Best Content Analytics Software Shortlist
Here’s the shortlist of the best content analytics software tools that I’ll cover in this article, with detailed summaries below:
- Google Analytics - Best for web content
- Optimizely - Best for A/B testing
- Kissmetrics - Best for SaaS companies
- Adobe Analytics (formerly Omniture) - Best for engagement tracking
- Jetpack - Best for WordPress users
- Heap - Best for examining historical data
- Similarweb - Best for competitive benchmarking
- Segment - Best for enterprise
- Hotjar - Best for user behavior analysis
- Parse.ly - Best for beginners
- Chartbeat - Best for AI-powered insights
- Databox - Best for customizable analytics dashboards
What is Content Analytics Software?
Content analytics software is a cloud-based program that can track and evaluate the effectiveness of your digital content. Some platforms focus more on measuring web content, while others focus on social media content.
Users often deploy content analytics software to understand if the time and resource investment in their content is paying off. With the right content analytics software, you should be able to tell the reach and overall engagement associated with individual pieces of content. In some instances, you can extract the overall return on investment of a single piece of content.
These insights can guide your content strategy to make sure you’re investing in the right area.
Overviews of the 12 Best Content Analytics Software
I examined dozens of different content analytics software on the market. Below you’ll find my assessment of each with a few highlights of why you should consider it.
After reviewing my analysis, I'm confident you’ll discover exactly which content analytics software is right for you.
1. Google Analytics - Best for web content
Google is the most used search engine in the world, so it makes sense to evaluate your site’s traffic and align your content strategy using their software
Why I picked Google Analytics
I picked Google Analytics because it is universally-known around the world as one of Google’s flagship products. As a free software, it is accessible to all and can be installed easily with a script in the universal header of your site or through Google Tag Manager.
I would have thought a free software would have limited functionality, but you get the opposite with Google Analytics. You can customize reports and dashboards within Google Analytics to easily surface the data you wish to see.
Google Analytics Standout Features and Integrations
Features include the ability to segment users by location, device type, acquisition channel and behavior. This helps marketers understand more about their visitors, while equipping them with useful segments to target. Another key feature is Google Analytics’ custom reporting. You can evaluate which content is driving conversions by setting up custom events within Google Analytics. Then, you can trigger custom reports to be emailed to you automatically on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.
Integrations include other Google products including AdWords, Google Search Console, and Google Tag Manager.
Plans and pricing
Google Analytics is free for use. No paid plans are available.
Free trial
Freemium version available
Pros
- Simple to set up and easy-to-use
- Event tracking feature enables personalization
- Automated, customizable reporting is valuable
Cons
- A lot of features can be overwhelming for beginners
- Constant updates and changes to the platform
- Difficult navigation made for more advanced users
2. Optimizely - Best for A/B testing
Optimizely enables businesses to plan, create, and publish their content all from one place.
Why I picked Optimizely
This software platform assists marketers at each step of the content production process — especially with analytics and attribution reporting.
Since it focuses on both the publishing and reporting aspects of content production, users can take advantage of A/B testing and personalized content to understand what performs best with their target audience.
I was impressed with how easy it is to A/B test different headers, images, and content within an article. The data Optimizely provides will improve your personalization efforts, making your content more applicable to various segments of your audience.
Optimizely’s Standout Features and Integrations
Features include A/B testing, multivariate testing, and personalization capabilities.
With the platform’s A/B testing, you can test various headlines, images, and copy to see which drives more conversions.
Plus, multivariate testing enables you to test various copy blocks (on similar topics) at the same time. Then, you can pick the winning variation and use it for a larger campaign with your audience.
For all aspects of your content, you can review real-time attribution and engagement analytics including visits, engagements, topics, and sources to see how each article is performing and where your visitors are finding your site.
Integrations include a variety of platforms including Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics, HubSpot, Marketo, and Salesforce.
Plans and pricing
Optimizely’s Create plan offers web content and operational efficiency analytics. Optimizely offers customized pricing upon request for this plan.
Free trial
Freemium version available
Pros
- Covers multiple phases of content marketing process
- Multivariate testing provides valuable insights
- Platform is simple-to-use without major setup time needed
Cons
- More expensive and advanced than other A/B tools
- You cannot A/B test video or interactive elements
- Number of features makes the platform more complex than needed
3. Kissmetrics - Best for SaaS companies
Kissmetrics offers visibility over your customer’s actions at each point of the buying cycle.
