’s personality play a significant role in making content enjoyable and easy to digest. Of course, you want to connect with the author and the subject, if you know something has just been created for clicks with no real thought surrounding it, you’re already going to have your back up a bit. 

    Of course, Sam had to mention Packy McCormick, the author of the Not Boring newsletter. Packy has the tone of voice down to a T, it’s relaxed, approachable but also full of knowledge and Sam has taken the same approach with his newsletter. The focus on authenticity and genuine interest has allowed him to build a loyal audience for Creator Club.

    Matt’s bangers

    We asked Sam what piece of content has caught his eye for all the right reasons, here’s his answer. 

    There were quite a few great pieces of content to choose from. But in the end, he settled on an obvious pick: First Round Capital’s (prominent VC) incredible blog. What sets it apart is the long-form content that’s genuinely informative without any fluff. It’s concise, deep, and sometimes complex, but written by real experts whose backgrounds are front and centre.

    The reading experience is fantastic. With subtle elements like a progress bar to track how much you’ve read and a handy sticky navigation that stays with you as you scroll down. Sam loves the clean layout with no advertising, making it a full-screen dream for content performance and ensuring your focus stays on the valuable insights each piece offers. Obviously, it’s a 10/10 from Sam.

    The sausage of death

    Sam shared a piece of content with us that definitely didn’t hit the mark – it’s content Business Insider. He’s not a fan. The content is filled with clickbait titles and is missing any real substance or value creation. Full of fluff and loaded with pesky pop-ups and ads, making the mobile experience an absolute nightmare. It’s a lot. 

    Finally, the writing style feels generic, as if it could be churned out by anyone in a factory. He doesn’t recognize any names, and they all sound the same. So, sorry to anyone who writes there, but it’s a real content performance banger of a letdown!

    What’s next

    Sam, we loved having you on the podcast! Keep an eye out for more conversations with great guest experts in the future.

    What’s your favourite Matt’s Banger and have you come across any pieces of content that give you a headache? We’d love to hear about what’s caught your eye for the right AND wrong reasons. 

    Watch the episode with Sam here, give it a listen here or why not catch up on some of our other episode write-ups here. 

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    Lydia Melvin

    Lydia is a freelance creator, executive assistant and digital content guru. Working with a range of awesome start-ups on their podcasts, blogs and social content. You should definitely follow her travels on social and her digital nomad podcast!

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      A Guide On How To Measure Content Quality in 2023 (+ Checklist)

      A Guide On How To Measure Content Quality in 2023 (+ Checklist)

      by | Aug 22, 2023 | How to use Rockee

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      A Guide On How To Measure Content Quality in 2023 (+ Checklist)
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      What readers call quality content differs from how Google Identifies it. But what exactly is content quality? 

      This post will touch on that, and also on how to measure content quality from three perspectives:

      1. Internal approval from your team or business
      2. Google’s perspective
      3. The reader’s point of view

      Want to know how to align all three? Here’s the lowdown.

       

      What is Quality Content?

      To readers, quality content answers all their questions. To content creators, quality content is one their readers love and find helpful. To Google, quality content satisfies their E-E-A-T requirements. Flip everything around, and content quality means:

      1. Writing that solves a problem
      2. Writing that’s actionable
      3. Writing that satisfies Google, enough to be found by readers

      Mark Evans, the principal marketer at Marketing Spark, thinks “Quality” is a subjective term when it comes to content marketing. “… It depends on how you serve target audiences and create content that delivers strategic and tactical insight that matters to them.

      For example, quality content for some people are listicles that provide information about different options. If this type of content is relevant and impactful, it falls into the quality category.

      Stepping back, quality content comes from truly knowing and understanding your audience, their problems, challenges, aspirations, goals, and questions. When you have this insight, content is a lot easier.”

      A Checklist to Use Before Launching Content

      Going through a checklist ensures that you aren’t missing important steps, and are right on track. Imagine publishing a post to find out it’s riddled with typos – not because you aren’t good at English, but because you didn’t check for those errors before publishing.

