{"id":155190,"date":"2023-03-17T00:15:22","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T05:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=155190"},"modified":"2023-08-17T22:04:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T03:04:44","slug":"content-marketing-kpis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-marketing-kpis\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Types of Content Marketing KPIs You Should Track (Separately)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"intro-txt\">Separating input and output KPIs is a concept rarely used in content marketing. But when applied, it gives a better understanding of what resources to focus on in order to achieve the desired results.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>For this concept to work, selecting which KPIs to monitor carefully is essential. Here are a few input and output KPI ideas you can use for your content marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"intro-tok\" id=\"intro_tok\" style=\"display:none;\"><div class=\"intro-title\">Contents<\/div><a href=\"#\" class=\"expand-dots\"><span><\/span><span><\/span><span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"1. Input KPIs\" data-section=\"input-kpis\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Input&nbsp;KPIs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>These are your resources: the content you produce and the ability to reach your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quantity&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously, content quantity is about how much you publish. And it\u2019s important because each piece of content is a chance to reach your desired outcome: new sales, retaining customers, becoming a thought leader in your space, etc.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For companies that are in the process of discovering content marketing, the quantity of content translates to the number of experiments you can&nbsp;make.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For companies that know what kind of content their audience appreciates, content quantity is the ultimate KPI\u2014the more you do, the more you&nbsp;grow.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But how much content is enough? That is the question everyone asks, but it\u2019s the wrong kind of question to ask. Marketing is a game where there is always \u201cnever enough\u201d traffic, leads, links, likes, etc. Otherwise, multibillion-dollar companies would cease all marketing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the right question is this: Can you make more content?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your competitors can be a good benchmark for this KPI. You can use Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer\">Content Explorer<\/a> to check how much new and republished content they\u2019ve released in any period.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Enter a URL and set the mode to <strong>\u201cIn URL\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set the filters: <strong>Published<\/strong> (date and published vs. republished) and <strong>Language<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Get the overall number or click on the graph to zoom in on a period&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1133\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-7.png\" alt=\"Content Explorer\u2014publishing frequency\" class=\"wp-image-155195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-7.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-7-680x385.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-7-768x435.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-7-1536x871.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Proportion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This KPI is about the types of content you publish.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think there are basically three types of content:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Education<\/strong> \u2013 You solve your audience\u2019s problems, typically featuring your product\/service.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Inspiration<\/strong> \u2013 You encourage, influence, and motivate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Entertainment <\/strong>\u2013 You evoke experiences.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And I say this because these types correspond with the three possible goals you can directly achieve with content marketing (read <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-marketing-goals\/\">my article on marketing goals<\/a> for more details).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But however you choose to categorize content, what\u2019s key here is how you prioritize it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, at Ahrefs, we prioritize content that gets a score of 3 or 2 on our \u201cbusiness potential\u201d scale. That means we focus on educational content because this type offers the best opportunity to feature our product (we call this <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/product-led-content\/\">product-led content<\/a>).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1422\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-9.png\" alt=\"&quot;Business potential&quot; score\" class=\"wp-image-155196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-9.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-9-478x425.png 478w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-9-768x683.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-9-1536x1365.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So for example, your KPI may be to split your content proportion into 70% educational, 20% inspirational, and 10% entertainment. Or you may use something similar to our \u201cbusiness potential\u201d score and, say, publish content with scores 0\u20131 only once a&nbsp;month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bottom line is to be aware of why you\u2019re making more of a particular type of content than others. If a certain proportion works out for you, change it only for experimentation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Distribution power&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Your distribution power consists of the factors that allow you to reach your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It depends on the marketing channels you focus on. Here are some examples:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Link profile<\/strong> \u2013 If you create <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/seo-content\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-content\/\">content designed to rank<\/a>, you usually need links to rank. At Ahrefs, we have a handy metric you can use to gauge the strength of your (and others\u2019) link profile, called <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/domain-rating\/\">Domain Rating<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Followers<\/strong> \u2013 If you publish content on social media, followers \u201cconsume\u201d your content and help you reach other people.