A Step-by-Step Guide to How I Do Content Research

I like to do content material analysis — what’s extra satisfying than falling down a couple of Google rabbit holes? (Do not reply that.) 

After all, nice advertising and marketing content material is constructed on extra than simply Google search outcomes. I’ve put collectively a six-step information to how I do my very own content material analysis for HubSpot weblog posts utilizing a real-life instance.

Desk of Contents

Considerate and thorough analysis will reward you with compelling, partaking, and genuinely useful content material. You’re most likely already doing key phrase analysis (if not, learn the basics!), and also you most likely already know subject-matter specialists in your organization or community. Content material analysis will join all these factors collectively.

And “genuinely useful” can’t be understated. In case you perceive search intent and may reply your customers’ questions, you’re establishing your model as an authority, setting your self up for return guests, and displaying Google that you already know your stuff.

Having a structured analysis plan will assist with different features of your content workflow, like a marketing calendar or editorial calendar, content intelligence, and some other instruments you and your crew use to keep up a well-oiled advertising and marketing machine. 

Though the sub-steps of content marketing analysis could look a bit completely different relying in your venture and area — we’ll get into that within the subsequent part — there are a couple of fundamentals which might be foundational to nice content material.

Key phrase Analysis

Start initially, as they are saying. Key phrase analysis is the gateway to analyzing search intent that solutions not simply your customers’ preliminary questions, but in addition their follow-up questions (and perhaps even questions they didn’t know that they had).

You’ll be able to take a look at our beginner’s guide to keyword research, however listed here are the principle components to bear in mind:

• Relevance: Your content material will solely rank for a key phrase if it meets the searchers’ wants.
• Authority: Google supplies extra weight to sources it deems authoritative.
• Quantity: Quantity is measured by MSV (month-to-month search quantity), which suggests the variety of instances the key phrase is searched monthly throughout all audiences.

Viewers Analysis

You most likely already know who your audience is, and you could even have buyer or purchaser personas. Additionally contemplate search intent and follow-up questions.

If I’m writing advertising and marketing content material about bedding, let’s say, there’ll be a considerable distinction within the viewers for price range bedding versus luxurious bedding. For the previous, I could be in search of subject-matter specialists on completely different sorts of supplies, together with inexpensive choices. If I’m advertising and marketing luxurious bedding, I’d search for specialists on the highest-quality supplies and development strategies.

Whoever your viewers is, preserve these personas in entrance of you as you conduct the remainder of your analysis so that you don’t end up down the flawed rabbit gap.

For a deeper dive into market analysis, together with a how-to information, take a look at our market research guide and templates.

Competitor Analysis

You’ll probably flip up some competitors as you do your key phrase analysis. I just like the Ahrefs software that compares two websites so you’ll be able to see what one has that the opposite doesn’t — this may be tremendous helpful should you’re evaluating a top-ranking competitor with one which ranks a bit decrease. What units the primary aside from the remainder?

Persevering with with luxurious bedding, right here’s what Ahrefs’ key phrase explorer appears to be like like:

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I need to see what the top-ranked consequence has that the Tenth consequence doesn’t. Within the Aggressive Evaluation tab, I can enter each of these URLs, like so:

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After I hit “Present key phrase alternatives,” I can see what the top-ranked hyperlink has that the Tenth-ranked hyperlink doesn’t:

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I confess I don’t know precisely what “coastal bedding” is, however the top-ranked hyperlink has a whole lot of it. Realizing the place my rivals are killing it would assist me take into consideration the search intent of my audience.

Begin desirous about what you deliver to the desk when it comes to your personal expertise, data, and community. What holes in search intent would possibly you have the ability to fill?

Topical Analysis

Whether or not you begin on Google or an AI-powered search engine, just remember to’re cautious about your sources. Are they web sites or publications that you already know and belief? What information can you discover concerning the creator of their bio or on LinkedIn?

(Random professional tip that hopefully you’ll by no means want, however: If one thing appears too good to be true, test and ensure it’s not dated April 1. I do know a couple of sensible author who’s fallen for a model’s April Fools’ joke.)

