9 Steps to Conducting a Content Marketing Audit

A content material advertising and marketing audit is the method of logging and analyzing all your web site’s current content material to make sure what you’re publishing is correct, useful, and related to your viewers.

When you’re a enterprise that cares about your SEO or web optimization (and you must!), you then all the time need to be publishing the latest and greatest content.

Not solely does content material creation present worth to your viewers, however it helps illustrate that you simply’re a educated thought chief in your trade.

Sadly, simply publishing nice content material isn’t sufficient.

When you’re not conducting common in-depth content material advertising and marketing audits, you could be doing all your model a disservice.

Particularly if you happen to’ve bought years of revealed content material in your library, there’s doubtless data in your website that isn’t correct or related anymore. 

We’ve finished content material stock workout routines with a number of of our web optimization purchasers and seen spectacular outcomes utilizing the method beneath.

Right here, we’ll dive into every little thing that you must find out about content material audits, with assist from HawkSEM Lead Strategist Charlotte Soto.

What’s a content material advertising and marketing audit?

A content material advertising and marketing audit is a means of logging each piece of content material in your web site to higher analyze components like efficiency, strengths and weaknesses, gaps that may be stuffed with new content material, and optimization alternatives.

This consists of every little thing from product pages, metadata, and weblog posts to touchdown pages, case research, infographics, and every little thing in between.

Able to make a content material audit plan of your personal? Right here’s the place to begin.

How one can conduct a content material advertising and marketing audit: 9 steps

1. Decide your content material advertising and marketing audit objectives

Similar to KPIs assist information your advertising and marketing technique, having a transparent record of objectives will assist information you thru the content material advertising and marketing audit course of.

It may additionally maintain you on monitor and show you how to create actionable duties to deal with as soon as the audit is full.

Do you merely need a zoomed-out take a look at all your revealed work to make sure content material high quality?

Do you want a greater concept of what key phrase or content material gaps exist and what articles want optimizing?

Are you trying to pinpoint which content material wants refreshing or redirecting?

Do you want an up to date web optimization metrics report to indicate higher-ups?

The reply might be “sure” to all the above and extra. What’s necessary is fleshing out what you hope to perform.

2. Create a spreadsheet

First off, crack these knuckles and pull up a brand new Google Sheet or Excel spreadsheet to create your content material audit template. (When you’re a “spreadsheet individual,” you’ll love this half. If not, you’ll get via it!)

You should export URLs in your content material belongings from Google Analytics or your favourite crawler software. Then, you’ll import the info into your audit spreadsheet.

Mainly, you need to put all your weblog URLs into the spreadsheet. You probably have a sitemap, you must be capable of simply pull within the URLs from there. (When you don’t have a sitemap, we suggest implementing one for the absolute best web optimization).

You too can head to Google and conduct a “website:” seek for your area. This could convey up all the pages which might be listed in natural search outcomes in your web site.

Professional tip: If potential, Soto suggests classifying your URLs into foremost merchandise or service line content material to filter them out extra simply.

3. Dig into the info

Now, it’s time to research your weblog’s content material efficiency metrics.

You can begin by inspecting the info factors to find out what number of classes or web page views every net web page had over the previous six months or longer, relying on how a lot site visitors involves your website and the way a lot content material you’ve.

You are able to do this utilizing Google Analytics or your most popular analytics software. what number of classes every submit has will let you know how many individuals are visiting the web page.

Subsequent, see what number of backlinks level to every web page. You should utilize Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, Semrush (which additionally presents a content audit tool), or different related assets to collect that data.

Trying out backlinks is necessary as a result of not all posts are essentially meant to drive site visitors. 

There could also be another excuse you revealed a bit of content material, and it could profit you by incomes high-quality, high-authority backlinks, even when it’s bought a excessive bounce fee or not driving a ton of site visitors.

You may additionally discover that there’s a giant batch of content material with zero or few backlinks and no visits. For these posts, you could need to ask your self why this content material is in your website because it’s not offering any web optimization worth.

By figuring out that batch of pages, you possibly can brainstorm methods to repurpose and take advantage of out of this web site content material.

The metrics Soto sometimes focuses on embrace:

• Classes in a specified time-frame (with the understanding that new content material items want not less than six months to mature in engines like google)
• Common time on web page
• Objective completions
• Whole key phrases ranked on the search engine outcomes web page (SERP)
• Key phrases ranked 1 -10
• Key phrases ranked 11-30 (these are thought of “hanging distance” key phrases and may be on-page optimized to win extra distinguished positions)
• Key phrase intent classification (informational, industrial, transactional, and navigational)

Professional tip: Throughout your audit, you also needs to try “index standing.” You might discover that some items of content material like weblog articles get found by Google however not listed.

4. Determine pages with “skinny content material”

There’s no magic quantity on the subject of precisely what number of phrases a high quality piece of content material ought to have.

Usually, longer content ranks better, however you shouldn’t be writing content material only for the sake of hitting a sure phrase depend. In any case, it’s about offering worth to the consumer, not beating the search engine algorithm.

“Skinny” content material is classed as items that don’t fulfill a consumer’s search intent. Pages with solely 200-300 phrases most likely don’t present a ton of worth to the reader (although there are exceptions, in fact).

Search Engine Journal stories skinny content material “can negatively impression your search rankings and on-site consumer expertise.”

See how one can make this content material extra strong. Are you able to construct it out and embrace associated subjects, or ought to it merely be eliminated out of your website with the URL redirected elsewhere?

Professional tip: Whereas social media and web optimization could fall underneath the “content material” umbrella, every deserves its personal audit. Take a look at our step-by-step information to conducting a social media audit and conducting an SEO audit.