      Here’s a good checklist to guide you in ensuring the content’s quality is good enough to publish.

      1. Have you checked the content’s quality?
      2. Does the content match keyword intent?
      3. Have you used images and videos to break things up?
      4. Did you run a grammar check?
      5. Is your content authentic?
      6. Has an internal subject matter expert contributed to/reviewed the content?
      7. Is your content’s UX visually appealing?

      1. Have You Checked the Content’s Quality?

      To check the quality of content, ask the following questions, using Lily Ugbaja’s LEMA framework:

      • Is the content logical?
      • Is it explicit?
      • Is it memorable?
      • Is it actionable?

      2. Does the Content Match Keyword Intent?

      Aligning keyword intent with content creation ensures that what you are creating matches the expectations and needs of your target audience, as well as those of search engines.

      Example: For this post, we’re targeting readers who want to know how to measure content quality. Therefore, we have to use the right keywords for you to find us, and the right sections to cover everything you need to know.

      2. Have You Used Images and Videos to Break Things Up?

      Including images and videos break the dullness of text and add variety. For instance, some readers might prefer watching a video to reading a long post.

      3. Did You Run a Grammar Check?

      Using a tool like Grammarly to highlight grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors you might have missed when writing or editing ensures your content is understandable – and rid of errors.

      4. Is Your Content Authentic?

      Authentic content sincerely resonates with readers. With the influx of AI writing tools, more low-quality content is being pushed out daily. AI content checkers are great for discovering the quality of content as they use artificial intelligence to detect whether the content was generated by a machine or a human.

      A common sign that a piece of content was written by AI is the use of repeated words or phrases. For ChaGPT, these include: “However”, “in addition”, “in conclusion”, and “additionally”. I mean, even ChatGPT gave me a whole list of them.

      This post highlights some additional ways you can use to detect AI-written content and also to check if your content sounds like AI wrote it.

      Sara Stella Lattanzio, a B2B content strategist, and advisor, thinks AI content lacks empathy and distinctiveness – and I agree. I mean, AI doesn’t have access to my swipe file.

      (Source)

      5. Has an Internal Subject Matter Expert Contributed to/Reviewed the Content?

      A good process for creating content would be for the writer to find the expert in their own business on that subject matter and get insights from that person – to accurately inform readers. SeedLegals do this really well, by including contributions from experts in their content. Here’s an example:

      (Source)

      “Content creators should focus on showcasing subject matter expertise, citing reliable sources, and maintaining a transparent and credible online presence. These elements bolster content quality and build user trust, resulting in stronger engagement and better search rankings.” – Derrick Hathaway (Sales Director at VEM-Medical)

      After the content’s created, have the subject matter expert review it.

      When an internal expert reviews content, they can identify inconsistencies and inaccuracies that the writer may have overlooked as a result of a lack of expertise. Doing this ensures content is credible, and prevents you from spreading false information.

      6. Is Your Content’s UX Visually Appealing?

      If your website’s layout is ugly, a good number of readers will leave immediately after they notice.

      “Ever walked into a cluttered room and felt instantly overwhelmed? That’s how readers feel on a messy site. A sleek, easy-to-navigate website makes your content pop, and tells your readers, “Hey, we’re professional, and we care!” – Sudhir Khatwani (Founder at The Money Mongers)

      In this post, Matt highlights how Ahrefs uses visual signposting to reassure readers with:

      1. An author’s bio showcasing the writer’s expertise
      2. Stats showing how well their content is accessed, linked to, or discussed on social media
      3. Multiple sharing options
      4. A table of contents for readers to skip to parts they are interested in
      5. A call to action for readers to signup for their newsletter

      (Source)

      Also, use attractive typography and reasonable amounts of white space.