Why I picked Kissmetrics
In the Kissmetrics dashboard, you’ll see how your content influences key metrics including new trial starts, subscription sign-ups, and churns.
This information is invaluable to have at your fingertips if you plan and create content to drive more signups, trials or demo requests for your SaaS business.
Kissmetrics’ Standout Features and Integrations
Features include person-based tracking, which is my favorite feature from Kissmetrics. This feature enables you to dissect user actions across many channels including web, email, and mobile.
With this information, you can review a comprehensive audit of how your customers interact with your content.
Additionally, you can set up a cohort analysis to track the behaviors of groups of users over time. This enables you to create targeted segments for future campaigns.
If you’re concerned about your prospects dropping off at any point, consider running a funnel report. These map specific customers through your content, providing you with a health-check of your current published content and where improvements may be needed.
Integrations include a variety of leading companies including AdRoll, Google Ads, Google Analytics, Facebook, HubSpot, MailChimp, Marketo, Salesforce, Shopify, and WooCommerce.
Plans and pricing
Plans start from $299/month. This plan includes a minimum of three seats.
Free trial
30-day free trial available
Pros
- Very targeted for SaaS and ecommerce users
- Shows you who is interacting with your site
- Variety of reports (activity, funnel, path) are available
Cons
- Kissmetrics is expensive
- No keyword research or content planning tools
- Provides a lot of data, but not a lot of obvious insights
4. Adobe Analytics (formerly Omniture) - Best for engagement tracking
Adobe Analytics provides marketers with the chance to measure and analyze their web content.
Why I picked Adobe Analytics
I picked this platform to feature since Adobe is such a powerhouse in the market with a variety of other products that many companies already use.
Plus, Adobe Analytics has a wide-range of content measurement features that extract insights that marketers will eagerly want to incorporate into their strategy.
Adobe Analytics has a similar feel and functionality compared to Google Analytics, but it edges it out in terms of the engagement metrics you can track on the platform.
Adobe Analytics’ Standout Features and Integrations
Features include data visualization, cross-device tracking, and machine learning.
Unlike other platforms, Adobe Analytics makes it easy to visualize all aspects of their data (including the overall increase, decrease and percent changed) of the core metrics.
These visualizations appear both in the dashboard and in custom reports that can be sent to the user.
Next, Adobe Analytics stands out with its cross-device tracking capabilities.
With cross-device tracking, you’ll be able to see how users engage across channels and devices. This includes viewing habits of your content on both desktop and mobile devices.
Finally, Adobe Analytics uses machine learning to predict future viewing patterns.
You can use this functionality to extract insights, model behavior habits, and perform a complete data analysis review of your content.
Integrations include other Adobe Products, including Adobe Marketing Cloud, Adobe Experience Manager, and Adobe Target.
Plans and pricing
Adobe Analytics offers customized pricing upon request.
Free trial
Free demo available
Pros
- Cross-device tracking is useful for complete picture
- Visualization tools that help make sense of data
- Predictive modeling with machine learning functionality
Cons
- No free trial, and this subscription can get pricey
- Integrations focus mostly on Adobe products
5. Jetpack - Best for WordPress users
Jetpack is a WordPress plugin that helps site owners discover how their content is performing.
Why I picked Jetpack
Jetpack’s plugin integrates with your WordPress dashboard, so you can configure it to see the data immediately when you log in.
The plugin gives beginner WordPress users everything they need to know about their content including how their users are finding it, what pages they are visiting, and their top posts.
If you’re using a WordPress site, this plugin is a no-brainer to have in your content management system. In just a few clicks, it’ll be installed and provide you with key engagement metrics.
Jetpack’s Standout Features and Integrations
Features include daily stats/summaries, referrer data to show how users find your site, a ranking of the top pages and posts, and a list of keywords that your users are searching for that lead to your site. The magic of Jetpack is that it is so simple to use. It’s perfect for users who don’t want the hassle of setting up and learning a complicated platform. Instead, the basic information is right there and doesn’t require much digging.
Integrations include Zapier, QuickbooksOnline, the Google Suite, and the Microsoft Suite.