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Email list<\/strong> \u2013 If you want to reach people directly through email, the number of subscribers is your distribution power.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1276\" height=\"834\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image9-8.png\" alt=\"High DR sites in top-ranking positions for a competitive keyword\" class=\"wp-image-155198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image9-8.png 1276w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image9-8-650x425.png 650w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image9-8-768x502.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1276px) 100vw, 1276px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">For highly competitive keywords like \u201cbest workout,\u201d you will likely need a strong link profile&nbsp;to get into the top&nbsp;five.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The main thing that will likely impact your distribution power is the quality of your content. However, there are other ways to gain and lose it, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s good to track it as a separate KPI. Two examples to illustrate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You can improve your link profile by doing <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/link-building\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/link-building-guide\/\">link building<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Too many emails per month can make folks want to opt out. Also, not all content will be a good fit for a newsletter (for example, we don\u2019t send emails about each new addition to our SEO glossary).&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What not to track as input&nbsp;KPIs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Anything related to cost efficiency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s always a good idea to keep track of your spending. But tying your performance to how much you pay for it leads to these mistakes:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Modeling content based on the cost to create a single successful piece of content. Each topic has its unique potential, and it can change over&nbsp;time.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cutting costs just for the sake of it; pushing hard to make more with less. Just because you can create more with less doesn\u2019t mean you should. It also doesn\u2019t mean that more with less is a sign of good performance.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"2. Output KPIs\" data-section=\"output-kpis\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Output KPIs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Output KPIs are <em>direct <\/em>results of distributing content to your audience. In other words, this is the value you create through content marketing directly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not to be confused with outcomes of effective content marketing, such as&nbsp;sales.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Difference? If I wanted to throw a birthday party for my son, I\u2019d get him a birthday cake. That would be the output of my actions. Outcome: happy kid. It\u2019s the same with content marketing and&nbsp;sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Organic share of&nbsp;voice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Share of voice (SOV) is a metric of brand visibility compared to the visibility of competitors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally it was used to measure advertising, but it\u2019s a perfect fit for SEO content too. By tracking SOV for the keywords you target, you can tell instantly who is more likely to be discovered by potential customers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To track SOV in organic search, you can use a tool like Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/rank-tracker\">Rank Tracker<\/a>. It automatically measures SOV by calculating the percentage of clicks that land on a target compared to the total number of clicks for all tracked keywords.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"754\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-9.png\" alt=\"SOV metric in Ahrefs\" class=\"wp-image-155200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-9.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-9-680x256.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-9-768x290.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-9-1536x579.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Organic traffic&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Everybody wants more traffic. Yet, site traffic is practically on every list of vanity metrics. So what to make of all&nbsp;this?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem with site traffic is the context: What do you expect this metric to tell you? After all, even sales can be a vanity metric if you\u2019re looking for a number that speaks about the true worth of a business.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re developing <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/seo-content\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-content\/\">SEO content<\/a>, organic traffic tells you how many clicks came to your website through relevant keywords. In other words, you\u2019re measuring the amount of qualified traffic coming to your&nbsp;site.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To measure organic traffic coming from Google, use <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/about\">Google Search Console<\/a> (data straight from the \u201chorse\u2019s mouth\u201d). But here\u2019s a tip: exclude branded keywords to see only keywords for topics you target with your content.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1870\" height=\"850\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-8.png\" alt=\"Filtering out branded keywords in Google Search Console\" class=\"wp-image-155203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-8.png 1870w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-8-680x309.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-8-768x349.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-8-1536x698.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1870px) 100vw, 1870px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Open the \u201cSearch results\u201d report and add a new filter for queries not containing your branded keywords.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You never know how much organic traffic you\u2019re eventually going to get, but there\u2019s a good way to estimate it. Use the <strong>Traffic Potential<\/strong> metric in Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer\">Keywords Explorer<\/a>. It shows the overall traffic the #1 ranking page gets from all of the keywords it ranks&nbsp;for.