      Our website is super “clean” by design. We don’t use sidebars or run ads on the pages because we want the user experience to be on point! We’ve received many compliments over the years that our website is nice to read/engage with. So my opinion, from first-hand feedback, is that a nice easy-to-use experience on your website conveys quality to the content itself. – Hilary P Johnson (Business Growth Consultant at Hatch Tribe)

      Google’s Perspective on Content Quality: E-E-A-T

      The recent addition of an “E” in Google’s search quality evaluator guidelines means Google favors content where the author has first-hand experience on the topic. E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

      The Google Search Quality Guidelines are mainly about helping people quickly find good websites and content.

      More on that here

      “Regarding E-E-A-T, with the rise of AI writing tools, large amounts of low-effort content put out there that sounds more convincing than ever. And it’s not a bad thing to use these tools, but to stand out, you’ll need to do more than just use what they give you without any editing.

      Expertise and Experience are two main things that AI writing tools can’t do in any genuine way, and right now, even fail to convincingly pretend to cover these areas. This makes Expertise and Experience critical areas for content writers and editors to inject into their articles to stand out from the coming wave of AI written content.” – Gabriel Ramuglia (President at Input Output Flood LLC)

      When checking content on your website, there are some important questions you should ask. These questions help you to see things from Google’s perspective.

      • Is the information trustworthy?
      • Did someone conversant with the topic write the content?
      • Are your facts correct?
      • Are there spelling or formatting errors?
      • Is the content new and authentic?
      • Is the content very detailed?
      • Would you save or show the content to a friend?

      You can study the guidelines here to learn more about how Google measures content quality. 

      Chapter 8.3 of it talks about what it takes to achieve a very high level of E-E-A-T.

      Measuring Content Quality From The User’s Perspective: Quantitative Metrics and Benchmarks

      Engagement time and rate as well as conversions are common metrics used by SEO and content teams to measure the impact of content.

      However, these metrics don’t tell who your readers are, and what they truly feel. Content feedback does.

      Including user ratings and feedback to gain insights into the quality of your content tells you:

      • How readers rate your content
      • What readers think about your content, and its quality

      With Rockee, you can embed user ratings and customizable questions on website content, and the insights collected can be used to adjust content based on reader preferences and expectations.

      In Summary: Content Feedback helps you to Measure Content Quality, and Optimize Content Faster 

      Content quality is a lot, but here are three things to keep in mind:

      1. Creating quality content is important
      2. Measuring the quality of content is important
      3. Optimizing content using audience feedback is crucial

      Sign up for any plan on Rockee to:

      1. Get to know your audience through customized questions based on their industry, seniority, job role, or stage in the customer journey
      2. Get feedback on website and non-website content – from landing pages, blogs, pdfs, newsletters, videos, and even live event content
      3. Understand more about your content’s performance – besides analytics data – using content measurements and performance dashboards that show who’s reading, their content scores, as well as feedback.

       

      4. Embed and analyze the performance of Trust badges, as well as their impact on content conversions and content engagement.

      I want content feedback >>>>>>>>>>

      How to measure content quality (FAQs)

      What is content quality?

      Content quality refers to how good, valuable, and reliable a piece of content is. 

      What are the main components of quality content?

      The main components of quality content are accuracy, reliability, and explicitness.

      What is quality content?

      Quality content is content that’s valuable, reliable, and engaging.

      Wisdom Dabit

      Wisdom Dabit

      Wisdom Dabit is a freelance B2B SaaS writer who’s passionate about creating actionable and data-driven content. He enjoys writing about marketing, eCommerce, and of course, SaaS.

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        How to measure content performance using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Rockee

        How to measure content performance using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Rockee

        by | Aug 18, 2023 | How to use Rockee

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        How to measure content performance using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Rockee
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        Rest in peace Universal Analytics

        As of July 1st, 2023, the Google Analytics you’ve grown accustomed to over the last ten years ceased to exist. I know – on its tenth anniversary as well! That’s the official date that Universal Analytics properties will stop processing data. This data signals the start of a new era under Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

        You’ll still be able to see old Analytics reports for at least six months afterwards, but only new data will flow into GA4 properties from that date on.

        What do you need to know about GA4? 

