How to Use MarketMuse Filters and Insights

Filters and Insights are a powerful way to quickly segment a large inventory and find appropriate opportunities for creating and updating content. In this post, we first look at all the different filters and how they function. Then we do the same with Insights. Finally, we put them all together with some examples for your reference.

Filters

Filters allow you to segment your page or topic inventory according to specific criteria. The types of metrics for which you can filter differ depending on the inventory. Filters can be saved for repeated use, which means you don’t have to construct them from scratch every time. 

If you’re filtering on something that is numerical, you can set the criteria to greater than, less than, or a range. Data points containing text typically have predefined values, so you’ll select from one of the available. The exception would be for things like title, URL, or term. Because the data in these fields could be anything, you can specify a text string, and whether to include or exclude matching results.

Page Inventory can be filtered by any of the following criteria:

• Opportunity Score – a MarketMuse composite score that evaluates the urgency and overall likelihood of success in creating and optimizing content on a particular topic.
• Title – the title of the page (which can be either included or excluded).
• URL – will filter for partial matches so you can exclude a specific domain if you choose.
• Word Count – number of words in the document.
• Internal Links Count – number of internal links on the page.
• External Links Count – number of links on the page pointing out to other sites.
• Authority – Page Authority is calculated out of 100. The closer the number is to 100, the higher quality that page is in comparison to competitive pages in SERP.
• Content Score – a proprietary measure of content comprehensiveness. The technology aims to identify an ideal set of concepts and topics that a subject matter expert would include in a comprehensive content for a particular topic.
• Classification – one of eleven possible classifications (article, discussion, FAQ, job posting, other, biography, social media profile, eCommerce product, eCommerce category, image, or video).
• Insight – any one of the eighteen insights discussed later in this article.
• Hidden – any hidden pages in your inventory.

Topic Inventory can be filtered by these criteria:

• Opportunity Score
• Term – any topic in the inventory. Can match partial string searches.
• Insight
• Hidden – any hidden topics in your inventory.
• Authority – Topic Authority is based on our ability to assess how well you’ve covered a topic and how successful you’ve been in the past and how well you’re doing with current production/publishing efforts.
• Content Score
• Difficulty – a score out of 100. It measures how difficult it is for any domain to rank for a topic. This is a reasonably standard metric used by many to assess the likelihood of anyone ranking well in the search engine results pages.
• Personalized Difficulty – a score out of 100. It measures how hard it is for your domain to rank for a specific topic, taking into account your topical authority.

What Is an Insight?

MarketMuse Insights offer profound understanding and appreciation concerning the state of your content. There are eighteen different insights organized into three categories, Superlatives, Action, and Informative. They are located in the right-most column of both page and topic inventories.

If an insight is displayed for an inventory item, mouse over to see its definition. If one is not available, mouse over the same area and click on the three-star icon, and MarketMuse will attempt to generate insights for that inventory item. 

Superlative Insights

Superlatives Insights express the highest degree of quality and are only available for Page Inventory Items. The three Superlative Insights are:

• High Authority Page (P) – a page with an Authority score greater than 20.
• Power Page (P) – a page with an Authority score greater than 30 and more than 100 Ranking topics.
• Expert Content (P) – a page with a Content Score greater than 15, and its ratio of Content Score over Word Count is greater than the Top 20 Average of Content Score over Word Count (in instances where Content score is over 15).

Action Insights

There are five Action Insights that suggest certain actions be taken. They are:

• Thin Content (T) – a topic has one related page or less, and the Content Score is less than average on that page.
• Low-Quality SEO Content (P) – a page mentions an important topic two or more times, but the Content Score is less than Average.
• Expand for Related Topics (T) – a topic has less than five related pages, and all have a content score greater than or equal to the average.
• Build Web Content (P) – a page is ranking better than 30 but is not a .html or .htm page.
• Expansion Opportunity (P) – a page has a word count of less than 350, and it is ranking for a topic.

