The intelligent path to content optimization

‍“We’ve got to optimize our content!”

‍Yikes. What does this actually mean?

‍The knee-jerk reaction is optimizing for search. Double-checking SEO keywords. Moving further down the long tail of search topics. Pouring through content to make sure metadata is complete and thorough. Fixating on a dashboard for SERP rankings.

‍Or perhaps the reaction is around conversions. Zooming in on the funnel and individual content assets for Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) – clicks, downloads, form fills. Ensuring CTAs are clear and actionable. Limiting other clickables to high-value actions, but not cannibalizing from the CTA. 

‍And maybe even just “improve engagement” – time on page, scroll depth, sharing, liking, engaging (if that’s not too redundant). Shortening paragraphs and sentences. Breaking up text with images. Clarifying the UX.

‍Optimizing content can take many paths.  You’re trying to make it to be better, to do better – but how? 

‍Your mission (not impossible), should you choose to accept it:  Stop proving. Start improving.

‍Content optimization isn’t about reporting what you’ve done. Instead, embrace what you will do, led by content intelligence. That means taking an objective look at your content, and evaluate it against its defined objectives. (Yes, it’s tough when someone suggests that your baby is ugly. It’s a whole other thing when it’s true.)

‍But just as content intelligence is the source that alerts you that you need content optimization, it is also the guiding force that tells you what needs to improve…and why.

‍Here are three actionable steps to take as Operation Optimization begins:

1. Align each  piece of content to be optimized with its higher-level business outcome and objective.

2. Confirm where in the audience journey that content is supposed to be playing its role.  Re-assess the most important audience need at that stage, and the distinct way you meet that need.

3. Ask the question: Based on the first two steps, what is the content supposed to do? This includes determining the content type and channel, as well as ensuring your content directly and concisely meets your audience needs.

‍Just as completing a thoughtful brief before you create new content, it pays to be mindful of why you are updating/paring/cleansing/chloroforming that existing content: with the dossier of Operation Optimization.

‍Alignment with higher-level business outcomes 

‍Ask yourself what the content’s original outcomes were expected to be. ‍

A thoughtful Measurement Framework will establish how your content was supposed to/will soon align to business outcomes. Flowing from those outcomes and led by a content vision, content objectives are stood up with corresponding KPIs to measure these. 

Example: High-level view of Knotch’s Content Measurement Framework 

‍Business outcomes can focus on brand, demand and lead generation, audience building and engaging, internal ecosystems, and more. Content objectives are how your content efforts will achieve those business outcomes.

‍Ideally, this type of framework guides the intelligence that indicates some of your content needs optimization. KPIs measured by established content metrics are the arbiters of when and where optimization is needed: that is, content intelligence should guide actions – objectively.

‍Audience POV: Need by journey stage

‍After establishing what the content should be doing – for your company, for your brand, for you – it’s time to focus on being audience centric and ask what’s in it for your them. What need state are your personas at when engaging with the content? What problems is the content solving for? What are they looking to learn, to enjoy, to experience, and yes, to purchase? In short, what are they looking to get out of your content?

‍Even the simplest “early-mid-late” journey designation or “upper-mid-lower” funnel tag helps guide the goal of the content as it applies to the audience. Are they prepared to feel? To think? To act? 

C.A.R.E.™ Customer Acquisition and Retention through Engagement journey framework example

‍Asking these questions as you revisit underperforming content can unlock an ‘aha’ moment and place context around its short fallings. Maybe it’s not that your baby is ugly, it’s that it was supposed to be a teenager – less early-stage awe and wonder and more mid-stage questioning and comparing. Were your audiences ‘only’ engaging when you hoped they’d be converting? 

‍Putting your business outcomes in the shoes of your audience helps flip the point-of-view what content needs are and if they truly are audience-centric.

‍What is the content supposed to do?

‍Combining the first two steps means aligning the planned business outcome with what content the audience wants and needs. Both are necessary to  provide context as to why the first iteration of your content is not “working” -- by clarifying what “working” truly means. 

‍As a detective may look at clues to rule out some potential scenarios and home in on others, investigating how to approach Operation Optimization rectifies the company approach with the audience approach. Here is an example of how this might play out:

‍The Case of the Bouncing Audience

A B-to-B SaaS enterprise wasn’t realizing the return on a campaign that uses paid social and targeted digital ads to drive audiences directly to a conversion landing page on their website. “Optimize the content!” is the directive.

Analysis shows that when audiences are given the choice to engage with more early- and mid-stage content and then are asked to convert, they do so at a 10X rate compared to those prospects being asked to move directly from off-domain to that conversion landing page. Data analysis shows deeper engagement and extended sessions with the earlier stage content compared to a forced path to a conversion point, like a form fill on a gated page, which experiences a high bounce rate.

Operation Optimization then points to the audience referral source and where the paid channels are directing the audience to. Primary CTAs from the early-stage pages are optimized to link to additional mid-journey content; in turn the mid-journey content has its primary CTAs that then point to the conversion page that remains gated, but requires the additional content touches to nurture the audiences into more highly motivated prospects.

Post-optimization of these channels, journey, and content pieces increases conversions and helps meet business outcomes by addressing audience needs – all through content intelligence.

Case solved thanks to Operation Optimization!

‍Operation: Optimization in action

‍The following are real-life examples of successful content optimizations that the Knotch team has seen unfold:

‍Early stage conversion: This company measured its so-called "early-stage content" meant solely for engagement. Content intelligence showed it actually had an an interesting level of early-stage conversion. As a result, the company added hyperlinks in text to test if the audience were ready to convert earlier than originally expected. Content with 1-3 links had conversion rates 10X higher than those with 0 links.

‍Increase the value of the CTA: This next company produced a group of content assets that received a lot of clicks on a lower value CTA. The company switched out the CTA to a higher value CTA. The test resulted in the higher value CTA eliciting 10X the number of clicks compared to the lower valued one. 

‍Engagement metrics lengthened: This third company was experiencing low scroll depth and low time on page for its long form content. The added article summaries up top and jump links for audiences to quickly move to the elements that interested them most. This resulted in increased engagement scores.

‍Content, Context, and CTAs: This fina company set a standard generic CTA across all of their content and received only average to middling results. Instead, the company then ‘contextualized’ their CTAs to match the content where they existed. CTA clicks grew 3X. 

‍Interactivity: Knotch analyzed performance metrics on nearly 50,000 content pieces based on use of elements such as video, animation, slideshows and interactivity. We found that interactive components within content excelled, driving higher time on page, scroll depth and recirculation to more content, compared to pieces without the interactive elements. 

‍Successful optimization requires aligning to higher-level business goals, keeping a customer-centric POV, and re-establishing what the content is meant to do in the first place.   ‍The best path is an intelligent, strategic approach before the red pen comes out. 

‍That’s the secret to Operation: Optimization.

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Published: January 29, 2025

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