A content audit is an important step in your content marketing strategy. It’s the base your content marketing strategy is built on.
It’s an ideal tool for a website owner who is looking to revamp their content marketing strategy.
Or even for a business that is planning to start a content marketing campaign from scratch.
It helps you discover what you have, what you need, and what you should do next.
But why should you do a content audit ?
There are plenty of reasons –
Whether you’re looking to change things up or
You’re looking to attract more valuable traffic.
It’s a good idea to sit down and look at what you’ve got.
Take some time out to sift through your online content and your content strategy to make sure that you are creating the right kind of content.
You may be writing articles by the dozen but how do you know you are pointed in the right direction ?
This blog will talk about why a content audit is important and what it involves.
What is a content audit?
A content audit is an analysis of your website’s existing content to determine what is working well and what needs to be improved.
The process involves evaluating each piece of content in terms of
its relevance,
quality, and
engagement level
To identify areas where your site could be performing better.
Content audits can be incredibly valuable for businesses as they provide actionable insights.
As a blog writer It can help you to improve your website and meet the needs of your target audience.
By taking the time to regularly audit your content, you can ensure that your site is always providing the best possible user experience.
How to do a content audit?
A content audit is a comprehensive review of all the content on your website.
It helps you understand what you have, what’s working and what isn’t.
It provides a road map for future content strategy.
I have listed four steps to conducting a content audit:
1. Inventory your content
Inventorying your content is the first step in conducting a content audit.
This involves cataloging all the content on your website, including pages, blog posts, images, videos, etc. Once you have a complete inventory, you can begin to analyze your content.
To inventory your content, you need to first identify what content you have and then assess its value.
To do this, you can create a content inventory spreadsheet that lists all of your content-
- including the date it was created,
- its title,
- where it lives (URL or file location),
- who created it, and
- any other relevant information.
Once you have this information, you can start to assess the value of each piece of content .
It is now easy to determine whether it’s still relevant and useful.
Once you have a complete inventory, you can begin to analyze your content.
2. Analyze your content
Analyzing your content helps you understand what’s working and what isn’t.
When you sit down to analyze your content, the first thing you should do is take a step back and look at the big picture.
What are your goals for your content? What are you trying to achieve?
Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, you can start to break down your content and see what is working and what isn’t.
Look at your content from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. On the quantitative side, you can look at things like page views, unique visitors, and time on site.
On the qualitative side, you can look at things like engagement, shares, and comments. try to identify any patterns that emerge. Are there certain topics that perform better than others? Are there certain times of day or week that are better for your content?
Once you start to see patterns emerge, you can start to adjust your content strategy accordingly.
The most important thing to remember when analyzing your content is to be objective.
It can be easy to get wrapped up in the numbers and lose sight of the bigger picture. Keep your goals in mind, and don’t be afraid to experiment with new ideas.
A pro tip
Some of the metrics you can track are-
- Pageviews,
- Average time on the page,
- Bounce rate, and
- Social shares
This helps you to get an idea of which content is most popular and engaging.
Click this link to use this content metrics template
3. Prioritize your content
Once you’ve analyzed your content, you can start to prioritize it.
This means identifying the content that is most important to your business and making sure it’s front and center on your website.
It’s important to prioritize your content to ensure that your audience is seeing the most important information first.
This can be done by using headlines and subheadings, and by providing summaries of longer pieces of content.
You can also use visuals to help prioritize your content, by featuring images and videos prominently on your page.
You can also use this opportunity to update or remove any outdated content. The final step in conducting a content audit is to develop a content strategy.
4. Develop a content strategy
This includes setting goals for your content, defining your target audience, and creating a plan for creating and promoting new content.
To develop a content strategy, you need to first understand your audience and what they want to see from you.
Once you know this, you can start creating content that is both interesting and useful to them.
Always keep in mind that your content should be engaging and add value to your audience’s lives.
Your content strategy should also be aligned with your business goals.
Ask yourself what you want to achieve with your content and make sure that everything you produce is working towards that goal.
Finally, don’t forget to measure your results so that you can continue to improve your content strategy over time.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your website has the best possible content for your business.
Which are the tools to use to do a content audit?
A content audit is a process for assessing the quality and effectiveness of the content on a website.
It can be used to identify
areas where content is lacking or
needs to be improved and
to assess how well the content aligns with the overall goals and objectives of the site.
To do a content audit, you can use several different tools –
One option is to use a content management system (CMS) to track and manage content.
This can be a helpful way to keep track of what content is on the site and to identify any gaps.
Another option is to use a content analysis tool, which can help to assess the quality of the content and identify any areas that need improvement.
Below I have included a screen shot of my website content audit in progress. I tried the free version.
It was still analyzing the site, hence, I am not sharing the data.
Finally, a content audit can also be conducted manually, by going through the site and taking a close look at the content to identify any areas of concern.
How to implement what you learn from the audit?
To implement what you learn from the audit, you will need to take a few steps.
First, you will need to analyze the audit results and identify areas where improvements can be made.
Next, you will need to develop a plan of action to address the identified areas of improvement.
Finally, you will need to implement the plan of action and monitor the results to ensure that improvements are working.
You can click on this link to download and use this template
You must be thinking I already know this what is new here. Nothing- it is as simple as it sounds. All you need to do is implement the steps hence kind of checklist to help you remember.
Conclusion:
A content audit can be a helpful tool for assessing the effectiveness of your content strategy.
However, it doesn’t have to be a daunting task.
Start small and be consistent.
Begin by auditing a few pieces of content at a time.
Assess how well they align with your overall goals and objectives.
Are they helping you achieve your desired results? If not, why not?
Be sure to keep a consistent schedule for auditing your content. This will help you track your progress and identify any areas that need improvement.
By taking a systematic and disciplined approach to content auditing, you can ensure that your content is working hard for you and your business.