        The biggest changes to take note of are the layouts of dashboards and changes in metrics and terminology. This is ultimately driven by a change in analytics methodology, which is a shift from session-based hit types like page hits, events hits etc to ‘event-based’.

        Simply put, all hits like ‘page-view’ are now events. If you want to get into the technical details, Google’s official documentation is here.

        Where have all my metrics gone! What does this mean for content marketers?

        One of the big things for content marketers, who love analysing content performance to get used to is the metrics. Nearly all the metrics we’ve been using for the last 10 years are going or have been replaced.

        Try not to scream. It’s going to be just fine.

        Horror scream
        It’s a good thing. Really.

        Here’s why – most of the metrics we used were flawed in one way or another. That’s because Google Analytics was never built to measure content. Look at it like this:

        • Time on page – this was always subject to users who multi-tab, leaving tabs open for a full maximum session duration. A good guide on engagement but not accurate.
        • Bounce rate – This was always misleading. For example, high can be good! Someone who visits once, reads a whole article and solves a problem might leave once they’re done. And they’ve only visited one page. This contributes to a high bounce rate as that person didn’t trigger a secondary action on your website. In short, a bad metric for content.
        • Unique page views – A massive skew on what matters, which is engagement. This is not, and never has been, a good indicator on how many people start to read your content. People browse, click, and go all over the place.

        Historically, this has been a big problem for content marketers. This data, while an interesting proxy to content performance, isn’t fit to help you measure or improve content.

        thinking and guessing
        There are no clear answers from the data. I mean, who’s making better content based on a dwell time or a bounce rate? You’d just be guessing. And that doesn’t feel like a solid foundation for creating great content.

        GA was never built to measure content. It’s time to embrace change. So long, old friend.

        Out with the old – in with the new. How to measure content using GA4.

        The metrics that matter

        Users – This is a key metric to establish ‘unique readers’ of your content. Universal Analytics used to focus on ‘total users’, whereas GA4 is focused on ‘active users’ – users who are currently engaged.

        You will see a margin of error when comparing reports, mainly as GA4 at this point does not support filters. You can find more in this Google guide.

        Average engagement time – Out with dwell time, in with user engagement. This, in essence, measures how long you’re ‘active’. That means all the time you are scrolling, moving your mouse etc.

        Even if these are lower than your existing ‘session duration’ times, don’t fret. Most people are multi-tabbing. Switching in and out of your content among other things. Bear that in mind.

        Engagement rate – This is the one that’s closest to replacing ‘bounce rate’. Engagement rate is the number of engaged sessions divided by the total number of sessions.

        An engaged session could be it one that lasts longer than 10 seconds, had a conversion event, or had two pageviews. The lower the engagement rate, the less your audience is enjoying that content.

        Unique user scrolls – If ever I was to have a favourite metric (I know – I’m great at parties), this would be it. For years, content marketers set up custom-scrolling scripts in Universal Analytics. You don’t need to do that anymore!

        In GA4, scroll depth is automatically calculated at 90% depth (you will need to turn on enhanced measurement in GA4: Admin> Data Streams> Select website/stream> Turn on enhanced measurement)

        In essence, this means someone has scrolled to the bottom of your content. They are most likely to have read the full article. This is a key metric when you compare it with users to determine how many people started and finished your content.

        Conversions – Formerly known as ‘goals’, conversions work much the same. This is where you can start attributing content to business outcomes. In GA4, you’ll need to set these up yourself, as the pre-defined metrics are very app centric.

        We’d recommend you set up goals that relate to events that really matter. We’re talking form-fills, chatbot engagement or key CTAs to your platform sign-up page (if you’re SaaS of course). Linking content to impact has never been easier.

        Larry ok

        Combining GA4 and Rockee Insight data

        Here’s the fun bit (ok, we’re biased). Now it’s time to understand the ‘why’ behind the analytics, when measuring content performance. Once you’ve set Rockee up on your website (read our how-to guides here), you’ll see people leaving ratings and feedback in your Rockee dashboard.

