30 days of “content strategy”
With all the talk about “content strategy” I tracked how it trended on Google for 31 days. Is there enough data to determine an absolute—no. Is there enough to extract some interesting details—I think so.
Data Details:
-Over the course of 31 days “content strategy” came up as a result (for that day) and average of 480 times.
-The overall high was on 5/14/09 with 718 instances.
Of those 718:
- 321 (month’s high) were for “content strategy” + jobs
- 251 (month’s high) were for “content strategy” + events
-”Content strategy” + SEO is mentioned almost 10x as frequently as “content strategy” + IA
-”Content strategy” + SEO mentions never dropped to the single digits for any single day.
-”Content strategy” + IA was mentioned in single digits 71% of the days tracked.
I have my thoughts what this means. What are your takeaways?
—Ian (@eatmedia)
June 12th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Here’s my immediate response, which just shows you where my focus is at the moment: Where are those jobs? Not in New York.
Elena
June 12th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Thanks for that, Ian. (You too Elena.) As Ian’s said before: not a lotta folks buying this stuff. Once you see how really small these numbers are, you begin to wonder about what’s behind the few postings (jobs and otherwise) there really are.
June 13th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I was more struck by the fact that there are more instances of SEO + content strategy than IA + content strategy. That bridge seems to hold some secrets.
—Ian
June 13th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I think you’re on to something there. Perhaps articulating the relationship of content strategy to SEO is an effective way to introduce businesses to the concept. The trick, of course, would be not to equate content strategy with SEO.
Colleen
June 16th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
What Colleen says. But let’s also turn this on its head. When CS is related to IA, few takers, many talkers. When CS is related to SEO, more takers, fewer talkers. As one friend of mine said recently, no one’s looking for car designers, everyone wants people who can drive cars off the lot. The bottom line of that statement is ROI—fiercely measurable in an SEO context. Hence, when CS and SEO are integrated, there’s more uptake (and I hunch better overall success).
June 16th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Craig,
Good point. So if we remove CS from the equation. IA does not seem to mention or dare I say “value” SEO as a practice. And SEO seems to have a belief that with or without IA it can return measurable results. Leaving us with:
a. amazing user experience and amazing ROI
b. amazing user experience and crappy ROI
c. crappy user experience and amazing ROI
d. crappy user experinece and crappy ROI
July 21st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
The “content strategy” + “SEO” dominance makes total sense to me. It’s really difficult to measure content strategy in terms of conversions; SEO is much easier. Therefore, it’s easier to sell SEO. Perhaps it’s customers and not practitioners doing the searching?
I’m with Colleen in that SEO is a great way to introduce businesses to the concept of content strategy, as long as it’s clear SEO does not equal content strategy. It’s only a part of a comprehensive strategy.
Elena – Jeff MacIntyre tweeted today it was raining CS gigs in NYC:
http://twitter.com/jeffmacintyre/status/2759119150
Hit him up!