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1870\" height=\"748\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-8.png\" alt=\"Traffic Potential metric in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer\" class=\"wp-image-155205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-8.png 1870w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-8-680x272.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-8-768x307.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-8-1536x614.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1870px) 100vw, 1870px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Leads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to capture leads with your content, you can also measure their number as an output KPI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But this only makes sense if you use gated content. It\u2019s when the user needs to submit contact information to access the content.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make this as objective as possible, you can measure the rate between views and form completions. This way, you will make the KPI independent of how much promotion any given content piece receives.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Engagement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Engagement is a very needed but unfortunately imperfect metric. By engagement, we want to measure if our content was meaningful to the audience: Did they learn anything, did they find it inspiring, were they entertained, etc.? But does a like or share that takes one second to do express that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You never know because all we get are \u201cinteractions.\u201d All you know is that it\u2019s better to get high engagement metrics than low ones. Plus, engagement metrics are still better than mere&nbsp;views.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So this is definitely not a set of KPIs to obsess over. Treat them rather as a way to compare two pieces of content or as a way to test out new topics, formats, or publish times on social media.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a few engagement metrics to keep an eye&nbsp;on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Comments on blog posts and social media <\/strong>\u2013 You can use social media management tools to track both the amount and sentiment of comments.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Engagement rate on Twitter <\/strong>\u2013 A metric that at least tries to be independent of your follower count.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Shares\/retweets<\/strong> \u2013 Notice how this number is always lower than likes? It\u2019s because people put their own reputation at stake when they share something. When that number gets noticeably higher, you know there was something special about that piece of content.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Product usage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Mentioning features of your product should generate usage demand inside your product. After all, the whole point of creating content around the product is to make people feel like they want to use&nbsp;it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With product analytics tools (e.g., <a href=\"https:\/\/mixpanel.com\/\">Mixpanel<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heap.io\/\">Heap<\/a>, etc.), you can learn what features are used, when, and for how long, among many other things.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a couple of product usage metrics you can consider:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Usage frequency<\/strong> \u2013 Tells you how often customers use the features.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Time spent <\/strong>\u2013 Users should perform tasks in a reasonable time. Neither too much nor too little time is a good sign. Probably the only exceptions are features focused on productivity or exploration.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Feature flow<\/strong> \u2013 How people move from one task to another. For example, for a product like Ahrefs, we expect that most people use keyword filters to refine their initial keyword list.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, there are two tricky things when using product analytics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Causation<\/strong> \u2013 If you see an improvement in usage frequency, you need to have a high probability that it\u2019s been impacted by the content. For example, you can pick a time when no feature updates are expected or measure a certain workflow suggested in content. If you\u2019re able to assign an event to content (e.g., in-app video view, a feature release note), you can also take advantage of reports like the <a href=\"https:\/\/help.mixpanel.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/360034129112-Impact-Report\">impact report<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Data privacy<\/strong> \u2013 Makes sure your product analytics solution is ethical and compliant with local laws. For instance, you may want to collect data in anonymized, aggregated sets rather than individually.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Feedback&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>By feedback, I mean situations when users express their opinions about your content.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some feedback may come through comments on blog posts or social media. Something that can help you automate monitoring these discussions is sentiment analysis\u2014you can find this feature in most social media monitoring tools.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another idea is to introduce a feedback box on your blog. This can help you understand the quality of your content, but it\u2019s not an ideal solution (prone to trolls, sensitive to where you place it on the&nbsp;blog).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1336\" height=\"276\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image3-7.png\" alt=\"Feedback box in a blog post\" class=\"wp-image-155207\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image3-7.png 1336w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image3-7-680x140.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image3-7-768x159.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1336px) 100vw, 1336px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Probably, the best solution is to survey your audience regularly. For example, you can send out a survey to your email list asking specific questions about your content: \u201cWould you like to see more of a specific topic?\u201d or \u201cDo you find the article easy to follow?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another good way to measure feedback would be to use the NPS (Net Promoter Score). It\u2019s based on a simple, quick question, \u201cWould you recommend our blog\/newsletter\/etc.?