A glimpse into a content audit
A content audit is a systematic process of collecting and examining the existing published content on a website. It offers insights into the content of which blog posts or landing pages need to be created, updated, rewritten, or removed. Relevant content allows you to connect with precise target audiences by providing the valuable information they seek.
Significance of content audit
Performing a regular content audit on your website enables the analysis of website traffic, and performance, and the development of strategies to enhance your market share.
Conducting audits is crucial for monitoring your search engine optimization (SEO). For instance, if your website is underperforming in search engine rankings, an audit can pinpoint areas where your content may be lacking.
The more information search engines have about your website’s content, the more accurately they can recommend your web pages to users. Conducting an audit provides an opportunity for you to enhance your website’s content, ensuring a better understanding for your readers.
How to conduct a content audit?
Now that you understand the importance of regularly auditing your content, let’s delve into how to conduct an effective SEO content audit.
Step 1: Define your objectives
Clarify the primary objective for conducting the content audit. Be specific in determining what you aim to achieve. Subsequently, identify the metrics that will be used to measure the success of the audit.
For instance, your main objective could be to improve the SEO performance of a particular blog post or your entire website, involving actions such as removing or adding content, or updating existing data.
Step 2: Gather and organize your data
Collecting data
Initiate your content audit by compiling all the content in your inventory i.e., blogs, landing pages, social posts, site content, and more. You can use Excel or Google Sheets to do it yourself or leverage online tools like HubSpot, Semrush, Screaming Frog, Google Analytics, etc., to streamline and automate the process. Since some tools may have limitations, it’s advisable to employ a blend of manual and automated methods for a more comprehensive content audit.
Organizing data
After gathering the data, the subsequent step involves organizing it. Some online tools help you to organize data as well. You can apply a similar approach of combining manual and automated methods to organize the data efficiently.
Creating a spreadsheet
Upon completing the collection and organization of data, you will have a content audit spreadsheet at your disposal to track the following: Page URLs, Author, existing H1s, Metadata, Title, Date, Content type, Content goal, etc. You can include any additional information you deem necessary to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the data according to your specific requirements.
Step 3: Analyse your data using different metrics
Previous content
The initial step involves analyzing past content. Examining previously generated content proves invaluable in shaping future content creation, providing insights into what to avoid.
Current content
After organizing all content in a format aligned with your primary objectives, analyze the content, focusing on identifying content that may be lacking in SEO best practices. Identify and address any outdated or subpar content for removal or updating. Simultaneously, promote high-performing content that significantly contributes to your search engine optimization efforts.
Metrics
For data analysis, consider various metrics that can enhance your SEO strategy. Examining user comments, social shares, bounce rate, backlinks, and more can provide valuable insights into areas that require improvement and refinement.
Examine the content that performs effectively in terms of SEO and identify the
keywords contributing to its high search rank and use that for future content strategy.
Create an additional column in the spreadsheet for inputting goals and corresponding actions, creating a structured space to manage necessary tasks.
Updating your content
SEO is an ongoing process; regular content updates are essential to stay in sync with the evolving demands of search engine optimization. Even if your performance is satisfactory, conducting audits every few weeks is crucial to sustain and enhance your ranking. This practice becomes particularly vital when addressing negative results.
Whenever you publish an update, make it a practice to add it to your content audit. This facilitates seamless collaboration with your team, ensuring consistent optimization of your content performance.
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