        The unique logic-based questions Rockee uses will quickly allow you to understand user sentiment towards your content. Have you helped solve a problem, was something missing, what could you do better?

        In short, it’ll help you make sense of the numbers with feedback from the people who matter most – your audience.

        Improved content optimisation

        With GA4 and Rockee, you’ve now got all the tools and insights you need to improve your content.

        Where to start?

        High-volume content

        Which assets get the biggest audience? Your big SEO winners are your priorities. Getting under the skin of how that content performs can unlock bigger lead driving opportunities.

        Combine the high volume unique user page visits from GA4 and Rockee feedback scores to understand how you can improve the content on these pages.

        Pro tip: Use the Rockee audience identifier questions to measure whether high performing keywords are bringing in relevant target audience traffic.

        Low-performing content

        Which content gets the lowest rating and what does the feedback say? This is where users aren’t getting what they need from your content.

        Too much detail? Not enough detail? Hard to understand? Too simplistic?

        These are the kind of things your audience can tell you. All you need to do is listen, learn and iterate to improve your content quickly. As we say, the only bad feedback is no feedback.

        High performing content

        On the flipside, where are people getting what they need from your content – enjoying it even?

        You’ve got high engagement rates, lots of unique user scrolls and great Rockee ratings – there’s something going down with this content! Look at the feedback and use it to repeat what you’re doing well in other pieces.

        More than helpful content

        The GA4 update will take some getting used to. But crucially, we’re moving to more meaningful metrics and data to help us understand what effective content looks like. This is vital as Google is placing ever more emphasis on ‘good’ content – as well know from the Helpful Content Update.

        So, before we start thinking about creating more content, let’s focus on making better content.

        Be on the side of quality, not just quantity.

        Matt Laybourn - Rockee

        Matt Laybourn

        Matt is the founder of Rockee, who has over 10 years experience in B2B as a senior strategist in content and performance marketing, working on both agency and client side. When not obsessing over numbers, he’s out hiking with his dog or watching basketball

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          The 8 Best Content Marketing Analytics Tools of 2023

          The 8 Best Content Marketing Analytics Tools of 2023

          by | Aug 15, 2023 | Insights

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          The 8 Best Content Marketing Analytics Tools of 2023
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          If you’re nearly like me, you’re obsessed with numbers and data on your content’s performance.

          meme on content marketing analytics tools

          Krittin Kalra, the Founder of Writecream, uses tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush for content analysis.

          “At our company, we use a variety of tools and data points to ensure that our website and demand gen content are performing at their best. We also frequently analyze engagement metrics such as time on page, click-through rates, and bounce rates to get a sense of how our audience is interacting with our content.”

          “The length of our optimization process depends on the specific content piece and the amount of feedback we receive. However, on average, we spend about a week gathering data, analyzing our findings, and making any necessary adjustments”, she added.

          So yes, content analytics tools are important. And then, if you’ve executed a content marketing strategy yourself, you know just how much work is involved. You have to find the right topics, create content, and track and measure their performance on sometimes several channels. It’s so much work. 😩

          Want to ease the pressure? Here are our top analytics, SEO, and feedback tools for analyzing content performance.

          (Writer’s note: I separated tools into four categories to make it easier for you to understand what type of analysis you can use them for).

          Content Analytics Tools (Category #1)

          1. Google Analytics 4

          A screenshot of Google Analytics 4 as a content marketing analytics tool

          Google Analytics is so much more than a simple analytics tool. It not only allows you to measure conversions on your site but also gives you dynamic insights into how visitors: 

          • arrived on your site
          • interacted with your site

          And also how you can keep them coming back.