5. Search for posts with duplicate or related subjects

As time goes on, particularly in area of interest industries, it may be onerous to department out into totally different subject concepts in your website content material.

Even if you happen to comply with all of the steps for goal key phrase and subject analysis, it could get tough at a sure level.

That is very true if lots of people have labored in your website through the years. You would possibly discover you’ve posts that aren’t the identical word-for-word, however that cowl the identical subject in an analogous scope.

For these posts, you possibly can contemplate eradicating or combining them into one longform piece. Determine which one is extra high-performing, or mix each into one superior piece that gives extra worth in your website.

Need extra content material advertising and marketing technique perception? Take a look at our 10 Steps to Creating a Content Strategy for SEO webinar recording.

It’s clever to maintain a working record of posts that must be up to date on an annual foundation so that you don’t should dig via and discover the submit later. (Picture by way of Unsplash)

6. Determine posts with outdated content material or older statistics

As extra data turns into accessible, you need to be sure to’re updating these details and figures in your content material. Significantly within the digital advertising and marketing world, issues change actually quick.

Give it some thought: When you’re looking out round on-line and discover a submit from 2014, you would possibly suppose it doesn’t include probably the most related or up-to-date data.

See what posts include messaging, knowledge, or statistics which have been up to date, like outcomes from an annual trade survey. You don’t should completely rewrite the submit, however when you replace this data, be sure to point out that the submit is up to date or revamped.

Including a small word on the backside of the content material and updating the date it was revealed often checks off these containers.

Professional tip: That is additionally a time to search for issues which might be lacking by way of your technical web optimization. This might be a clean meta description, lacking ALT textual content on a picture, or an inaccurate title tag. 

7. Redirect and delete posts as wanted

Don’t neglect to redirect posts eliminated out of your website to keep away from 404 errors. Relying on the place you host your website, there needs to be a plugin that makes this comparatively straightforward.

When you discover a bunch of pages that must be eliminated, be sure to redirect these URLs both to probably the most related submit or to the primary weblog web page.

You need to put redirects in place since you don’t need 404 errors or hyperlinks to 404 pages. Unsurprisingly, Google isn’t a fan of getting damaged or useless hyperlinks in your website.

8. Create a prioritized record of motion gadgets

As soon as the audit is full, it’s time to research the outcomes. When you’ve bought your knowledge, you possibly can set a prioritized motion gadgets record derived from the audit.

This could embrace duties like which to on-page web optimization optimize, which blogs to take away and set redirects to if relevant, and which to go away as-is.

9. Repeat the method usually

Digital advertising and marketing audits are by no means a one-and-done job. Often, auditing your content material a couple of times a 12 months is sufficient to guarantee your content material library is contemporary and related. You possibly can set a calendar reminder for accountability.

The frequency in your firm will rely in your bandwidth. It is a time-consuming train, relying in your content material quantity, however one which’s properly price it.

It’s additionally clever to maintain a working record of posts that must be up to date on an annual foundation (like posts that reference the present 12 months) so that you don’t should dig round to search out the submit later.

Want extra assist getting your content material on monitor? That’s why we’re here.

How content material advertising and marketing audits profit firms

Taking the time to conduct a web site content material audit will profit your organization’s advertising and marketing efforts in a number of methods.

First, it helps you establish low-hanging fruit alternatives. Suppose: duties like on-page web optimization optimizations and uncovering alternatives to refresh content material to convey its relevancy to the current day.

It may spotlight key phrase cannibalization that could be happening in your website. From there, you possibly can tackle this subject “with a correct hub-and-spoke structure to broaden your key phrase presence with out diluting authority,” says Soto.

This could additionally show you how to establish stronger inner linking alternatives amongst the present content material subjects and subtopics revealed in your website.

Soto provides that, if you happen to run an enterprise-level web optimization web site, this helps protect the crawl finances for blogs that aren’t rating or producing objective completions to newer subject era.

Lastly, an audit permits you to higher perceive the forms of content material customers are participating with and changing on, so you possibly can scale initiatives accordingly.

With a transparent image, you possibly can decide the place the shortage of content material is to make sure you’re hitting a number of areas of the conversion funnel: informational, industrial, and transactional.

Do you have to accomplice with an company in your content material advertising and marketing audit?

If the above looks like, properly, a number of work, that’s as a result of it’s. Our first-hand expertise tells us that audits like this are essential to hitting objectives, scaling, and beating rivals.

However they are often time-consuming, and many people merely don’t have the time.

That’s the place an company accomplice is available in. When you’re already utilizing an company in your digital advertising and marketing wants (particularly a full-service agency), then it might be price asking if they provide content material audit companies.

As Soto explains, a correct company isn’t targeted on vainness metrics. That’s as a result of we all know the content material that brings in natural site visitors or will get social shares doesn’t all the time align with client intent or leads to a excessive conversion fee.

An company may show you how to:

• Expertly analyze outcomes from an web optimization and client perspective
• Guarantee your content material touches every stage of the customer’s journey
• Determine alternatives for keyword-rich implementation
• Guarantee content material just isn’t too text-heavy or dense
• Determine alternatives to include visible web optimization parts for enhanced rankings

The takeaway

Content material audits are a good way to zoom out and get an general image of your content material’s efficiency.

You possibly can see what’s resonating together with your viewers, what’s not, what content material gaps exist, and what merely wants a refresh to higher align with your corporation objectives.

By prioritizing content material audits, you not solely set your website up for optimum web optimization, however you possibly can really feel assured that you simply’re offering as a lot worth as potential to your website guests and content material readers.

This text has been up to date and was initially revealed in August 2020.