The document discusses various methods for benchmarking and measuring the performance of content, including creating a quartile dashboard to compare performance metrics to peers, using change-point analysis to identify growth periods and top performers, tracking brand search volume to measure progress towards goals, and calculating values like LAR (links above replacement) to control for differences in site strength. The key is developing a valid, relative and sustainable way to evaluate content beyond just individual metrics or shares to inform strategy and identify what drives the most engagement.

1. Was that post a success?
Benchmarking Content Performance
SearchLove in Boston on June 11, 2019
@derek_gleason

2. @derek_gleason
Part 1: The problem

3. @derek_gleason
Part 1: The problem
Part 2: Reporting

4. @derek_gleason
Part 1: The problem
Part 2: Reporting
Part 3: Research

5. The problem
Part 1

6. @derek_gleason

7. @derek_gleason
Was that post a success?

8. Links, Shares, Traffic*
*Comments and conversions, too

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53 referring domains + 102 social shares

10. @derek_gleason
580 posts on TheRinger.com
earned more shares in 2019.

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1,900 this year.

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More shares than 70% of posts.

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More shares than 70% of posts.
More links than 97% of posts.

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53 RDs + 102 social shares
SUCCESS

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Without context, we have one KPI.

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More.

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Up and to the right

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up and to the right

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up and to the right

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You can survive for a while.

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But eventually

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The environment

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1. .

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2. -volume
opportunities.

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3. Some channels ( + )
.

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We need a valid way
to measure performance.

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We need a relative way
to measure performance.

32. @derek_gleason
We need a sustainable way
to measure performance.

33. Benchmarking content
performance for reporting
Part 2

34. @derek_gleason
Quartile dashboard.

35. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
@derek_gleason

36. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Median
@derek_gleason

37. Q1
Worse than 75% of posts
@derek_gleason

38. Q2
Better than 25%, worse than 50%
@derek_gleason

39. Q3
Better than 50%, worse than 25%
@derek_gleason

40. Q4
Better than 75%
@derek_gleason

41. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
@derek_gleason

42. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
@derek_gleason
0

43. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
@derek_gleason
45 1200 15

44. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
@derek_gleason
45 120 15,0000 15

45. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
@derek_gleason
120 15,000

46. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Interquartile range (IQR)
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47. Q1 Q2 Q3
Inner fence = Q3 + (1.5 x IQR)
Q4
IF
@derek_gleason

48. Outer fence = Q3 + (3 x IQR)
Q3 Q4
IF OF
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49. @derek_gleason

50. @derek_gleason

51. @derek_gleason

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54. every post.
@derek_gleason

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56. @derek_gleason

57. Which posts improved the prior average?
@derek_gleason

58. @derek_gleason

59. @derek_gleason
0
shares
3 12 6 20
26 32 45 41 84
77 65 62 57 51

60. @derek_gleason
0
shares
3 12 6 20
26 32 45 41 84
77 65 62 57 51

61. @derek_gleason
0
shares
3 12 6 20
26 32 45 41 84
77 65 62 57 51

62. @derek_gleason
0
shares
3 12 6 20
26 32 45 41 84
77 65 62 57 51

63. @derek_gleason
Change-point analysis.

64. 1. Metric you care about;
2. Order of publication.
@derek_gleason

65. A = Metric you care about.
B = Change-point value (CUSUM)
B1 = 0
B2 = B1 + (A2-AVERAGE(A:A))
B3 = B2 + (A3-AVERAGE(A:A))
B4 = B3 + (A4-AVERAGE(A:A))
@derek_gleason

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74. @derek_gleason

75. @derek_gleason

76. @derek_gleason

77. @derek_gleason

78. But what about C-Suite goals?
@derek_gleason

79. 1. $$$
2. Brand
@derek_gleason

80. 1. Do you have the data?
@derek_gleason

81. Great!
@derek_gleason

82. Too bad.
@derek_gleason

83. 2. Brand-query tracking.
@derek_gleason

84. .
@derek_gleason

85. MetaPrescription
@derek_gleason

86. We need to be a
@derek_gleason

87. We want an industry-
@derek_gleason

88. Okay.
@derek_gleason

89. Everything is fine.
@derek_gleason

90. .
@derek_gleason

91. @derek_gleason
Tool
Brand search
volume
SEMRush 84,000
Moz 39,000
Ahrefs 33,000

92. @derek_gleason
Tool
Brand + blog
search volume
Moz 2,300
Ahrefs 250
SEMRush 100

93. @derek_gleason
Tool
Brand search
volume
Brand + blog
search volume
%
Moz 39,000 2,300 5.90%
Ahrefs 33,000 250 0.76%
SEMRush 84,000 100 0.12%

94. SEMRush
Ahrefs
Moz
@derek_gleason

95. SEMRush
Ahrefs
Moz
@derek_gleason
MetaPrescription

96. Benchmarking content
performance for research
Part 3

97. @derek_gleason
Was that post a success?

