What is a content audit?
A content audit is an analysis of all content on your website (and possibly your other channels) with the aim of finding opportunities for improvement.
By conducting a content audit, you gain insight into which content is already doing well and which is not.
You can keep creating new content, but there is also a lot to be gained by improving your old content ! And with a content audit you can actually find out which content you need to improve. Our advice: analyze the content on your website every 6 months and draw up a plan to improve old content.
In the rest of this blogpost we will show you how to perform such a content audit. A content analysis (usually) does not take much time but the result of the improvements can be enormous.
What do you need for the content audit?
To perform a content audit, you need data. For example, you want to know what visitors do on your website and how your content scores in the search engine.
So you definitely need the two tools below!
Google Search Console – This free tool from Google shows, among other things, how your website scores in Google. This way you get information about the keywords your website is found on and at what position your blog post or page scores. Don’t have Google Search Console yet? Sign up now and wait ~ a month before you start your analysis.
Analytics software – You also need your website statistics. You can use the free tool ‘Google Analytics’ for this, but we always use ‘ Clicky ‘. This tool is much more user-friendly and clearer and gives you all the data you need for a content audit.
Tip! Also conduct a survey among your target group!
With a short survey you can find out what is going on among your target group. What problems do your readers encounter, what content do they find interesting and how can you best reach them? You can also use this input to improve your content
In the next part of the blog post I will show you how to perform a content audit . For this I will use Google Search Console and Clicky, but you can of course also just use Google Analytics.
How to conduct a content audit
With a content audit you find out how your content is doing now. For example, you want to know:
- Which content generates the most visitors, is read the most and is downloaded the most.
- Which content is not read or found at all.
- Which content is already found, ‘but’ is on the 2nd page in Google.
- Which content is found, but does not generate readers.
- What content is read well, but has no call to action.
- Which content already has calls to action, but where visitors do not perform any actions.
You then collect this information in a document so that you have a clear overview of the improvement options available.
Below we show you step by step how you can analyze your content!
Step 1: Find out which blog posts are read and which aren’t
First, you want to know which blog posts are read the most and which are not. You can find this information in your analytics software. If you use Clicky, follow the steps below:
Set the date to the last month
Go to content > pages
Click on export (at the very bottom of the page)
Complete the file with the pages that are still missing (these pages do not generate any views at all)
What do you mention in your analysis?
All your pages and posts, including the number of views
Color code how long ago you posted the content (e.g. yellow for last year, green for 1 year old, blue for 2 years old, and dark blue for 4+ years old). This way you can immediately see which content is new and which is not.
Create an additional list of all content that has less than 30 views and is therefore viewed less than once per day.
The first step will help you know which are your top blog posts and which pages on your website are rarely or never viewed.
Step 2: Get key data from Google Search Console
In addition, you also want to know which content is found and which is not. For this you use Google Search Console.
Go to Google Search Console > Performance. Make sure the date is set to last month.
Under the tab ‘pages’ you will find the pages that you are found with in Google. Here you can also see how many impressions and clicks a page yields.
Click on one of your pages and then go back to the ‘search queries’ tab. This way you can see exactly which searches your page is found through and what position you are in Google.
What do you mention in your analysis?
For each page, specify the search terms you are found for, including impressions, clicks, and position. Note! Your page will probably be found for more than one keyword. Only include the most important keywords in your document (e.g. with the most clicks and impressions).
Create separate lists or indicate with colors which search queries get you on page two, which search queries get you in position 30+ and which search queries have a low CTR (for example lower than 10%).
Tip! If you have already created a lot of content, it can take quite some time to create such an overview. Do you want a quick overview of, for example, which search queries your website is on page 2 with? Click on export in Google Search Console. The first tab shows all search queries (but max. 1000) that you are found on. Create a filter and only show the search queries between position 11 and 20. You still have to check which page is shown for the search term.
Step 3: Mapping conversion elements
Finally, you also want to map out what actions your visitors are performing! And by actions I mean downloading an ebook, subscribing to the newsletter or requesting a quote. Tip! If you have to search for how many people performed an action, this can take up a lot of time. Add goals to your analytics software to quickly check how often visitors perform an action.
What do you mention in your analysis?
Create a new tab in your Google Sheets file how to build telemarketing data to create an overview of all your conversion elements.
Also state on which page the element is located, how many times the action was performed in total and during the past month.
Once you’ve completed the steps above, you can then use your content audit to: 1) improve the discoverability of your content , 2) increase conversions on your website , and 3) create new content .
How to use the content audit to improve your findability
A content audit gives a lot of insight into how your website is doing in search engines. Based on the information you have gathered, you can make the following improvements.
