Improve Your Content Strategy With Google Analytics Insights

It’s no secret that we live in a world constantly driven by data. We use the insights gathered from data multiple times a day, and most of the time we don’t even realize it. Daily decisions like what movie we should watch on Netflix, what restaurant we should order dinner from, or what stores to shop at are often all recommended considerations that are driven by data based on our personal preferences and more.

What if you could apply similar data points to your brand’s content strategy? With the help of Google Analytics, you can gather information on your current content marketing and search engine optimization(SEO) strategy to improve upon your tactics. Data is key in all marketing decisions because it allows you to leverage accurate information to better understand your target audience.

Moreover, data-driven marketing results in a variety of benefits for your brand. From improvements in customer loyalty and engagement,to better informed content ideas, Google Analytics data helps you produce real results. This article will explore 10 different ways to use your findings from Google Analytics metrics to drive results in your content marketing and SEO strategies.

1.  Understand the Value Behind Your Popular Content

One of the easiest ways to continuously create content that resonates with your target audience is to evaluate your current top-performing content. In order to develop content that is relevant to your audience, you need to gain a deep understanding of what consumers find valuable. Finding new ways to expand upon your top-performing content will allow you to connect with your target audience time and time again.

Using Google Analytics, you will be able to accurately determine which pieces of content you produce are the “best.” At the end of the day, it matters more what your audience thinks of your content rather than what content is your favorite.

Using page views allows you to see which topics and content are getting the most attention from your website visitors. Additionally, Comparison View and Average Time on Page will show you which pieces users spent more time on. From there, you can create variations of your most successful content.

2.  Utilize the Relationship Between Content and SEO

Content and SEO go hand in hand. Without relevant content,search results fall flat. On-page content is the most effective, efficient, and direct way to improve your brand’s SEO strategy. Looking at your website’s top key words can provide ideas on what to expand on going forward, and what topics may reap the most reward.

Head to Behavior → Site Search → Search Terms to gather information on which keywords people are looking for when they visit your site will guide your strategy both in terms of content creation and your site’s overall navigation. Once you have narrowed down your search to include the most relevant search terms, you can improve on existing content to include those terms or start creating new posts and content based on those top trending topics.

3.  Keep Your Content Current

After long periods of time during your website’s existence, it’s important to consider the continued relevance of your content in the ever-changing world it lives in. If your content is outdated and irrelevant, it may be worth it to give your site a refresh.

To understand whether your content may be out-of-date, go to Behavior→ Site Content → All Pages → Source/Medium to analyze your site’s unique pageviews and visits. Then, compare these figures to your site’s Bounce Rate and Exit Rate. If a post has a high number of unique views, accompanied by a high bounce rate, then it probably needs some updating.

This data will show you whether those new visitors to your site are actually staying to explore your content and can guide you on which sections of your site need some refreshing.

4.  Monitor Organic Traffic and Landing Pages

Understanding which pages receive the highest organic traffic allows you to make better decisions when it comes to your marketing campaigns and content strategy. Organic search traffic is one of the most important metrics to consider when using Google Analytics.

By looking at the Behavior → Site Content → All Pages, you can see the pageviews, average time spent on pages, exit rate, bounce rate, and page value of your landing pages and more. Remember, if your visitors are engaging and like the content they see on your site, that increases your SEO value as well.

5.  Use Search Keywords to Adapt to Your Audience

Do you know where your target audience is looking before they reach your website? With Google data, you can track what your audience is searching for prior to landing on your site. This data will provide you within sight into the keywords you should utilize throughout your site.Understanding what your audience is looking for will help you adapt your content to better suit your audience’s needs.

You can access data regarding search queries and relevant keywords through Acquisition → Search Console → Queries. Be sure to filter your lists by average position to ensure that you are developing a strategy that is relevant to your brand.Here, you can find plenty of information about important keywords and phrases,which will help you increase your website traffic overtime.

6.  Optimize Your Content with Paid Keywords

Just like the process of query searching, utilizing paid keywords can also help you improve your content strategy overtime. Analyzing the potential financial outcomes of your content will help you gain a better understanding of the monetary value of your site.

You can discover paid keywords via Acquisition → AdWords →Keywords. You can then sort the keywords by cost in order to identify which ones have a higher cost and more clicks, which point to successful keywords. Once you’ve identified your top paid keywords, you can optimize and update your existing content.

7.  Keep Track of All of Your Channels

When trying to strategize new ways to reach your target audience, it’s important to understand where your current site visitors are coming from. Where did they discover your site? How did they land on your page?Knowing the answers to questions like these give helpful insight into creating profiles for your brand.

You can view the details across channels using the channel grouping feature in Acquisition → All Channels → Traffic. Using this tool, you are also able to create custom channels based on your brand’s preferences. With channel grouping, you are able to improve your decision-making process when it comes to promoting your site and adjusting your content marketing strategy.

8.  Gauge Search Engine Website Traffic

Understanding how you are achieving your website traffic is important when developing a proper marketing strategy. Tracing the keywords that send audiences to your page is a vital part of gathering website data insights from Google Analytics.

You can find the organic search traffic for all the searched terms during a period of time through Google Analytics Acquisition → All Traffic →Channels. These keywords will inform your organic traffic strategy and help you ensure that your content is optimized based on what your audience is looking for.

9.  Make Use of Segmentation

When building audience profiles, segmentation is key.Taking into consideration your audience’s behaviors, characteristics, and desires is vital to creating an effective marketing strategy for your brand that translates beyond your website. By utilizing segmentation features on Google Analytics, you can discover valuable insights regarding your audience while digging deeper into your website’s functionality.

With Audience → Add Segment, you can create conditions and sequences based on audience behavior.Creating segments expands your view of your target audience while narrowing down areas of interest for your brand to expand upon in terms of the content you offer on your website.

10. Examine the Evolution of Your Website

Beyond the keywords, website traffic, audience facets, and more, it’s also important to consider the overall evolution of your site’s interface and content layout. Google Analytics provides a variety of shortcuts to historical data and reports, which makes it easier to understand your site’s overall progression over periods of time.

With Google Analytics, you are able to add annotations, which allow you to flag important events or dates during your website’s life and evolution. When creating an annotation, be sure to keep it specific, short, and relevant. Being able to mark important events allows you to understand pivotal points throughout your site’s lifespan and to gauge the significance of changes in content and strategy.

Putting it All Together

This list of actionable steps you can take to optimize your usage of Google Analytics is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using data insights to inform your brand’s marketing strategy.

It’s important to remember that successful content marketing and SEO strategies take plenty of time and patience, and there is almost always room for improvement. By using Google Analytics metrics to analyze your SEO and content performance, you can find new opportunities for your brand’s site and expand upon the strategies that have already been proven to be successful!