Hey friend,

How’s it going? 🌻

Back with another edition of the #KnowYourNumbers series, where I help you get a better hold of your numbers as a content marketer.

You don't always need fancy tools to present your content marketing performance to the marketing lead or founder. In fact, your good old Google Analytics can do wonders if you use it effectively.

Here are five key content marketing metrics you can easily identify using Google Analytics and what they mean👇

#1 Audience Behavior Analysis

Metrics to Track:

• Average Time on Page: Measures how long users actively stay on a page—an indicator of engagement.
• Bounce Rate: Tracks single-page sessions—helps identify content that doesn’t prompt further interaction.
• Scroll Depth: Captures how far users scroll—shows how much of your content they actually see.

💡 Why and what they say:​
These metrics indicate whether your content keeps users engaged. Low time, high bounce rates, and shallow scrolls may indicate poor structure, irrelevant intros, or weak visual flow.

How to get them:​
→ Go to Reports > Engagement > Pages and Screens​
→ Use Exploration > Free form for scroll depth (requires Google Tag Manager event)
→ Add source/medium to analyze by traffic channel

#2 Content, SEO, and Organic Growth

Metrics to Track:

• Landing Page Sessions from Referral = ChatGPT / Perplexity.ai / Bard.google.com: Shows which content pages are being accessed via AI tools.
• Top Queries with Zero Clicks (Search Console): Identifies keywords where your content is seen but is less likely to be consumed via AI snippets.
• Unbranded Organic Impressions Growth: Measures an increase in non-branded keyword visibility, indicating that AI is surfacing your answers more frequently.

💡 Why and what they say:​
These metrics help you understand the visibility of your content within AI assistants and search engines. Referral traffic indicates direct AI visits; zero-click queries suggest content is being referenced but not clicked, a common occurrence in AI Overviews.

How to get them:​
→ In GA4: Go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition → Add Session source and filter for "chat.openai.com", "perplexity.ai", "bard.google.com", etc.
→ In Search Console:
• Go to Performance > Search Results → Sort by Impressions, then filter for CTR < 1%​
• Add filters to exclude brand terms to surface AI-referenced content
→ Track changes monthly to assess AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) effectiveness

#3 Content Topic Validation

Metrics to Track:

• Site Search Terms: Displays what users type into your internal search—a direct window into their intent.
• Referring Pages: Shows which external sites are linking to your content and sending traffic.
• Top Queries (via Google Search Console): Reveals the search terms that bring users to your content via Google.

💡 Why and what they say:​
These highlight what your audience really wants to read or know. Internal searches reveal gaps; referring sites and queries validate topics worth expanding or updating.

How to get them:​
→ Enable Site Search Tracking in GA4 or via GTM
→ Connect Search Console to GA4 for query data
→ Go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition + add Session Source = referral

#4 Role of Content in Conversion

Metrics to Track:

• Event Count per Page: Tracks custom interactions like CTA clicks, downloads, or video plays.
• Assisted Conversions: Measures whether a page contributed to a conversion journey.
• Goal Completions by Page: Shows how many users took a predefined action (like booking a demo) from each page.

💡 Why and what they say:​
These metrics connect your content to business results. Pages that assist conversions or trigger events are working; others may need clearer CTAs or more aligned messaging.

How to get them:​
→ Set up Events and Conversions in Admin > Events
→ Use Explore > Funnel or Path Exploration to analyze conversion journeys
→ Add Page Path + Event Count to connect performance to specific articles

#5 Content Repurposing

Metrics to Track:

• High-Traffic, Low-Conversion Pages: Identifies content with reach but little downstream action.
• Exit Rate: Shows where users leave—potential drop-off or dead-end pages.
• Page Value (if configured): Estimates the monetary value each page contributes based on goal completions.

💡 Why and what they say:​
These help you identify content that is ripe for repurposing or optimization. High-traffic exits can be transformed into gated content, email series, or carousels. Low-value pages may need CTAs or UX fixes.

How to get them:​
→ Go to Reports > Engagement > Pages and Screens​
→ Add Conversions or Custom Events to compare against traffic
→ Use Explore > Free Form with calculated metrics like conversion rate

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Onwards and upwards,

Sreyashi

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