In part 1, we laid the groundwork for understanding content efficacy beyond basic traffic metrics. Now, let’s dive deeper into how Google Search Console insights, call tracking platforms, and AI can create a complete picture of which content is truly driving business results.
Google Search Console: The Top of the Funnel
What are the things we look at in Google Search Console? First, we analyze search queries to see the volume of impressions or clicks you’re getting with branded versus non-branded keywords. This helps us decipher whether traffic is coming from pure branding campaigns or spilling over from other marketing channels like print, postcards, TV, radio, or billboards. Differentiating these sources helps us understand how your organic strategy is truly performing, independent of other marketing efforts.
Google Search Console is absolutely pivotal for seeing the top of the funnel for content. Before you can get clients, you need leads; before leads, you need traffic; and before traffic, you need impressions. Impressions are the first “signs of life” associated with content.
We look at impressions on a page level to ensure new content has gained traction within the first three to six months. If not, we can proactively make arrangements to bolster its chances of visibility. This is critical because content that never gets impressions never has a chance to convert, no matter how well-written it might be.
Another efficacy metric from Google Search Console is indexing status. If there’s content that’s been created, it’s important to check whether it’s made it into Google’s index. If not, you can force an indexing request within Google Search Console and then check for reasons why it didn’t stick. Google provides transparency about crawlability issues, duplicate content flags, or violations of content guidelines.
If you’re creating significant amounts of content and find that 20% isn’t indexed, you should make an effort to secure quick wins by getting that content reconsidered. After all, you’ve invested time and effort into creating it; it should be working for you.
Call Tracking: Moving Down the Funnel to Qualified Leads
Call tracking platforms like CallRail have made significant advancements in recent months, particularly with AI-enhanced call analysis. This has been a breakthrough in the past six months – calls can now be transcribed and immediately evaluated within the dashboard for client sentiment.
This allows us to move further down the funnel quickly, going from a lead to a qualified lead to a client because we know not all leads are created equal. Previously, we had to rely on historical data or manual client evaluation, but now we can expedite the process of qualifying leads. With this data, we might establish a benchmark that, say, 50% of qualified leads become clients.
CallRail can listen to calls and identify keywords such as “schedule,” “appointment,” or “case” that typically indicate a qualified lead. Equally important, it can detect terms like “reschedule,” “follow up,” or “confirm” that suggest the caller is an existing client confirming or changing an appointment rather than a new lead.
This creates a reliable pool of qualified leads, eliminating those that might be contentious or disputable when discussing results with clients. More importantly, with the sophistication of phone number pools, we can see exactly where on the website the call or form submission originated – not just that it came from the website generally.
This connects back to our earlier point about page-level analytics. Unlike traditional SEO reporting that might aggregate all “organic” traffic, CallRail lets us couple qualified leads with specific pages. We can see whether a lead came from a blog post, service page, or another entry point, giving us clear insight into which content pieces are actually driving business.
Connecting GA4 and Call Tracking with AI Assistance
When we establish all these data points – exporting everything from GA4 at the page level for a period of time and doing the same with CallRail – we can connect them to tell a complete story about content efficacy.
This used to be possible but tedious if you were adept in Excel. For a single client, you might reasonably analyze a year of GA4 data against a year of CallRail data to determine content efficacy. But what’s more useful is doing this analysis month-by-month over a year, which requires about 12 times the data.
Monthly analysis is crucial because trends and trendlines are extremely important in painting a picture about direction. Year-over-year comparisons, even at the page level, do little to help us understand momentum compared to month-to-month analysis.
Now multiply this by an agency’s client load. When you’re talking about hundreds of clients, you’re dealing with tens of thousands of rows of information. This type of analysis becomes nearly impossible, even for the most skilled Excel user.
This is where language learning models like ChatGPT and especially Claude become invaluable. Claude 3.7 is particularly good at complex problem-solving and mathematical analysis. With the right prompting and instruction, you can upload both data sheets and ask questions like: “Compared to the traffic from GA4 and the CallRail qualified lead output, what pages have the highest conversion rates?” The AI can quickly calculate leads divided by visitors to determine conversion rates by page.
If you provide month-over-month data, you can also track changes in conversion rates over time. This goes a step beyond just looking at changes in traffic or raw lead numbers. You gain insight into which pages are increasing or decreasing in conversion effectiveness and how they compare to benchmarks. For example, should a well-optimized service page convert at 12-15%? Which pages are above or below that threshold? For a high-intent blog getting significant traffic, is a 1% conversion rate acceptable?
You can take this even further by incorporating geographical data from GA4. Perhaps you want to exclude visitors from outside your service area when calculating conversion rates. By feeding this additional context to your AI assistant, you can get a more accurate picture of how well your content converts qualified traffic.
The Future of Content Efficacy Analysis
In the fast-paced world of 2024, where Google’s search algorithms continue to evolve and user research shows shifting preferences, taking this data-driven approach to content efficacy puts you leagues ahead of competitors who are still measuring success purely by rankings or traffic.
Being able to marry traffic data with qualified leads does wonders for understanding efficacy. Using language learning models to analyze trends in your best-performing content – whether from an optimization standpoint, execution perspective, or strategic topic research angle – gives you actionable intelligence that most agencies simply don’t access.
This approach separates you from the competition by moving beyond vanity metrics to actual business outcomes. It allows you to make content decisions based not on what “should” work according to SEO theory, but on what is demonstrably driving qualified leads and conversions for your specific business.
The days of creating content blindly based on keyword volume alone are over. In 2024 and beyond, the winners will be those who can demonstrate the direct line between their content investments and business results. By implementing the framework outlined in these two articles, you’ll have the data to make smarter decisions about where to focus your content efforts for maximum return.
Turning Content Into Conversions with AI-Driven Insights
Most agencies measure success by traffic alone, but traffic without conversions doesn’t grow your business. At Market My Market, we connect the dots between content, leads, and revenue using AI-powered tools. By analyzing search trends, tracking call data, and mapping engagement across your website, we identify which pages attract high-quality prospects.
With AI-assisted reporting, we break down month-over-month trends, highlight top-performing content, and refine underperforming pages. Instead of guessing what works, we use real data to optimize your strategy. Let’s turn your content into a lead-generating machine—call us at (800) 997-7336 or reach out through our contact form.