Plans and pricing
Jetpack offers pricing from $50/user/month.
Free trial
There is no free trial available.
Pros
- Simple snapshot of content performance
- Essential information about how users find the site
- Automatically embeddable into WordPress site
Cons
- Only available for WordPress sites
- No custom reports
- No separate dashboard to log into
6. Heap - Best for examining historical data
Heap is a content analytics software that surfaces insights into user behavior.
Why I picked Heap
Heap focuses on “customers' digital journeys” and provides users with key metrics to identify what content is performing well and where prospects may be dropping off.
The platform can operate across both web and mobile experiences, providing a complete view of your content engagement metrics. Unlike some other platforms, Heap can surface historical data even if the script wasn’t installed on your site prior to publishing an article.
The platform is used by a handful of major brands including Freshworks, Esurance, Northwestern Mutual, and Twilio.
Heap’s Standout Features and Integrations
Features include its cross-platform view, retro-active data, and session replay.
Much like Adobe Analytics, Heap can track key metrics like engagements and conversions across web and mobile environments. This provides the user with a full picture of their data.
Heap’s ability to retroactively measure user data is key for businesses just getting started in their analytics. Thus, you wouldn’t have to worry about setting up conversion events right away. Instead, with Heap, you could analyze any data at any time.
Finally, Heap’s session replay functionality is unique to the platform. This function enables you to discover how visitors interact with your site by watching their actions. These actions can include clicks, scrolls, and other mouse movements.
Integrations include Eloqua, HubSpot, Jira, Marketo, Mailchimp, Optimizely, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Shopify, and Slack.
Plans and pricing
Heap offers customized pricing upon request.
Free trial
Freemium version available
Pros
- Session replay provides a first-hand look at user behavior
- Alerts powered by data science can provide insights automatically
- Multiple platform coverage after installing one line of code
Cons
- Limited dashboard visualization customization
- Only basic mobile analytics tracking
- Queries can be challenging to execute
7. SimilarWeb - Best for competitive benchmarking
SimilarWeb provides a high-level overview of your site’s performance as well as your competitors’ performance.
Why I picked Similarweb
I picked Similarweb because the platform provides competitive analysis that sources rich audience insights like interests and habits across all industries.
Similarweb’s competitive analysis is useful for when you are trying to understand who is viewing your content and how those viewers may differ from your competitors.
Most other platforms show how people engage with your content. Similarweb does that, but also shows you who is engaging with it, too.
SimilarWeb’s Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a comparison function enables you to select your site and a competitor’s site to review a side-by-side comparison.
The data tracked includes traffic, unique visits, audience behavior, and defining attributes like top categories, other sites that your audience visited, and top topics.
You can see how your site’s visits changed each month and review visit duration, bounce rate, gender distribution, and age distribution.
Integrations include Google Analytics, so you can increase visibility from the primary source data available within that platform.
Plans and pricing
Similarweb offers plans from $167/user/month.
Free trial
7-day free trial available
Pros
- Side-by-side competitive overview
- Detailed analysis of visitor behavioral data
- Industry comparisons to assess your performance
Cons
- No site page-by-page breakdown
- No real-time data
- Tough to identify where users are leaving your site
8. Segment - Best for enterprise
Segment is a customer data management platform that can provide rich insights based on content performance data.
Why I picked Segment
I picked Segment because of its broad data management capabilities to securely store customer data for small businesses and enterprise-level companies.
If you are already using it to unify their data sources, it’s important to highlight it as an option for their content analytics as well. This will save you time and money, while surfacing unique insights.
Segment’s Standout Features and Integrations
Features that Segment offers are focused on the idea of “comprehensiveness.”
By unifying multiple data sources, you can get a comprehensive view of the customer. Segment’s analytics functionality provides a comprehensive view as well.
This means that you can get a real-time view of your customer and their behavior across multiple channels (web, email, mobile, social) as well as devices.
You can create segments within the data which can be used for targeting for other marketing campaigns.
Integrations include 300+ platforms including Facebook, Google Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce, WordPress, and Zendesk.
Plans and pricing
Segment offers plans from $120/user/month.
