Your content is what attracts visitors to your website. To get the most out of your content, conduct a content audit.
Even the best content creators and SEO experts sometimes produce unsuccessful content. Some pieces may not perform well or rank in search results despite their efforts.
Instead of deleting such content, it’s essential to identify what went wrong and take corrective measures. Performing a content audit will help you systematically evaluate your website’s published content. This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a content audit.
A content audit is inventorying and evaluating your website’s currently published content. This practice is often linked to search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, where content needs to have critical keywords and answer specific search queries. The content to be audited can include different formats, such as blog posts, case studies, and infographics.
Regular content audits ensure your content stays up-to-date and improve your search engine rankings. An audit helps you answer critical questions such as;
The answers to these questions will ensure your content is highly quality and aligned with your content marketing strategy.
The content you can audit comes in a variety of formats and can include
It is vital to start by defining what you want to achieve with the content audit. Set at least one goal to guide the audit process and identify metrics to measure success. These metrics could include improving SEO results, increasing engagement or conversions, removing outdated content, improving the quality of existing content, or creating a new organizational structure for your site.
At this stage, it may be helpful to ask how well the content on your site answers the questions on the checklist Google shared with the Helpful Content Update.
Once you have identified your goals, the next step is to inventory your published content. First, identify the types of content you want to review and collect their URLs. You can use Excel, Google Sheets, or an online tool like HubSpot, Semrush, or Screaming Frog.
Once you have the content URLs, categorize the content based on specific criteria, such as the author, the team that produced the content, title, date, content type, content goal, word count, comments, and shares.
For each type of content, you can create a Google Sheet template to keep track of the following;
The third step involves tracking metrics and analyzing data to identify content that needs to be updated or removed. Use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess the health and performance of your site. You should also perform a historical content audit to determine how your previously published content performed.
In conclusion, conducting a content audit is essential to maintain the quality of your website and ensure that it ranks well in search engines. Following these steps, you can effectively evaluate your website’s published content and take corrective measures when necessary.
If you want professional support for content auditing, you can contact us through our Content Evergreen brand.
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