          “GA4 provides deep insights into user interaction with our content, helping us refine our user experience. By analyzing engagement patterns, we’ve been able to tailor our content to meet user preferences, resulting in longer time spent on our platform and improved conversion rates.” – Abhishek Shah (Founder of Testlify)

          Pros:

          1. GA4 offers improved event tracking with greater flexibility and accuracy – making it easier for you to measure conversions and user actions
          2. GA4 has enhanced cross-device and cross-platform reporting, for you to understand how users engage with your website and app – across various devices
          3. GA4 integrates with other Google products like Google Ads and Google Search Console

          Cons:

          1. GA4 uses complex terminology. Here’s a glossary by MonsterInsights containing new GA4 terms you should know, and here’s an article comparing new GA4 metrics to the familiar ones in Universal Analytics.
          2. Its UI is complex, particularly given our long use of Universal Analytics

          Price: Free.

          2. TinyAnalytics

          Screenshot of TinyAnalytics' home page

          (Source)

          TinyAnalytics is a simple analytics tool for analyzing user behavior on your website. Its session recording feature allows you to easily watch how people engage with your site and you can also visualize user behavior using heatmaps.

          “We have been working with TinyAnalytics for some time now, and we have truly enjoyed the experience. Our goals align, and this is an excellent fit for us. TinyAnalytics has taught us so much. Not only do they have one of the best customer service departments I’ve ever worked with, but they are also able to provide accurate analytics that help us run our business more successfully. They’re doing a fantastic job and we love having them in our corner!” Molly Carroll – Director of Sales, Delve

          (Source)

          Pros:

          1. Heat mapping is easy to analyze and set up
          2. The mobile device analysis feature provides insights into your website’s mobile experience
          3. It’s GDPR compliant

          Cons:

          1. Heat mapping visualization is limited
          2. Contains limited information
          3. UI needs improvement as you can’t zoom in on the dashboard for more detail
          4. Supports only English

          Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at £49 a month.

          Companies like HABITAT and PETSKY use TinyAnalytics.

          3. Fathom Analytics

          Screenshot of Fathom Analytics' home page highlighting features that make it a good content marketing analytics tool

          (Source)

          Fathom Analytics is a simple website analytics tool that uses a single line of code and works on any website or CMS. Fathom has a lightweight script that doesn’t slow your website down or affect your SEO. Similar to other content analytics tools, Fathom measures essential metrics such as Page views, bounce rate, and referrers.

          “Fathom Analytics is a great Google Analytics alternative because it is focused on protecting visitors’ privacy, does not collect any personally identifiable information about your website visitors, and does not bog down loading times, leading to faster websites.” Nathalie Lussier – founder of AccessAlly.com

          (Source)

          Pros:

          1. Good customer service
          2. GDPR compliant
          3. By-passing Ads helps collect data easily
          4. Data is gathered anonymously

          Cons:

          1. Features are limited when compared with GA4
          2. The UI is not as intuitive as other analytics tools, hence navigating and accessing certain features is difficult.

          Price: 30-day free trial available. Paid plans start at $14/month.

          Companies like IBM, GitHub, and Buffer, use Fathom Analytics.

          4. Plausible Analytics

          Screenshot of Plausible Analytics' home page for a post highlighting features that make it a good content marketing analytics tool

          (Source)

          Plausible is another lightweight content marketing analytics tool that allows provides you with essential insights into your website’s content. It’s pretty simple in the sense that you get all the information you need on one page, without needing to navigate through different menus or build custom reports and dashboards.

          “Plausible is a fast, lightweight, privacy-first, and GDPR-compliant analytics platform that is better than GA4. It’s easy to integrate and powerful once it’s running.” – Alex L., 5-star review on G2

          Pros:

          1. Easy integration
          2. The dashboard is easy to use
          3. It is GDPR, CCPA, and ECPR compliant
          4. Cookie-free

          Cons:

          1. Currently provides documentation support only
          2. Supports English only

          Price: Free trial available. Paid plans start at $9/month for 10,000 pageviews.

          Companies like Prezly and Elementary use Plausible Analytics.

          SEO Tools (Category #2)

          5. Ahrefs

          Screenshot of Ahrefs' home page for a post highlighting features that make it a good content marketing analytics tool

          (Source)

          Ahrefs is another popular tool used by marketers to analyze the SEO side of their content performance. For us at Rockee, we use Ahrefs to track ranking progress and discover opportunities using existing data. Asides from content analysis, you can use it to discover content ideas and run content audits to discover ways to improve website performance.

