How to Test Content Strategy Performance with RSS Feeds
You’re publishing content—blogs, videos, product updates—but how do you know what’s actually working? What’s resonating with your audience, and what’s falling flat?
If you’re relying on gut instinct alone, there’s a better way. With RSS.app, you can create segmented content streams, add UTM tracking, and distribute your content across channels—all while capturing data that helps you refine your strategy. It’s one of the most underrated ways to test and improve content marketing performance.
Why Test Your Content Strategy?
Not all content performs equally. Some topics get clicks, others don’t. Some formats drive engagement, while others disappear into the void.
Testing helps you:
- Identify top-performing content categories
- Align your strategy with what your audience actually wants
- Save time by focusing on high-impact topics
- Improve SEO and user engagement by doubling down on what works
Step 1: Create Topic-Based Feeds or Bundles
You can use RSS.app to generate feeds from different sources (or your own site).
1) Plug in your URL or keyword into our RSS Generator.
2) Click Generate.
3) Click Save to My Feeds.
Then, break your content down into themes:
- Product updates
- Industry news
- Tutorials or how-tos
- Customer stories
- Blog articles vs. videos
Organize your new feeds into Bundles by topic. Each bundle becomes a content stream you can test.
Step 2: Add UTM Tags for Tracking
1) Once your feed is ready, go to Widgets > Customize.
2) Turn on UTM Tags to track performance in Google Analytics.
Set up:
- utm_source: where the traffic comes from (rss_widget, email_digest, etc.)
- utm_medium: delivery method (email, web, social)
- utm_campaign: the test you’re running (e.g., content_split_may)
- utm_content: the topic or format (e.g., tutorials, updates, industry_news)
Now you’ll know exactly what content gets clicked—and where.
Step 3: Distribute Across Channels
Push your tracked feeds through different channels:
You can test not just which content wins—but which platform works best.
Step 4: Analyze the Results
Fire up your analytics dashboard and look at:
- Clickthrough rates per topic
- Engagement by format
- Channel performance (email vs. widget vs. messaging app)
- Trends over time
This is real data, not guesswork—and it tells you what to publish more of.
Bonus SEO Insight
When you embed high-performing content into your site with RSS widgets, you also:
- Keep your pages fresh with regularly updated content
- Surface keyword-rich topics your audience cares about
- Improve dwell time and reduce bounce rates by showing relevant links
It’s a smart, low-effort way to boost content marketing ROI and SEO performance at the same time.
Ready to Test Smarter?
You don’t need a complex martech stack to test content. Just smart organization, simple UTM tagging, and a tool like RSS.app that makes it all manageable. Give it a try—and let your audience show you what works.
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