98. Which post was a bigger success?
@derek_gleason

99. @derek_gleason

100. @derek_gleason
132 RDs
1k shares

101. @derek_gleason
132 RDs
1k shares
96 RDs
484 shares

102. @derek_gleason
1 in 4 posts
outperforms it

103. @derek_gleason
1 in 4 posts
outperforms it
Top-performing post
of all time

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109. @derek_gleason

110. Correlation studies assume that
100% of the outcome is based on the post.
@derek_gleason

111. But most of the outcome
depends on the site.
@derek_gleason

112. @derek_gleason

113. The lowest Domain Rating
among the top 20?
@derek_gleason

114. 83
@derek_gleason

115. We want to pay less attention to
mediocre content on great sites...
@derek_gleason

116. and more attention to
great content on any site.
@derek_gleason

117. Great content outperforms
the average for a given site.
@derek_gleason

118. Wins above replacement (WAR).
@derek_gleason

119. @derek_gleason

120. @derek_gleason

121. If this post were replaced with an average
post from the site
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122. Links above replacement (LAR).
@derek_gleason

123. Shares above replacement (SAR).
@derek_gleason

124. Comments above replacement (SAR).
@derek_gleason

125. [Fav metric] above replacement.
@derek_gleason

126. Links above replacement (LAR).
@derek_gleason

127. ahrefs.com
bounteous.com
briggsby.com
kevin-indig.com
mariehaynes.com
searchwilderness.com
@derek_gleason

129. Standard accounting: Top 50 posts
ahrefs.com = 92%
briggsby.com = 6%
mariehaynes.com = 2%
bounteous.com= 0%
kevin-indig.com = 0%
searchwilderness.com = 0%

130. Links to a post
@derek_gleason
average links per post
LAR =

132. LAR: Top 50 posts
bounteous.com= 42%
ahrefs.com = 28%
mariehaynes.com = 10%
searchwilderness.com = 8%
kevin-indig.com = 6%
briggsby.com = 6%

134. hundreds of sites?
@derek_gleason

135. Back-of-the-napkin LAR.
@derek_gleason

136. marketing research
@derek_gleason

139. 12 domains
Average DR = 86

140. Links to a post
@derek_gleason
Total links to the domain
bLAR =

141. @derek_gleason

142. Filter for RDs.
@derek_gleason

143. Filter for RDs.
Sort by %.
@derek_gleason

144. @derek_gleason

145. @derek_gleason
21 domains
Average DR = 78

146. But what if we want to control for time?
@derek_gleason

147. Change-point analysis.
@derek_gleason

148. 25 SEO blogs

149. What created strong communities?
@derek_gleason

150. You may get dozens of comments now.
But how did you get there?
@derek_gleason

151. Change-point analysis
to identify big winners.
@derek_gleason

152. The difference between
two CUSUM values is the slope.
@derek_gleason

153. The largest positive slope is the
most above-average performer.
@derek_gleason

154. @derek_gleason

155. How do we go beyond one-hit wonders?
@derek_gleason

156. Change-point analysis
to identify growth periods.
@derek_gleason

157. When was a series of posts consistently
outperforming the average?
@derek_gleason

159. Was that post a success?
@derek_gleason

160. Will that post be a success?
@derek_gleason

161. . Thanks.
@derek_gleason

162. What did we just talk about?
1. Create a quartile dashboard.
2. Use change-point analysis to find growth periods,
big winners.
3. Measure progress toward C-Suite goals via brand
search volume.
4. Use LAR, SAR, etc. to control for website strength.
How to benchmark content marketing performance
@derek_gleason

163. Quartile dashboard sheet.
Change-point analysis sheet.
Resources
@derek_gleason