We take a data-driven look at what factors affect brand awareness-focused content marketing efforts, citing data from Moz, Backlinko, Searchmetrics, STAT, and Buzzsumo.

1. Content Success Factors
Data-Driven Performance Insights For 2016
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2. Slides!
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hmny.co/lotsofcontentdata

3. So… let’s get the definition of success out of the way.
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4. Your Goal:
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Brand Awareness
Engagement
Conversion
Retention
Your Success Metrics:
Traffic, Links, Shares, Rankings
Subscribers, Content Downloads
Leads, Sales
Repeat + Recurring Revenue, Referrals, Reviews

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Your Goal:
Brand Awareness
Engagement
Conversion
Retention
Your Success Metrics:
Traffic, Links, Shares, Rankings
Subscribers, Content Downloads
Leads, Sales
Repeat + Recurring Revenue, Referrals, Reviews

6. What Ranks?
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What Earns Links & Shares?
1
2

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Remember all of those great studies you forgot to read?

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I read all of them for you

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SOURCES:
Moz Ranking Factors: hmny.co/mozfactors
Searchmetrics Ranking Factors: hmny.co/searchmetricsfactors
Backlinko 1 Million Study: hmny.co/backlinkofactors
Buzzsumo/Moz Shares & Links: hmny.co/buzzmoz
Stat Featured Snippets: hmny.co/statblog

10. What Ranks?
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Word Count?

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WORD COUNT
Backlinko:
Average page one
result is 1890 Words.

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Searchmetrics:
Average page one
result is 1285 Words.
Heavy spike towards
bottom of page 1.
WORD COUNT

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STAT:
Average page one
result is 906 words.
WORD COUNT

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STAT Data:
Modest upward trend
on featured snippet
SERPs.
WORD COUNT

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Moz Correlation: 5.6%
Searchmetrics Correlation: 7%
WORD COUNT

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WORD COUNT
Verdict: Kind of important.

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WORD COUNT
Verdict: Kind of important.
Make sure you’re above average for the primary SERP you’re
targeting. 800-1200 words seems safe.

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Schema.org?

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Backlinko:
Upward trend for
positions 3-10.
Sharp decline on 1-2.
SCHEMA.ORG

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STAT Data:
Lower Schema.org
usage in #1-4 on
featured snippet
SERPs.
SCHEMA.ORG

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Moz Survey: 5% Correlation Expected
Moz Data: 1% Actual Correlation
SCHEMA.ORG

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SCHEMA.ORG
Verdict: Don’t do it for the rankings.

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SCHEMA.ORG
Verdict: Don’t do it for the rankings.
Schema.org and other types of markup are important for rich
snippets, however, so you shouldn’t totally ignore it.

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Keyword Usage?

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KEYWORD USAGE
Backlinko:
Solid higher average
“topic authority”
for positions 1-3.

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KEYWORD USAGE
Searchmetrics:
General upward
trend except #1 & 2.

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KEYWORD USAGE
STAT DATA:
Pretty clear trend.

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KEYWORD USAGE
Moz: Raw # of Keyword Matches In Body Text

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TITLE TAGS
Backlinko:
Solid trend and quite
a jump at #1.

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TITLE TAGS
STAT DATA:
Mild trend peaking
at first organic slot (#2
since #1 is a snippet).

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KEYWORD USAGE
Verdict: Would you believe me if I said
keywords are still important?

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KEYWORD USAGE
Verdict: Would you believe me if I said
keywords are still important?
Don’t get so caught up with link strategies and launch
campaigns that you forget to block and tackle.

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Readability?

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READABILITY
Searchmetrics:
Very slightly easier-
to-read content
leading the pack.

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READABILITY
STAT DATA:
Trend looks mild but
2 points higher
between #1-10.

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READABILITY
Verdict: Mildly Important

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READABILITY
Verdict: Mildly Important
Readability is probably more important for
shareability than for rankings alone.

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Images & Video?

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IMAGES
Backlinko:
Almost no trend
here.

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IMAGES
Backlinko:
Almost no trend
here.

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IMAGES
STAT DATA:
Actually a downward
trend, with featured
snippets tending to
have fewer images.

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VIDEO
Searchmetrics:
Pretty big page one
jump here – 50%
higher on average
than page 2 results.

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VIDEO
STAT Data:
Zero trend here
within page 1 results.

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IMAGES & VIDEO
Verdict: Not a make-or-break factor.

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IMAGES & VIDEO
Verdict: Not a make-or-break factor.
Use images & video to improve overall user experience
and content quality, not for rankings.

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Lists? Tables? Links?

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UNORDERED LISTS
Searchmetrics:
Upward trend
towards #2.

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UNORDERED LISTS
STAT Data:
Pretty flat.
Modest bump for
first two organic
results.

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ORDERED LISTS
STAT Data:
Quite a bit more of a
trend here, especially
for the featured
snippet position.

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TABLES
STAT Data:
Similar trend to
ordered lists, with
featured snippet
URLs being much
more likely to have a
<table>.

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OUTBOUND LINKS
STAT Data:
Another noticeable
trend for #2-3
positions.

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LISTS, TABLES, OUTBOUND LINKS
Verdict: <ol> & <table> usage trends almost
as strongly as keyword usage on the page.

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LISTS, TABLES, OUTBOUND LINKS
Verdict: <ol> & <table> usage trends almost
as strongly as keyword usage on the page.
I’m not going to say these are ranking factors, but I think they’re
all indicative of well-formatted content. Use them!

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What Earns
Links & Shares?2

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Buzzsumo & Moz:
The vast majority of
content gets <8 shares
and 0 links.

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Buzzsumo & Moz:
No correlation between links and social shares.

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Buzzsumo & Moz:
...except for posts with over 10,000 total shares:
Reverse is not true. Highly-linked posts show no correlation with social shares.

59. Word Count?
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WORD COUNT
Buzzsumo & Moz:
Pretty clear trend here for social shares and links alike:

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WORD COUNT
Verdict: Pretty important.

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WORD COUNT
Verdict: Pretty important.

63. Formats?
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FORMATS
Which Post Formats Earn Links Versus Shares?:

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FORMATS
Which Post Formats Earn Links Versus Shares?:

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FORMATS
Which Post Formats Earn Links Versus Shares?:

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FORMATS
Data-Based Research Content Earns Higher Average Links:

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FORMATS
Verdict: Know your goal.

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FORMATS
Verdict: Know your goal.
Making content linkable & shareable is possible
but needs to be well planned.

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TAKEAWAYS
1 - Design & formatting matters.

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TAKEAWAYS
2 – Use long-form content to build
links & domain authority.

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TAKEAWAYS
3 – Use short-form content to keep
audiences engaged cost effectively.

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TAKEAWAYS
4 – Align each content type and
purpose with your keyword planning.

74. @KaneJamison
Founder, Content Harmony
#SearchFest
THANK YOU!
Slides!
hmny.co/lotsofcontentdata