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1008\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9.png\" alt=\"How to calculate Net Promoter Score (NPS)\" class=\"wp-image-155209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9-675x425.png 675w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9-768x484.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9-1536x968.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Backlinks&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Backlinks (or inbound links) are links to a particular webpage or resource from other webpages. They\u2019re one of the most impactful ranking factors. So generally speaking, the more backlinks you get, the higher you can rank and the more traffic you can generate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Backlinks can be useful as a way to measure the output performance of content because people generally link to content they find useful and\/or important.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, it\u2019s best to track backlinks for content designed to get them (so-called <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/link-bait\/\">link bait<\/a>). Because not all types of content will entice people to link. You can use the <strong>Backlinks<\/strong> report in Ahrefs to analyze links to any page on the web and get information like DR, traffic of the linking page, when it was discovered, and&nbsp;more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"946\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-7-1.jpg\" alt=\"Backlinks report in Site Explorer\" class=\"wp-image-155211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-7-1.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-7-1-680x322.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-7-1-768x363.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-7-1-1536x727.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Do keep in mind that links are quite rare. While everyone can come and comment on a blog post, not everyone runs a website or has relevant content on that website to link&nbsp;from.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What not to track as output KPIs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Anything related to&nbsp;sales.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sales are too complex a phenomenon to attribute to one marketing tactic, even if content marketing is your only tactic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason for this is consumers typically don\u2019t make purchase decisions based on how good your content is. They weigh in many content-unrelated factors such as price, competitors, customer support, reputation, or even emotional reasons.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An increase in sales can be an outcome of content marketing\u2014but only if other purchase requirements are met. In other words, you can have <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-write-great-content\/\">great content<\/a>. But if you have a product without <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/product-market-fit\/\">market fit<\/a>, you\u2019ll struggle with sales (and vice&nbsp;versa).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same applies to content marketing ROI. Content marketing affects many aspects of marketing (the whole marketing funnel), so tracking how many sales you got from content would be shortsighted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To sum up, input KPIs are your resources and output KPIs are the value you create with your resources.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When choosing KPIs in these two groups, choose the ones that you measure and impact directly. A good idea may be to start with the outputs you want to generate and match them with the inputs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Got questions or comments? Let me know <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/m_makosiewicz\">on Twitter<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/seocommunity.social\/@mako\">Mastodon<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; For this concept to work, selecting which KPIs to monitor carefully is essential. Here are a few input and output KPI ideas you can use for your content marketing. &nbsp; These are your resources: the content you produce and<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"coauthors":[412],"class_list":["post-155190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-content-marketing","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>2 Types of Content Marketing KPIs You Should Track (Separately)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s uncommon to separate input and output KPIs. But doing so will tell you what resources to focus on and get better results.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-marketing-kpis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2 Types of Content Marketing KPIs You Should Track (Separately)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Select the right KPIs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-marketing-kpis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-17T05:15:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-18T03:04:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-7.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Select the right KPIs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@m_makosiewicz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-marketing-kpis\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-marketing-kpis\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c7e64c851ecc4eabb77eaefae90a440c\"},\"headline\":\"2 Types of Content Marketing KPIs You Should Track (Separately)\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-17T05:15:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-18T03:04:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-marketing-kpis\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2419,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-marketing-kpis\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/2-types-of-content-marketing-kpis-by-mateusz-makosiewicz-content-marketing-2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Content Marketing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-marketing-kpis\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-marketing-kpis\\\/\",\"name\":\"2 Types of Content Marketing KPIs You Should Track (Separately)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-marketing-kpis\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-marketing-kpis\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/image4-7.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-17T05:15:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-18T03:04:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"It's uncommon to separate input and output KPIs. 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