Free trial
Freemium version available
Pros
- Comprehensive view of all data sources
- Hundreds of integrations with popular platforms
- Offers other products to enhance your marketing tech stack
Cons
- Not solely focused on content analytics
- Too many features can make it overwhelming
9. Hotjar - Best for user behavior analysis
Hotjar is a unique platform, because the insights it provides are all visualizations.
Why I picked Hotjar
Hotjar provides an easy way to see how users interact with your content.
By deploying heat maps, you can discover where users are clicking on your page. These insights can guide future optimizations of your content and your site.
I loved seeing where people clicked on my site and found this information to be valuable. It helped me understand what content needs to be re-evaluated and guided my decision making process for future content production.
Hotjar’s Standout Features and Integrations
Features that help Hotjar stand out are its heatmaps.
Users who sign up for the platform can get unlimited heat laps on multiple pages. Hotjar is easy to install in just a few clicks.
The insights that you can get from Hotjar include discovering where users click, A/B testing different adjustments, and seeing how performance changes over time.
Integrations include popular platforms like Campaign Monitor, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Optimizely, WVO, Shopify, Squarespace, WordPress, and Zendesk.
Plans and pricing
Hotjar offers plans from $32/user/month.
Free trial
Freemium version available
Pros
- Heatmaps are a unique value proposition
- Easy installation to your website
- Simple to A/B test and implement improvements
Cons
- Doesn’t show quantity of visitors
- No keyword research or conversion data
- Not really a comprehensive content analytics tool
10. Parse.ly - Best for beginners
Parse.ly is a content analytics software that's easy for beginners to use. You can easily digest the information to guide your content strategy.
Why I picked Parse.ly
Parse.ly is easy to learn right after you dive into the platform. I loved how intuitive and simple the platform feels, even though it is showcasing insights based on complex data.
The platform provides just enough information to understand content performance without being overwhelming.
It provides a snapshot of your current content and gives users an understanding of how it’s performing over time.
Parse.ly’s Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a content analytics dashboard, which tracks many key metrics including topics, tags, views, visitors, minutes spent on site, average time, and publish date.
With AI-powered Smart Tags, you can segment your article by topics and see which ones are performing best.
Plus, you can set up conversions to see which content drives specific actions and identify unique trends with historical data.
Integrations include Adobe Analytics, Constant Contact, Drupal, Facebook, Google Ad Manager, Google Analytics, Hubspot, Mailchimp, Salesforce, and Twitter.
Plans and pricing
Parse.ly offers customized pricing upon request.
Free trial
Free demo available
Pros
- Simplistic design makes it easy to use
- Customizable dashboard to surface most important metrics
- AI-powered Smart Tags can detect key pieces of content
Cons
- Some functions like Author tracking aren’t needed
- No real-time view of content performance
11. Chartbeat - Best for AI-powered insights
Chartbeat’s system uses data science to extract insights rather than give you a ton of meaningless data with no context.
Why I picked Chartbeat
Chartbeat focuses on insights rather than pure data. The platform wants to give users the information they need to make the best strategic decisions.
This shift in focusing on insights rather than mounds of data distinguishes Chartbeat from other platforms on the market.
To get a comprehensive look at your insights, you can connect Chartbeat’s API to your own dashboard to always have data at your fingertips.
Chartbeat’s Standout Features and Integrations
Features include the ability to generate customizable reports with auto-generated insights to identify trends in audience data.
The data comes in on a second-by-second basis giving you the most up-to-date view of your audience.
You can find out what content engages your audiences, compare engagement across segments, and review video content performance.
Integrations include top platforms including comScore, DoubleClick, Drupal, Facebook, Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, Twitter, and Quantcast.
Plans and pricing
Chartbeat offers customized pricing upon request.
Free trial
Free demo available
Pros
- Insight-driven, rather than data-driven
- Meaningful reports delivered to your inbox
- Connect and port data to other dashboards in your tech stack
Cons
- Likely more expensive than other options
- More of a fit for advanced, technical users
- Limited free tools and no free trial
12. Databox - Best for customizable analytics dashboards
With Databox, you can create a dashboard that surfaces the most essential data and key metrics for your business.
Why I picked Databox
With Databox, multiple sources can be unified, preventing users from having to log into multiple platforms to see how their content is performing.
I appreciated that I could save time by looking at Databox rather than by logging into other platforms for basic health metrics.
