Use Data Or Be Used By Data!

The August 25 issue of Seotistics is here for you!

AI this, AI that, content is supposed to be dead and here you are, consuming my content.

Auditing content is one of the most common activities and I am here to do a quick recap for those who are going back to work.

This issue will be more chill as many of you are still not fully back from holidays.

Please move this email to your Primary inbox or reply to it. This is to prevent Seotistics goes into spam by accident. Gmail users can read this tutorial to do it.

Read this in your browser

📣📣 Important Announcements 📣📣

I will be off from Aug.29 to Sep.15 (Japan trip), expect slower replies and time zone differences.

Of course, content will still be posted on LinkedIn and I will try sending you my weekly Seotistics issues...

but don't expect quick replies or super new content, I need some rest lol

Did Measurement Just Change?

The short answer is that not much changed in measurement, despite influencers like to say clicks (Organic Search) don't matter anymore.

Sure, you may have noticed on some websites that you got more impressions and fewer clicks...

but it doesn't alter the meaning of clicks.

You still need clicks from Google to get people to your website, easy.

There are some changes and rules of thumb many didn't catch up to:

"SEO" content doesn't work like before
Topical maps and other cool ideas aren't priority 1 for small websites
Content should be actually insightful

What I see on many websites is a lot of boilerplate content just to have it and no real incentive for people to stay on the website.

Analyzing data is cool but remember that most of the websites you will see need heavy work on content, I warned you.

Why Most Content Fails

Simple, if you ask me.

Whether it's a corporation or your personal blog, it boils down to more or less the following:

lack of distribution
non-original content
bad presentation/formatting
pacing problems

For sure, this isn't strictly Web Analytics but it's deeply tied to it if you work with publishers or B2B SaaS with a strong content game.

When your traffic drivers are articles, you can't simply ignore them and focus on the "money" pages.

This is the biggest mistakes some companies do.

It's just traffic loss, it didn't affect the bottom line.

Yeah sure, how do people discover you?

This is the biggest misconception coming from the Ecommerce crowd.

If your valuable content loses traffic, you have to worry.

If you are indifferent to a traffic loss, it means your content was never valuable to begin with.

Let's not forget that traffi can plumment because content loses traction over time. That's why you never overexpand and only create what you can preserve.

So why are you even keeping it if you don't care much about losses 👀

I think this is a hard cope by many professionals who want to justify their work.

Mind you, products and categories are obviously more important but you need to get users to your website, somehow.

The Basics Of Measurement

As I always preach, you need to get the foundations right, this means understanding what to measure and how.

Here is a nice checklist to gauge your level:

Do you have some dashboard/report to report on content?
Are you using the BigQuery exports?
Which data sources do you use to report?
Do you have processes or a list of coherent actions to recommend?

This is the bare minimum and yet, many don't do it.

Some companies do it but have bad practices in place, for example, evaluating content based on traffic alone.

You need to be a resolute analyst and avoid getting bossed around by stakeholders who pretend to know.

Many professionals struggle with KPIs and measurement because there are too many opinions.

"My manager wants to see the bounce rate and average time for this page".

The problem with this passive approach is that you let others decide on what they shouldn't. 👀

This is an example I showed before that doesn't make any sense. Yet, many agencies report on this stuff!

Never ever behave like a service desk, try avoiding it.

My advice is that YOU define what needs to be measured based on what your stakeholders need.

Pretty much understanding how to measure traffic and then understanding what are your true key events + what content is supposed to do.

I've seen too many projects lead nowhere because the main KPIs were pageviews and conversions, while ignoring many other.

Measuring "AI Impact"

You'd be amazed by how often I receive question by people.

The answer is quite simple as you can filter by page referrer in GA4 and even use tools like Waikay to monitor your performance.

Yet, many really think AI traffic trumps Organic Search or other channels.

This is far from truth according to market share data and what you can check on your websites.

Or measure your CTR like I showed months ago. This is a surefire way to see if you got problems on Google. Check my BigQuery Handbook in case.

If you don't believe me, check your stats yourself and see how you score:

As explained in a past issue, something like the 12.2% above would be "high". But consider we aren't talking about many users... (**code here**)

Just don't make it your personality to invest all in AI and you will be OK.

P.S. Some AI traffic will never be accounted for due to how web tracking works.

Still, it's not as impactful as you are told.

You still need to measure it to make your stakeholders happy but there is no further optimization here.

Great Content, Great Budget

Updating content implies deep work, unlike product pages.

You can bulk update product or category pages but not articles or even worse, thought leadership content.

The same goes for creation.

Skilled writers and knowledge workers cost a lot of bucks.

Producing one Seotistics issue like the one you are reading requires years of experience and testing.

Content is one of those areas where cutting costs severely backfires.

Measurement doesn't cost as much, luckily.

As long as you know what to measure, a simple stack is perfect to start:

A lot of tools but it's actually just the usual Google stack, really.

This is what I use for seotistics.com, nothing more, nothing less.

OK... But Reddit???

In the last month, I've been testing Reddit for personal branding, as every influencer is claiming it's essential.

Well, for some B2B niches, it's acceptable at best.

You don't need to be on Reddit to distribute your content effectively.

A lot of B2B marketers claim it's mandatory and the perfect solution for companies.

Been farming some Karma and stuff... need to ramp up my content game once I am back to deep work.

Personally, I think it's better for B2C and specific niches (hobbies, travel, personal finance).

I am still testing Reddit so I will tell you in more depth in my future content but so far, it's not as good as LinkedIn for me.

The Why Of Content

Ultimately to get more money, like everything.

The main caveat here is that content doesn't have to sell per se.

It can shape the perception of our brand in the mind of customers, though.

Too theoretical?

It's more practical than you think, actually.

Branded queries matter a LOT! It's all nice brand recall.

People buy from brands they know, especially in B2B.

Do you think people choose Semrush over another competitor just because of the features?

Nah.

It's because of branding.

Many professionals often forget this and measure content purely in terms of traffic.

This completely misses the point of why we do content.

In B2C, you also see how companies heavily invest in content for awareness.

Does it work? 100% yes when done properly, just look at the travel industry!

If you want to master most of these topics that Web Analytics often ignores, look no further: