How to Measure Content Marketing Success

“Content is king!” said every marketer ever in the 2010s. Hubspot coined the term “inbound,” stuff got real in SEO…and buyers’ expectations evolved so that just having a website was no longer enough. B2B buyers read 3–7 pieces of content on average before they talk to a salesperson. 

So you’re bought into the content marketing game. We know how tough it can be to evaluate whether those efforts are creating success. That’s what we’re going to show you how to do in this article. 

1. Setting the Foundation: Define Success

Before diving into tools and charts, you have to ask: What does success look like for this piece of content?

✅ Is it awareness? (Top of Funnel)
✅ Engagement? (Middle of Funnel)
✅ Conversion? (Bottom of Funnel)
✅ Retention or loyalty? (Post-sale nurturing)

Pro Tip: Tie your content goals directly to business objectives. For example:

• Boost lead quality = Focus on engagement & form submissions
  
• Increase brand trust = Focus on time-on-page & comments
  
• Improve pipeline velocity = Look at CTA clicks and content-assisted conversions
  

📌 From GBG’s Client Engagement Core Process: Always align your measurement to the client’s persona (Foundational, Strategic, Integrated) and tier (Good, Better, Best).

2. Metrics That Matter: Choosing the Right KPIs

A lot of folks learned the term “vanity metrics” a while back. What you want to avoid is looking at data points in isolation or placing value on a metric that doesn’t align with your goals. For example, if you have a bottom-of-funnel piece of content, and all you’re measuring is traffic, then you’re not getting the full picture of success. We have to look at different metrics for different goals, and we have to look at them together to get insights to drive improvement. 

Each content goal comes with its own KPI toolkit. Here’s how we map them out: 

• Awareness Metrics
  • Impressions
  • Reach
  • Social Shares
  • Pageviews
    
• Engagement Metrics
  • Time on Page
  • Scroll Depth
  • Bounce Rate
  • Comments, Likes, Shares
    
• Conversion Metrics
  • Form Submissions
  • CTA Clicks
  • Demo Requests
  • Sales Attribution (assist view or last click)
    
• Retention Metrics
  • Email Open Rates
  • Repeat Visits
  • Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
    

3. Tools to Track Content Performance

Here are tools we use with our clients to create “data with meaning.”

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Behavior flows, traffic sources, conversions
  
• HubSpot: Lifecycle stages, lead scoring, content-attributed deals
  
• SEMRush: Keyword ranking, backlink growth, SEO health
  
• LinkedIn/Meta Insights: Social impressions, engagement, ad performance
  
• CALLE Dashboards: Built-in KPI scorecards that align content with funnel stages
  

📊 In our internal reporting, we track cost-per-lead, content-assisted conversion rate, and engagement by persona tier.

4. Interpreting the Data

Data is just noise until you ask: “What is it telling me?”

• Identify evergreen content: Which posts drive steady traffic over months?
  
• Spot drop-offs: Where are people bouncing, and why?
  
• Look for pattern matches: Did a CTA or headline experiment outperform?
  
• Layer in qualitative data: Comments, testimonials, or sales team feedback
  

5. Measuring ROI: The Content Funnel

Content success isn’t one-size-fits-all. You need to measure performance by funnel stage:

• ToFu (Awareness)
  • KPI: Sessions, Impressions, SEO ranking
    
• MoFu (Consideration)
  • KPI: Time on page, return visits, gated content downloads
    
• BoFu (Decision)
  • KPI: Conversions, email click-throughs, demo requests
    

6. Case Study: Success in Action

Client: Thermal Processing Manufacturer
Challenge: Weak lead flow from existing website.
Action: Updated content, focused on SEO and mid-funnel CTAs.
Tools: GA4 + SEMrush + HubSpot attribution reports
Results:

• Visits up 4x
• Time on site up 5x
• Assisted conversions from content = 27% of sales-qualified leads
  

7. The Role of Iteration: Using Insights to Improve

At GBG, we’re big believers in “test > learn > optimize.” Here’s how we do it:

• Refresh outdated blog posts with new stats, CTAs, or visuals
• Repurpose top content into LinkedIn carousels or sales email snippets
• A/B test headlines or body copy for high-performing CTAs
  

8. Common Pitfalls to Avoid

🛑 Chasing metrics that don’t matter over actionable KPIs
🛑 Failing to align content with business strategy
🛑 Ignoring your audience segments—not every user wants the same thing
🛑 Skipping qualitative feedback like testimonials, team insight, or client stories

9. Future-Proofing Your Content Measurement

Trends to watch:

• AI-driven content scoring: Predictive tools that suggest what content to create next
• Privacy-first tracking: Preparing for cookie-less analytics
• Attribution modeling: Better tracking of content-assisted conversions across longer sales cycles
  

Content is more than just words on a page. At GBG, it’s a system—a strategy—a sales enabler. When you measure what matters, you don’t just prove value. You create it.

Want help connecting your content to outcomes that matter? Let’s talk.