          “Using Ahrefs’ data to plan our content strategy helped us increase visits to our blog by over 200% compared to the previous year.” – Maile Waite, Head of Content & SEO at CloudApp.

          (Source)

          Pros:

          1. AhrefsBot is the most active web crawler among all SEO tools
          2. Has advanced filtering options
          3. Constantly renews data
          4. Easy data retrieval

          Cons:

          1. Pricing is on the higher end when compared to other SEO tools
          2. UI is complex for beginners to navigate. We recommend studying this beginner’s guide: https://ahrefs.com/seo – to get the hang of it
          3. Some level of technical SEO knowledge is needed to overcome its steep learning curve

          Price: Paid plans start at $99/month.

          Ahrefs is used by marketers from companies like Adobe, Zoom, and LinkedIn.

          6. Semrush

          Screenshot of Semrush' home page for a post highlighting features that make it a good content marketing analytics tool

          (Source)

          Semrush is another well-known content analytics tool for monitoring content performance and it possesses some powerful content marketing features. It helps you analyze website traffic, uncover keywords, track your position on the SERPs, and conduct competitor analysis.

          “Semrush is like a keyword research tool, Google Trends, Moz, Hootsuite and SimilarWeb in one.” – Mario León Rojas, Performance Marketing Specialist at Banco del Sol.

          (Source)

          Pros:

          1. It has one of the largest keyword databases
          2. Has extensive tools and features like traffic analytics and content marketing tools.
          3. Its usage allowance is quite generous when compared with other SEO tools

          Cons:

          1. Also a bit expensive, when compared to other SEO tools.
          2. It takes a while for new users to understand how it works. Beginners can watch tutorial videos on Semrush’s youtube channel and take courses on Semrush Academy to get familiar with the tool. 
          3. Price: Limited free plan available. Paid plans start at $99.95 per month.

          Brands like Tesla, IBM, and DECATHLON use Semrush.

          A Problem With Content Analytics and SEO Tools: Time and Context

          Analyzing content performance with analytics and SEO tools takes time, and Michael Alexis, the CEO of Swag, agrees with this.

          “The process normally takes several weeks or months depending on the size of the project. The hardest thing about this process is finding a balance between what works best for our company and what resonates with our audience. It can be challenging to understand exactly what will work without soliciting customer feedback directly to get an outside perspective.”

          After analyzing content performance, you’ll have to optimize it, and Leszek Dudkiewicz, the Head of Marketing at Passport-Photo Online, mentions that it isn’t an easy task: 

          “The amount of time it takes to improve your content hinges on the number and quality of the issues that need addressing. However, one thing is certain – this is not a task that can be accomplished overnight. In my experience, undertaking a thorough optimization of content can take several weeks, if not months. It requires a commitment to a sustained effort, but the results can be well worth the investment”.

          Krittin Kalra, the CEO of WriteCream, mentioned that balancing content optimization with content creation is quite difficult, because of how long it takes: 

          “The hardest thing about our optimization process is balancing the need to improve our content with the need to consistently produce new content. It can be a challenge to devote the necessary time and resources to optimizing existing content while also creating fresh, engaging content that keeps our audience coming back for more”.

          One important word repeated itself…Time.

          Doing any type of content analysis and optimization is difficult and time-intensive. And chances are, some changes you’d want to implement may not be necessary.

          For example: To you, a low engagement rate may mean your website has a slow load time, but readers may be leaving early because they found the introduction boring. It’s either you ask, or continually guess why.

          Qualitative insight tools will give important answers and save you time from guessing if your content resonates with your target readers by collecting feedback from them.

          Below are two tools you can use to collect feedback from readers.

          The Solution: Qualitative Insight Tools (Category #3)

          7. Rockee

          Screenshot of Rockee' home page for a post highlighting features that make it a good qualitative content marketing analytics tool

          (Source)

          Rockee’s a content feedback platform that helps you create better content using audience feedback. As a qualitative insight tool, it removes the guesswork from analytics data and tells you exactly what readers truly think about your content.