Other content analytics software concentrate on one or a few platforms, while Databox can paint a clear picture of key metrics across multiple platforms in its customizable dashboard.
Plus, you can even create Benchmark groups to see how your content performs against others.
Databox Standout Features and Integrations
Features include 200+ pre-built reports that you can customize. These reports cover marketing performance, sales performance, website performance, SEO performance, social media performance, and email marketing performance.
Integrations include all of the top platforms including Facebook, Google Analytics, Google Ads, Google Data Studio, HubSpot, Magento, Mailchimp, Salesforce, Shopify, Tableau, and WooCommerce.
Plans and pricing
Databox plans start from $91/month for five users.
Free trial
Free demo available
Pros
- Visually-stunning dashboard that makes analytics fun
- Easy to set up integrations
- Freedom to customize dashboard to see essential data
Cons
- Need original source data for this to be impactful
- Continuous upkeep needed for integrations
Other Content Analytics Software Options
Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best content analytics software list:
- Buffer - Best for social data
- BuzzSumo - Best for content ideation
- Orbit Analytics - Best for enterprise companies
- Moz - Best for businesses focused on organic growth
- SEMrush - Best for keyword research
How I Selected the Best Content Analytics Software
It’s frustrating if you don’t know if the money and time you’re investing in content marketing is paying off.
However, with so many content analytics software on the market, it can be confusing as to which one is right for you. Some focus only on specific types of content (e.g., website vs. social media) while others might not be tracking the right metrics for you.
I examined each content analytics software on a variety of criteria including the metrics tracked, integrations, overall usability, and price, comparing each platform to one another.
Selection Criteria
Let’s take a closer look at each of the selection criteria I searched for when trying each content analytics software platform.
I focused mostly on the key site metrics for any piece of content on a website. This included page views, backlinks, bounce rate, and unique users.
In some instances, I found that various content analytics software platforms tracked social media metrics as well. The basic metrics I expected from ones with this capability included impressions/reach, engagement, click-through rate, and a breakdown of the types of engagements (e.g. shares vs replies.)
In addition to these basic metrics, I’d expect the platforms to offer a variety of more-enhanced metrics. Some of these could include content mapping (how a user moves from article to article throughout the site) or even the number of conversions that content generated.
Competitive benchmarking
Competitive benchmarking is another feature I looked for when evaluating content analytics software options.
The impact that your content has on your target customers depends on how much similar content is already published on a similar topic.
That’s why it’s critical that content analytics software offers the ability to assess competitor content or evaluate how your content is performing on search engines.
These insights will guide your content creation strategy and improve your overall marketing efforts.
Integrations
To see how your content is impacting your business, you need to be able to connect your content analytics software to core business units.
Thus, key integrations for your marketing and ecommerce tech stack are essential.
I looked for basic marketing integrations for common hosting platforms (WordPress), CRMs (HubSpot, Salesforce), email marketing platforms (MailChimp, Constant Contact) and social media platforms (Meta, Twitter).
In addition, I checked to see if there were any ecommerce integrations (Shopify, BigCommerce) to review sales data and how the content may impact it.
Usability
Next, I examined the user interface. How easy is it to use the product? Is it intuitive or does it require training and many looks at the resource library?
Do the features work as stated or are there glitches and bugs scattered throughout? How fast does the product load?
All of these factors played a role in my usability review.
Price
I was expecting a monthly subscription cost of less than $100 for basic functionality including visibility over the key metrics listed above and basic reports.
In addition, I'd expect that a mix of marketing and ecommerce integrations would be in place at no additional price.
For platforms that charge more than $100 per month, I'd expect more sophisticated features including content planning, proprietary content scoring, custom reports, and multiple seat licenses.
People Also Ask
Here are some frequently asked questions and answers that people often ask about content analytics.
What are the different types of content analytics software?
What are common features in content analytics software?
Summary
Content analytics software can help take your marketing efforts to the next level. After all, how can you be sure your content is resonating if you aren’t tracking performance?
As your investment in content grows, so must your capabilities to track it.
With the right software, you’ll get complete visibility over your content’s performance and understand what your prospective customers crave. Plus, you’ll know how to evolve your strategy and align your efforts more closely with your customers’ preference.
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