Content Marketing Metrics That Actually Matter

Creating quality content is only part of a successful content marketing strategy. The real value lies in understanding how that content drives results. By tracking performance metrics aligned with content marketing goals — like audience engagement, brand awareness and lead generation —you can refine your strategy to maximize impact. It’s essential to analyze both how users find your content and how they engage and act on it.
That’s why these are the essential metrics you should manage — and the tools we recommend.

1. Organic Traffic

Organic traffic serves as a marker for your content’s reach and audience interest. When high-quality content aligns with what your audience is looking for, it naturally attracts visitors over time. This metric not only indicates brand visibility but also highlights the demand for the information and solutions your content provides.

To foster organic growth, monitor how well the keywords and phrases you’ve optimized your content and website around are positioned online. Analyze how people are finding your website in organic results and what’s driving them to click on your website or not.

The Tool(s) We Recommend: Google Search Console, SEMrush, Ahrefs

2. Referral Traffic

Referral traffic tracks visitors coming from external sources such as other websites, social media and other articles. This metric reflects how effective your content is at attracting links and shares across various platforms, building credibility and broadening your reach. To drive more referral traffic, consider partnerships, guest contributions and link-worthy content that’s valuable to other sites and audiences.

The Tool We Recommend: Google Analytics

3. Keyword Rankings & Organic Queries

While keyword rankings may seem primarily SEO-focused, monitoring them is also valuable for understanding content marketing performance. High rankings for target keywords indicate that your content is relevant and beneficial to your audience while low rankings may mean you don’t have enough of a certain topic covered on your website. Regularly tracking the terms and queries for which your content appears can help you identify opportunities to further tailor your content strategy to meet audience needs.

The Tool(s) We Recommend: SEMrush, Ahrefs, Google Search Console

4. Pages Per Session

Pages per session provide insight into how deeply users engage with your content during a single visit. If visitors are exploring multiple pages, it suggests that your content offers value and fosters interest in other related topics. To try and increase this metric, begin to incorporate clear calls-to-action (CTAs) and links to other relevant content within your articles to encourage exploration, all of which could begin to increase your click-through rate (CTR) as well.

The Tool We Recommend: Google Analytics

5. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Click-through rate is a key indicator of content effectiveness, tracking how often users click on CTAs or internal links. A high CTR shows that your content is motivating users to take the next step. Improve CTR by strategically placing relevant CTAs, using persuasive language and ensuring links align with the user’s journey.

The Tool We Recommend: Google Analytics

6. Scroll Depth

Scroll depth measures how far down the page users scroll, offering insights into content engagement. A higher scroll depth often indicates that users are finding the information valuable enough to continue reading. Use engaging visuals, subheadings and other elements to encourage readers to consume the full content.

The Tool We Recommend: Clarity from Microsoft

7. Social Shares

Social shares can indicate how much value your audience finds in your content. When followers share your posts on social platforms, it’s a sign that your message resonates with them, and they are advocating for you and extending your reach. To encourage sharing, make your content visually appealing and ensure sharing options are accessible.

The Tool We Recommend: Sprout Social

8. Returning Visitors

This might not be the first metric many think of when it comes to thinking about “successful” strategies, but understanding your return user base is great for showing you if your content is effective. A high number of returning visitors suggests your content is valuable and that users are finding it helpful enough to keep coming back. But this traffic doesn’t last on its own.

To keep users coming back to your site, and potentially push them further down the funnel, you should be publishing content consistently and develop broader content series that keep readers engaged over time. If you give them a reason to return, there’s a good chance they will.

The Tool We Recommend: Google Analytics

Success in content marketing hinges on continual refinement. Conducting regular audits, A/B testing and engaging with customer feedback ensures your strategy evolves to meet audience needs and drive results. Plus, leveraging tools like Analytics, Search Console and SEMrush keeps your approach data-driven and aligned with business goals. Keep focusing on content marketing metrics that truly matter—engagement, trust and conversions—and you'll maximize your content’s impact and build a strategy that fosters sustained growth.

Looking to better track your content marketing strategy? Swanson Russell’s team of experts can help you build a robust tracking strategy to ensure you get the most out of your content efforts. Take a look at the work we’ve created, get to know our approach — then, contact us to see how we can help.