1 – Improve blog posts without (clear) keyword
Have you noticed that some blog posts are not or hardly found on a keyword? Then there is a good chance that you did not choose a keyword before (or a keyword without search volume). But it could also be that there is too much competition and that you can therefore better choose an ‘easier’ keyword.
If you want a blog post to be found, the first step is to conduct keyword research and choose a suitable keyword for your blog post.
Chances are you might not be able to find a suitable keyword. With a different angle, it might still be possible to find a suitable keyword. If not, decide whether you want to keep the blog post on your website this way. If no one has read the blog post in the past month, you might want to share the information in a different way (via a video, ebook or podcast).
2 – Making sure you get from page 2 to page 1
During the content audit you probably also kial vi identigu vian celan merkaton? came across some pages that are already on page 2 in Google. For these pages you can do a number of things to get on page 1 in Google.
- Check if your page is really well optimized for the keyword . Have you used the keyword in the subheadings, often enough on the page, in the title, etc.? If not, try to optimize the content better for the chosen keyword.
- Expand the content with even more valuable information . Google’s goal is to show the best possible result for a search query. Make your page even more relevant and valuable to the visitor, so that Google will see your page as the best result.
- Place more links from other pages to this page . By linking to a page often, you tell Google that this page is important (note! Do not place too many links to unimportant pages). In addition, by placing links, you increase the chance that visitors will see the page and perhaps share it.
3 – Solving Keyword Cannibalization
Are not one but two (or even more) pages shown for a keyword? And are both pages not shown on page 1? Then there may be keyword cannibalization.
This means that Google does not know which page to show and as a result both pages are rated lower.
You can solve this by merging both pages into 1 page. OR optimizing the other page for a different keyword!
4 – Improve the display of your results in Google
Your content audit not only shows you which keywords your pages are found for, but also how often your pages are shown and how often your results are clicked on in Google.
The CTR (Click-through rate) shows what percentage of the impressions led to a click. If the position of your page in Google is high, but the CTR is low, then this says something about your result in Google.
This may not be attention-grabbing enough, interesting enough, or match the user’s search intent.
To increase CTR, you (usually) don’t have to change the entire blog post. You can just write a more interesting SEO title and meta description!
5 – Create more content on one topic
If you have recently created new content for your website, it may take some time before it is really easy to find in the search engine.
However, if your blog post is still in position aleart news 48 after 3 months, write more content on the topic so that Google can recognize that you are an expert in the field.
Please note! It is important that you do not use the same keyword for the new content, because then you will again suffer from keyword cannibalization.
New content on the topic also ensures that you can link more between your articles and that visitors have more content to read.
How to use the content audit to get more conversions
In addition to improving the discoverability of your content, you can also use the content audit to find new ways to engage visitors to your website.
It’s fun when visitors read your content, but it’s even more fun when they take action after or while reading your content.
1 – Create conversion elements for your most read content
Thanks to the content audit, you will know which content is read the most. So start thinking about possible actions for this content.
It is best to choose a call to action that really fits the content of the page. Think of a download with an example, checklist or extra tips. This increases the chance of a conversion, because it fits the information needs of the visitor.
2 – Improve old calls to action that no longer convert
A call to action is not always successful. Does the content audit indicate that an e-book is hardly downloaded, for example? Then you can do two things. You can improve the message of the call to action or change the location (for example, place the call to action directly after the introduction).
But of course you can also choose to add a completely different call to action to your page. Ask yourself if your offer is (still) interesting for the visitor.
How to use the content audit to create new content
Finally, a content analysis can also help you create new content. This way, you know exactly what content is already on your website and what is still missing.
1 – Start updating your oldest content
There is a good chance that an article from 5 years ago is no longer relevant and valuable to your visitor. Now you can write a whole new article about that topic and leave the old article somewhere on page 12 of your blog. But it is much better to update your article, because the url of your old blog post has probably already built up authority! Especially if your blog post still brings in visitors every day.
2 – Create a review article
For many websites, new content is read more often than old content (or they have to be found really well in Google). To make sure that your old blog posts are read again, you can create an overview article with all your blog posts about one topic.
A review article also has a greater chance of being shared, because it is often a good starting point for beginners.
3 – Write follow-up blog posts for your most read articles
Is an article widely read? Then visitors clearly want to know more about this topic. In order to bind visitors to your website better, it is advisable to write a sequel to your blog posts. This increases the chance that visitors will view a second page and therefore stay on your website longer.
In your follow-up blog post, you can describe the next step, give an example, or share your own experience (if you haven’t already done so in the first article).
And the advantage: more content on one topic also ensures better findability for all your other blog posts on this topic.
How often should you perform a content audit?
We recommend that you regularly analyze your content, but the question is: how often and should you go through all the steps completely?
The first time it is useful to go through all the steps completely, because then you have a good idea of the success of your content. After that it mainly depends on how often and how much content you create. The goal is to ensure that you have.