Just a few beginning factors I’ve relied on in my very own analysis:

• Search LinkedIn in your key phrases. Oftentimes, I’ll discover specialists and thought leaders speaking about precisely what I’m writing about. Simply ensure that you cite and hyperlink to them should you use their writing as a supply.

  Professional tip: Do your due diligence — learn the individual’s LinkedIn profile and ensure you can belief their experience.

• Search Google Scholar. Despite the fact that the outcomes could be too tutorial in your viewers, this has helped me find specialists and discover the latest analysis, particularly when AI is concerned.

  Professional tip: Examine the publication date or prohibit your search to the final couple years, until you’re in search of historic data. For research, ensure you perceive the pattern measurement and the geographical location — they could be fairly completely different to your personal audience, so proceed with warning.

• Put up by yourself LinkedIn. When you’ve got a large following and/or a powerful community in your business, letting different content managers know that you just’re engaged on a bit can floor some specialists you could already know. Your community may additionally have solutions for different folks or assets.
• Use main sources. When you’ve got a subscription to Statista or an identical service, you’ll be able to normally discover a treasure trove of research which might be immediately related to your subject.

  Professional tip: Don’t depend on different articles that cite research — I’ve discovered that these are sometimes previous research, even when the article has a latest date.

• Use social media. Even should you don’t have entry to social media listening instruments, you’ll be able to nonetheless dig into locations like Reddit, Quora, Substack, or area of interest on-line boards the place folks in your business collect and speak.
• Use your co-workers. In case you don’t have already got a Slack or Groups channel the place your fellow entrepreneurs can bounce concepts off one another or ask questions, contemplate this an indication to begin one. Your colleagues could also be specialists themselves, or they can join you with someone from their community.

Topic-matter Consultants

Not all the pieces you write requires a subject-matter expert, however getting an outdoor perspective on a subject can provide you concepts and artistic inspiration, and skilled quotes are good in your readers and good for search algorithms that prioritize private expertise.

Quotes and background info from the folks within the trenches may even distinguish your ultimate product from AI-written content. I prefer to preserve these informational interviews to only quarter-hour — it’s lengthy sufficient to get some strong background information and quotes, and brief sufficient that it’s simple for even busy folks to say “sure” to.

Efficiency Evaluation

You’re not fairly completed once you hit “publish.” Take a while to overview your KPIs to see how the content material resonated along with your viewers, and whether or not there’s something you must contemplate enhancing now or revising sooner or later.

KPIs that you just would possibly embody in your evaluation:

• Engagement metrics like scroll depth, click-through charges, and bounce charges
• Visitors metrics like web page views, distinctive guests, and return guests
• Conversion metrics like lead era charges, product purchases, and e-mail signups

When you’ve got the assets to do at the least a light-weight month-to-month efficiency evaluation of all of your content material, patterns will emerge, and also you’ll have the ability to additional refine SEO, E-E-A-T, voice and tone, and different components that make your content material distinct.

Let’s use a piece I wrote recently about B2B newsletters for instance. It’s a subject I’ve expertise with, however I wouldn’t contemplate myself an skilled, per se.

Right here’s how I performed my content material analysis:

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1. Analysis key phrases and viewers intent.

Due to our crack search engine optimization crew, I do know that the first key phrase for this text is “B2B e-newsletter advertising and marketing,” so my first step is to make use of Ahrefs’ key phrase explorer:

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I may also slim my search by consumer intent by choosing the dropdown menu and ticking the “intent” field.

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Just a few issues I’m noticing in these outcomes: methods, examples, and finest practices. This offers me an thought of what customers are in search of, and it’ll assist me construction my article to verify it delivers actual worth.

Individuals Additionally Ask

On Google, I looked for “B2B e-newsletter advertising and marketing” and scrolled all the way down to the Individuals Additionally Ask part.

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It’s extra of the identical — customers need an outline of what B2B e-newsletter advertising and marketing is and what finest practices are.

Ahrefs additionally has a helpful SERPs overview with the identical information:

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AI Search Engines

I personally don’t like to make use of AI for outlines or first drafts, however I do prefer it for content material analysis. I usually use Perplexity for analysis and Claude for evaluation; collectively they can assist me establish a perspective I hadn’t thought of or uncover extra assets.

