Content Marketing Manager

Writer, creator and social media-er. Back in Blighty after a decade in Deutschland. Has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the best vegan spots. Abhors Meal Deals. Top-notch spelling, even better spells.

December 17, 2024

These days, finding an actually useful looking report or white paper among the plague of sales material online feels as rare as hens’ teeth. And when you do by chance come across something persuasive enough to hit download, you’re usually greeted by a form requesting every last professional and personal detail you can imagine. 

Gated content. If not executed with the user in mind, it might not only deter people, but could even leave them with a lasting poor impression of your brand. So, why is gated content used by so many companies for marketing? 

What is gated content?

Gated content is simply putting your content behind a proverbial gate. That is, usually a sign-up window or contact form that users are required to fill out before they can access the goods that your team has spent time and resources on putting together. 

Typically gated content will be a longer piece that offers more value than a simple blog post or your website content. Articles, eBooks, webinars (live or recorded), written reports, white papers (or reports as we mostly call them) are often used as gated content. 

As an example, Tank client Zengetti wanted to achieve a next phase of growth for its headless enterprise content management system Consensis. It needed to attract and gather new potential B2B clients to do so. Together we created an eBook that provided a step-by-step guide to digital transformation and implementing a new CMS – something that target leads would find value in. This long-form downloadable guide was then placed on its website and pushed via other channels as gated content. In doing this, Contensis would reach new businesses and have the contact details from form submissions to turn them into marketing qualified leads and hopefully new clients.

The benefits of gating your content

Lead Generation

More often than not, a company will gate content in order to generate and capture leads – just as in the Contensis example. When someone visits your website, you may get some information about them (location, age, mobile or desktop…) but no information that you can use to follow up with them and encourage them to come back. By putting content behind a form, you can ask for details such as name and contact details to pass on to your sales team encouraging a conversion down the line.

Visibility and Growth


On social or with paid media, this is particularly valuable since the lead or customer might have come across your content in a random place and at an inconvenient time. If you have a strong gated piece – maybe even with an additional incentive such as discount – the customer will download, giving them content branded with your logo and giving you contact information to send a friendly “did you enjoy the read?” email. This will introduce them to and bring them over to your owned domains. And that’s just one example – there are many ways that gated content can turn previously invisible users outside of your domain scope into measurable website visitors, contactable leads, and hopefully new customers.

Positioning You as an Expert

Gating content can make it appear more exclusive and high value – benefitting you in two ways. On one hand, it could encourage more clicks as people see it as not-your-average blog that’s available to every man and his dog but rather something that actually delivers value. And on the other, it can make you or your brand appear as thought leaders and experts in your field. Since gated content is often based on some sort of data or survey statistics, people usually feel they can trust the stats and figures presented, too, leading to a perception of brand credibility.

Learning and Perfecting Your Marketing Strategy 

Once you have a large dataset formed from form submissions, you can use it to learn from too. You can learn about your audience and what kind of content they like to see. You can identify your most interested audiences, see which channel they are coming from and which content is attracting them to your website. Based on this, you can then amplify that content for increased lead generation, as well as a better understanding of your market fit and positioning. So, the benefits are clear – at least on the business side. 

What are the drawbacks of gating your content?

From the perspective of a company, gated content makes clear sales and marketing sense. But when it comes to people, gated content can cause friction in user experience and potential audience loss. When visitors or leads approach your content through your website, social media, or paid ads, any unnecessary effort can quickly lead them to abandon the process, regardless of how compelling your offering might seem. 

This hesitation escalates if they’re asked to surrender personal data – such as their name, phone number, or email address. Unless you’re a well-established brand or have a persuasive value proposition to earn their trust, their interest could vanish in seconds. In a market saturated with companies competing for attention or seeking to monetise personal data, skepticism runs high. If your audience hasn’t heard of you or barely recognises your name, they will likely exit the window instead of providing the details you’re asking for. 

Gated Content, SEO Drawbacks

From a more technical angle, gated content can be a pain for search engines. When your content is open and easy to access, search engine crawlers can find it, index it, and rank it properly as part of your site. But with gated content, crawlers can’t get past the gate rendering your content invisible and hurting your overall visibility online. General suspicion is that search engines also prefer sites that are user-friendly with a seamless experience which excessive gating hinders. 

What’s more, ungated content tends to attract more backlinks from other sites, as it’s easier for others to reference without barriers – something we talk a lot about in digital PR. So gated content can not only affect SEO but also limit the number of people finding you organically. By keeping key content accessible, you can improve your SEO and make it more likely for organic traffic to find and engage with your site. 

So, Gated or Ungated Content? 

Well, it’s all about balance: Delivering qualified leads to your sales and business development reps is critical, but equally important is driving organic traffic and fostering positive engagement on your domains. Every piece of content should have a clear purpose and goal.

If your sales team is under strict demand to deliver a certain number of leads by X time, then gating content strategically can help capture those valuable details needed to meet targets.

If you are simply showcasing your brand and highlighting core values, consider leaving content ungated to maximise reach and allow audiences to engage freely without hesitation.

If you are running a campaign, weigh the benefits of gating carefully—think about whether the goal is immediate lead capture or building long-term visibility, brand satisfaction and trust.

Having a mix of open, freely available content alongside some key, more sales-driven content pieces will help to capture new business while maintaining a happy prospective or established customer base.

What do the experts say? 

“The decision about whether to gate your content or not depends on its purpose. Lead-gen content should be gated to collect contact details, whereas SEO content should drive traffic from relevant search queries. I’d generally recommend PR-led pieces remain ungated if the goal is brand awareness, and there’s no lead-gen element. Journalists are unlikely to download the content, so it’s best to give them everything they need in the press release and in an easy-to-view blog.

“In reality, a mix of gated and ungated content usually works best. I often recommend a central content hub, based around a specific campaign theme, with downloadable content, as well as teasers and blogs.” – Catherine Allen, Head of Content at Tank

Best practices for gating your content

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when considering gated content.

  • Be selective:
    Gate only your most valuable assets.
  • Offer transparency:
    Clearly communicate the value users will receive in exchange.
  • Minimise friction:
    Use short, relevant forms or popup email overlays that are easy to either submit or exit. 
  • Leverage social tactics:
    On social, simplify giving users content using automated prompts like “comment for a link to your DM” to eliminate that initial click and encourage trust.
  • Test and iterate:
    A/B test gated vs ungated approaches to see what resonates.

Following this as a general guideline should ensure that you find a balance between lead capture and not royally getting on the nerves of new visitors and customers. It is good to know who’s visiting your website and engaging with your media for which gated content is incredibly valuable. But keep in mind that people might not know or trust you yet. It would be like asking to shake hands with someone on the bus without even saying hello first. Introduce yourself, give more away than you ask for at first, and make it as easy as possible for them to get what you are offering them.