Informative Insights

Informative Insights, of which there are ten, provide additional information concerning specific topics or pages. They are: 

• New Content (P) – a page that did not exist the last time inventory was generated.
• Longest Page (P) – a page is in the top 10% of word counts in this inventory.
• Gap (P) – a page is ranking between 8 and 20 for a topic and has a Coverage Score of less than 20.
• High Competition (P) – a page is ranking between 8 and 20 for a topic, and Competition is greater than 20.
• Title Gap (P) – a ranking page does not have the related term in the title.
• Expand Coverage (T) – a topic has less than five related pages, and all have a content score greater than or equal to the average.
• Absolute Gap (T) – a topic that has 0 related pages.
• Within Range (T) – a topic with a page ranking between 8 and 30.
• Cluster Needed (T) – a topic where the best-associated page ranks less than 31, and volume is greater than 100.
• Research Needed (T) – a topic where the best-associated page ranks less than 31, the volume is greater than 100, and the page is High Authority (greater than 20 Authority Score). Use the root topic in Research to find related topics for the cluster.

One thing to remember. 

You can only apply an Insight to the type of inventory for which it is intended. Page Insights can only be applied to Page Inventory, and Topic Insights can only be applied to Topic Inventory. 

Applying an insight to the wrong inventory filter will yield no results. The Insights listed above are labeled either (P) for Page Insight or (T) for Topic Insight.

Building Filters For Everyday Use

Let’s take a look at some practical examples of using filters to segment our inventory according to our needs. Some of the filters in these examples use conditions that require specific numbers (e.g., Personalized Difficulty < 40). There is nothing magical about the numbers used in these examples. Each site has a unique inventory, and you’ll have to adjust these values accordingly.

Example #1

Let’s start by finding all our blog posts with a low word count that are at least ranking for something. 

We need to look at our Page Inventory. The filter is URL includes ‘blog’ AND Insight = ‘Expansion Opportunity.’

At MarketMuse, our blog resides on a subdomain. By filtering on “URL includes ‘blog’,” I avoid getting pages from outside my blog on the list. Checking for the ‘Expansion Opportunity’ Insight ensures the list is only filled with blog pages that are less than 350 words and ranking for something.

With this list, I can focus my efforts on optimizing content that stands a chance at benefiting from any improvements. After all, they’re already on Google’s radar, so that’s a start! If the list were long, then sorting the list by Opportunity Score would be the best way to prioritize the tasks.

Example #2

Last year we held a webinar and created some blog content on the subject of agile marketing. Let’s see what related topics we rank for, specifically those that are within range. That’s some low-hanging fruit from which we could easily profit.

We need to look at our Topic Inventory. The filter is Term includes ‘Agile’ AND Insight = ‘Within Range.’

Since the topic inventory shows the highest ranking page(s) associated with each term, I can immediately see which page I need to work on. If there are a lot of topics in this list, then I may want to sort by Opportunity Score to prioritize the tasks.

Example #3

Let’s find all the high authority pages that rank for many topics so we can determine whether to optimize the pages for those topics, or create new content.

We need to look at our Page Inventory and filter for Insight = ‘Power Page.’

For each page in the resulting list, we can create a one-page plan that outlines what to do with each of the topics for which it ranks – either update the page or create new content targeting the term.

Example #4

Let’s look for some sure wins. Specifically, we’ll target topics with above-average opportunity, a significant authority (competitive advantage), and a low personalized difficulty because we want it easy!

We need to look at our Topic Inventory. Opportunity Score > 30, Authority > 20, Personalized Difficulty < 40.

Out of all the topics in our inventory, the ones in this list have a unique blend of decent opportunity, good competitive advantage, while being easy for this site.

Summary

Many of the columns on the page and topic inventories can be sorted. While that is useful, it does have its limitations. Creating filters is the best way to divide extensive inventories into manageable segments. They can be as simple or complex as you wish. Just make sure to save your favorite filters for reuse at a later date.