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Arts & Culture Digital Strategy Inventory

Created by smqconsult.com

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ACDSI Project Overview

We studied the top 1,200 arts & culture organizations online

The Optimize.Art “Arts & Culture Digital Strategy Inventory” ranks organizations by a series of key online metrics, from website authority, to search rankings, backlinks, technical health, social media activity, and more. Use this inventory to track changes in the arts and culture sectors, or gain inspiration for your own organization’s online growth.

Using the Inventory

You can explore the results of the full “Arts & Culture Digital Strategy Inventory” below to learn about how arts and culture organizations of different kinds are boosting their brands online. 

You can also request a scan of your own arts and culture website in order to see how your organziation compares to the industry as a whole.

Frequently Asked Questions

Optimize.Art uses a wide variety of data sources and tools in assembling the data used for the ACDSI, including data from SEMrush, Screaming Frog, Google, and Metapulled via custom software, APIs, SuperMetrics, and manual data collection.

The ACDSI was created by Digital Strategist Steve McQuown of SMQ Consulting, a digital strategy consultancy focused on the arts and entertainment.

The ACDSI is managed by Optimize.Art, a project of SMQ Consulting tasked with making arts and culture data more accessible and understandable. 

Youcan order your own website assessment from Optimize.Art in order to see how your organization compares to our data set of arts and culture organizations and your own arts scetor specifically.

You can purchase one-time digital vitals assessment here, or join our membership program for ongoing monthly analysis. 

 

START OF INVENTORY

Last update: April 15, 2025.

WEBSITE AUTHORITY SCORE

Section 1 of 7

The Authority Score is a comprehensive metric that evaluates a domain’s quality, SEO effectiveness, trustworthiness, and authority. It provides valuable insights into the overall performance of a website and helps gauge its online credibility.

Key Findings:

Museums, schools, and public media score highest—showing that credibility, consistent content, and quality backlinks drive long-term SEO success.

Segments like Community Arts Centers perform well despite fewer resources. Smart SEO can help small teams outpace larger ones.

Lower authority segments often lack SEO basics. Improving content, speed, and backlinks offers a clear path to visibility.

Related Resources:

SEARCH RANKING &
KEYWORDS

Section 2 of 7

Search engines like Google use a variety of factors to determine Search Rankings, and this includes the relevance and credibility of each site. A higher search ranking not only leads to more traffic, but also signals to potential customers that the business is reputable.

Keywords are the backbone of search engine rankings for any brand. The search terms that they rank for signal the trustworthiness, reach and usefulness of a brand. A well-researched and targeted keyword strategy underlines the authority and relevance of a brand in attracting and engaging its target audience.

Key Findings:

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BACKLINKS & DOMAINS

Section 3 of 7

Backlinks and Backlinking Domains have a significant impact on a website’s online presence. They increase the traffic to a site, generate conversions, and enhance your online authority. Moreover, backlinks act as signals to search engines for ranking your website higher in search engine result pages (SERPs) for increased organic search traffic.

Key Findings:

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WEBSITE TECHNICAL HEALTH SCORE

Section 4 of 7

Website Health reflects the technical status of each page of every website analyzed, summarizing the highest-level details of crawlability, on-page seo, technical seo, internal linking and performance. A higher website health score indicates that a website has been created with greater attention to detail and expertise. 

Key Findings:

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WEBSITE MARKUP

Section 5 of 7

Website Markup is a factor of website design that plays a key role in the way that a website can communicate information with Search Engines, Social Networks and other online tools. 

  • Schema markup is a type of microdata that is added to a webpage to provide additional information about its contents to search engines. It is used to help search engines better understand the content of a webpage, making it easier for them to index and display relevant results in search engine results pages (SERPs).
  • OpenGraph markup is a type of meta tag that is added to the HTML code of a webpage. It is used to provide information about the webpage to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. OpenGraph tags include information like the title, description, and images that will be displayed when the webpage is shared on social media.
  • Microformat markup is a way of adding semantic meaning to HTML content using specific classes and attributes. The goal of microformats is to make web content more machine-readable, enabling software applications to better understand and utilize the data contained in webpages.
Key Findings:

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WEBSITE PAGESPEED

Section 6 of 7

The speed at which a webpage loads, or Pagespeed, significantly impacts your website’s effectiveness, conversion rate, and even affects your search engine ranking on Google. In fact, the latter has recognized pagespeed as an official ranking factor. Optimizing your website’s pagespeed is essential for driving traffic, boosting engagement, and ultimately achieving your online goals.

Key Findings:

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Section 7 of 7

For online brands, social media reach and engagement (we call it “Community Engagement“) are critical metrics that can help determine the brands’ past success and growth trajectory. OptimizeDAO is currently tracking basic community metrics on Twitter, Telegram & Discord.

Key Findings:

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Organizations in the Arts & Culture Digital Strategy Index: