Which Pages/Topics Have Movement?

Tracking changes in traffic (also known as content decay) and value for both topics and pages can be easily accomplished using these four Saved Views. Using filters, you can create a shortlist of the best possible candidates to pursue. That list can form the basis of a well-devised plan to update and improve existing content.

This post only scratches the surface of what you can do using MarketMuse Saved Views. We’ve compiled dozens of different ways you can use these views in What Should I Write About?

Let’s take a look.

Movement – Traffic (Pages)

This view looks at the change in traffic for the pages of our site. To do this, we need to take advantage of our Pages Inventory.

Organic Traffic Δ shows the delta or change in traffic since the last data pull, which is typically once a month depending on your plan. Apply a filter to this metric to find pages that are either decreasing in traffic (Organic Traffic Δ is less than 0) or increasing (Organic Traffic Δ is greater than 0). You can also sort by this metric to help with prioritizing your efforts.

Also included in this view is the Top Valued Topic because that, in addition to the URL, is a good indicator of what the page is about.

Organic Traffic Est., Potential Traffic, and Share of Site Traffic, together provide additional context to the traffic situation of each page. You may also want to filter on one of these metrics to shorten the list to those pages that have the most traffic.

With this list in hand, you’ll naturally want to investigate each row to better understand what’s causing the traffic loss or gain. Is it the result of one topic or many that’s affecting the page? Just click on a row in the table to see those details and then examine the ranking topics for that page.

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Movement – Value (Pages)

This view is very much like the previous one but instead of focusing on traffic, it’s value that gets all the attention. Once more, Top Valued Topic in addition to the URL helps to quickly identify the purpose of the page.

The value metrics (Value/Mo, Value Δ, Potential Value ($), Share of Site Value) provide added insight into the value of each page. Value Δ shows the delta or change in traffic since the last data pull, which is usually done monthly depending on your plan. Apply a filter to this metric to find pages that are either decreasing in value (Organic Value Δ is less than 0) or increasing (Organic Value Δ is greater than 0). You can also sort by this metric to help with prioritizing your efforts.

Here too, you’ll want to investigate each page thoroughly to understand the reason for the change in value. Is it a specific topic that’s driving the change or is it across the board? Click on a row in the table and then examine the ranking topics for that page.

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Movement – Traffic (Topics)

Just like we can look at page movement, we can take the same approach with topics using the Topics Inventory. In this view we have the topic, obviously, along with the Top Rank (because multiple pages can rank for the same topic).

We use the same traffic metrics (Organic Traffic Est., Organic Traffic Δ, Potential Traffic, Share Of Site Traffic) but in this case they apply to the topics not the pages. Likewise, you can filter on Organic Traffic Δ to find topics that are either decreasing in traffic (Organic Traffic Δ is less than 0) or increasing (Organic Traffic Δ is greater than 0). Of course you can sort by this metric as well. Topic volume rounds out the traffic metrics and provides some context to the others.

Top Ranking URL is the URL of the page that ranks the highest for this topic (Top Rank). Since you’ll be most likely updating that page, it helps to have this information on-hand.

Of course you’re going to want to investigate that topic (and that top ranking URL) in more detail. You can do this by clicking on any row in the table and looking at the details for that topic, page, or topic/page combination.

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Movement – Value (Topics)

This Saved view has a lot in common with the previous one and includes some of the same metrics for similar reasons – Topic, Top Rank, Topic Volume, Top Ranking URL. But instead of looking at the change of traffic, we’re interested in the change in value for topics. That’s why this view includes some value-based metrics – Value/Mo, Value Δ, Potential Value ($), and Share of Site Value. You’ll notice these metrics are the same as the one’s in Movement – Value (Pages) except they apply to individual topics and not the page as a whole. Similarly, you can filter and sort on these ones as well.

Naturally, you’ll need to investigate the topics and ranking pages to determine further action. Like always, click on a row to see more details about that topic.

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Takeaway

These Saved Views enable you to examine movement in both value and traffic from the point of view of pages or topics. Using filters enable you to create a shortlist of suitable candidates that you can investigate further to determine how best to make improvements. Take the most promising candidates and put them into a plan. Create content briefs for each item in the plan and assign those to your writing team.