          You can collect feedback from readers using the following:

          Thomas, an HR company, uses Rockee Trust Badges and scores to immediately let visitors know how great content is.

          Screenshot of a post on Thomas' blog showing Rockee' trust badges.

          (Source)

          And also includes a content ratings widget at the end of posts for readers to tell what they liked about the content.

          Screenshot from a blog showing Rockee' content ratings widget for readers to rate the post

          (Source)

          “We’ve had Rockee on our website for several months now, and we’ve got huge amount of content on the website. Matt and I began working together really to answer that kind of ever-present digital marketing conundrum, which is: how is our content performing? There are a number of tools out there that will give you an overall score, but for me, context is key. And that context is, how does our content perform with our target personas and future buyers? So getting that insight is of real value, and Rockee allowed us to see that”. – Nick Liddle (Digital Marketing Lead @ Thomas.co)

          Pros:

          1. Readers use it to leave feedback on what they liked/disliked about the content
          2. GDPR and privacy friendly – doesn’t collect user identification data
          3. Easy to setup – collect insights in minutes
          4. Customizing a widget is easy, and it’s very lightweight to load on a website
          5. You can use custom landing pages to collect feedback for email and non-website content

          Cons:

          1. To get statistical insights you need good site traffic, min of 10k visitors a month. Not suited for smaller users
          2. We’re a start-up – so it’s relatively light on features. We’re constantly adding new features, with help from our users. Got something in mind? Email matt@rockee.io

          Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at £39/month.

          Companies like iManage, CIPHER, and Thomas, use Rockee.

          8. Hotjar

          Screenshot of Hotjar' home page for a post highlighting features that make it a good qualitative content marketing analytics tool

          (Source)

          Hotjar is a website analytics tool that enables you monitor your website’s performance. It lets you visualize how visitors engage with your site using heatmaps, recordings, and feedback. Visitors can tap the widget at the side to give feedback and narrate what their experience was like.  

          “Hotjar is a critical tool for us to understand our users and identify any pain points where they might be getting stuck.” – Mike Fiorillo, Growth Product Manager at Invision

          (Source)

          Pros:

          1. It has good behavior analysis features
          2. It’s easy to install and set up 
          3. Heatmaps can show you where visitors click and scroll on your site

          Cons:

          1. Pricing increases dramatically upon usage
          2. The widget adversely affects a page’s loading speed
          3. Limited customization for surveys and feedback
          4. Limited integration with other marketing and analytics tools

          Price: Free plan available. Paid plan starts at $32/month.

          Companies like Unbounce, Miro, and Adobe use Hotjar.

          Summary: Qualitative Insights are Important

          Medium-size companies – with website traffic of over 10k visitors a month – need better insights as to what the data means, so a qualitative data tool like Rockee is needed to close the gap.

          With Rockee, content teams understand if content resonated by collecting feedback in the form of content ratings and customized blog survey questions, which looking at numbers alone, can often lead to guesswork.

          Small businesses can use Rockee’s free plan alongside other free tools on this list to better understand content performance.

          Take a demo by rating this content below, and find out how Rockee works by signing up for a free trial.

          FAQs

          What is content analytics?

          Content analytics is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to gain insights into how content is performing, how it’s being consumed, and its impact on business goals.

          What are content analytics tools?

          Content analytics tools are software designed to help businesses and content creators analyze and interpret data related to their content.

          Which tool can be used to measure content effectiveness?

          There are many tools you can use to measure the effectiveness of content, but some helpful tools to use are Google Analytics, Rockee, Hotjar, Semrush, and Ahrefs.

          Wisdom Dabit

          Wisdom Dabit

          Wisdom Dabit is a freelance B2B SaaS writer who’s passionate about creating actionable and data-driven content. He enjoys writing about marketing, eCommerce, and of course, SaaS.

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