Weighted Rank Indexes are undoubtedly a popular format for Digital PR campaigns. When done well, they naturally provide you with lots of different angles you can outreach, and In turn, lots of stories you can potentially earn coverage with.

I've seen some really amazing Index campaigns that have achieved phenomenal results. But I've also seen plenty that either fall into common traps, or leave money on the table in terms of the results they could be earning.

Therefore, I've listed five ways that you can improve the Digital PR results from your Weighted Rank Index campaigns.

Update the data each year

The beauty of Weighted Rank Indexes is how evergreen they can be. They offer loads of different outreach angles throughout the year.

If you get good results from your index in the first year, don’t stop there! Each year you can update the data and re-outreach as a new campaign that you’ve already done a lot of the leg work for, and is lower risk if it’s already produced results. 

Even if it did struggle in the first year, if you really believe in the idea, give it another go but tweak the idea a little learning from your experience with it in year 1. 

This is how you end up with campaign pages that produce hundreds of backlinks. 

Use each metric as it’s own angle

Finding multiple angles from a single campaign that can be considered newsworthy is bloody tough. But that’s where Index campaigns are worth their weight in gold.

As well as your overall score, each individual metric that you researched can also serve as it’s own campaign. Get those tables sorted by different columns and you’ll identify new angles that allow you to target new regions you might not have been able to target with the overall score.

Also don’t forget that the places (or whatever you’re ranking) at the bottom of your list can also be newsworthy angles to pitch. Just make sure how you’re framing it is all good from a brand point of view and how you’re framing the place/thing in question as the “worst” (or as I like to say, the one with the most room for improvement). 

Weight your results by population

I always cringe a little when I see London at the top of “best places in the UK”. Of course London has the most of whatever, it’s bigger than everywhere else!

Weight your indexes by a metric that normalises your results and puts everything on an even playing field, e.g. per capita.

Most Journo’s will have an eye for this and be well aware what all the comments on their article will be saying about the data they’re sharing.

Don’t overcomplicate things

I have often been guilty of this one - make sure the methodology for your index is dead simple for anyone with half a brain to understand. 

If it’s too complicated for the Journo to understand, they won’t cover it. If they think it will be too complex for their readers to understand, they won’t cover it. 

Show your index to people outside of your work bubble and see if they can follow and understand it. Check the metrics you’re using are not only credible, but super clear what they’re measuring. 

Make sure the final score is easy to understand

Following on from the previous point, make sure there’s ample clarity with the final score you’re presenting your index to be based on.

Make it clear what the maximum value for the final score is out of. An index score of 73 doesn’t mean anything to me. Is that good or bad? 73 out of what? 100? 200? 1000? 

Don’t forget to also include how the final score is calculated and what percentages each of the individual metrics are weighted at. 4-6 individual metrics is more than enough. The more you include the more complicated your methodology becomes. 

Finally, give your index a proper name too. It makes it a lot easier for you when you’re writing the content or the press release to refer to your index by a catchy snappy name rather than just “the index” or “an overall score of…”. The easier it is for you to write, the easier it will be for the Journalist to write about it too. 

If you’re stuck for name ideas, a simple template to follow is [BRAND] [TOPIC] Index. Having a good name for your index will also pay off from a branding and familiarity pov the more that you update the index in future years.