After I search Perplexity for “B2B e-newsletter advertising and marketing,” I can scroll all the way down to the Associated Questions part:

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No surprises right here — extra affirmation that customers are trying to find an outline, finest practices, and examples.

2. Analysis the competitors.

I take advantage of each Ahrefs and Perplexity to establish rivals.

Perplexity synthesizes information from its high sources, so I need to see what it’s recognized as a supply. I simply use a easy search time period for this slightly than a fancy engineered immediate:

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This reveals me three sources; click on on the field that claims “Present all” to see all of the sources it’s pulling from.

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This reveals all of the sources and its hyperlinks, which supplies me an thought of the competitors.

In Ahrefs, I can skim by way of the listing of the top-ranking articles that rank for a similar key phrase I’m concentrating on.

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One necessary be aware at this step: It may be very simple to inadvertently plagiarize from a competitor — perhaps a definition, the construction of the publish, or perhaps a flip of phrase. You’ll learn one thing, it will get caught in your head, and a day later, you write it down with out realizing it’s from one other supply.

My technique for avoiding that is to not spend a ton of time studying the competitors — I actually do exactly skim — however your mileage could differ, so do no matter works for you.

3. Think about your personal expertise.

I took down some notes concerning the newsletters I’ve written for over the previous few years — questions I had, questions I didn’t know I had till I used to be knee-deep in an e-mail e-newsletter platform, and classes realized.

For example, at a earlier job with a really small crew, I discovered myself nose to nose with a number of the extra technical features of working a e-newsletter. I had no clue what “DKIM” or “DMARC” meant, and so far as I knew, “SPF” referred to sunscreen.

So after I began engaged on a different blog post about B2B newsletters for HubSpot, I knew I wished to incorporate one thing concerning the technical aspect of newsletters with out going into an excessive amount of element.

I reached out to a HubSpotter on our MarTech crew who was capable of give me some high-level recommendation on what entrepreneurs new to newsletters ought to contemplate from a technical perspective.

That is only a fraction of the knowledge I bought from a 15-minute Zoom name:

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Generally you don’t know what you don’t know, and reaching into your personal expertise can assist uncover questions your viewers can have as they dive additional into the subject at hand.

4. Analysis the subject and any developments.

When you’ve got entry to an information and analysis software like Statista, IBISWorld, or related, get within the behavior of working a couple of searches. This didn’t turn into a significant supply for this specific subject, however I did discover some information on personalization, which was one of many subtopics I touched on within the weblog publish.

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I additionally searched Google Scholar for “e-mail newsletters in advertising and marketing,” proscribing outcomes to something from 2023 or later. I got here throughout a December 2023 paper entitled “Personalization (In)effectiveness in email marketing” from a journal referred to as Digital Enterprise.

This ended up being a background useful resource for me slightly than one thing I quoted in my article, however in my view, it’s value taking a couple of minutes to test scholarly journals — you by no means know once you’ll come throughout someone doing one thing model new within the area.

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5. Interview subject-matter specialists.

This step may be intimidating should you don’t know subject-matter specialists. Right here’s a couple of of my methods I used to search out folks to speak to about B2B newsletters:

• I began by asking the HubSpot #advertising and marketing Slack channel: What are your favorite email newsletters? Lia Haberman’s ICYMI and Alexis Grant’s They Got Acquired had been each talked about a number of instances, in order that they went on my listing.
• I searched LinkedIn for “B2B e-mail advertising and marketing” and located different specialists and high voices.
• I went by way of my very own community and located that I knew a couple of folks on the technical aspect. I requested them if that they had any solutions and suggestions.
• I requested different e-newsletter writers at HubSpot if I may speak to them, and in the event that they knew anyone they may introduce me to.

6. Analyze the efficiency.

It’s good to test the efficiency of your piece after a month, although I’ve additionally labored in locations the place we monitored day by day efficiency — so let your business and KPIs information you. In case you’re writing well timed (versus evergreen) content material, your pageviews will most likely peak throughout the first week and even sooner.

In case you use HubSpot CMS, clicking “view publish particulars” will allow you to monitor metrics like lead conversion charges, income attributed, and different metrics. HubSpot additionally reveals you the breakdown of visitors sources, which can assist you fine-tune your distribution sooner or later. (Google Analytics, a generally used software, has related metrics.)