5 reasons why your business needs a content audit

Content does more than pad out your website. It can give your target customers the information they need and make your business their trusted go-to source while helping your website climb the SERPs.

Even if you think your content is the best in the business, there’s always room for improvement. That’s why your website could need a content audit.

What is a content audit?

A content audit should be a vital part of any business’s content strategy. It measures various metrics, such as traffic, engagement conversions and SEO performance, to assess how effective and relevant your content is.

A content audit aims to identify whether or not your content is performing as you want it to. After you conduct a content audit, you can use your findings to optimise existing offerings and create more engaging, in-demand content for your target customers.

You can perform a content audit in-house, but to get the most out of your data, it could be worth having it performed by a content strategist, SEO specialist or digital marketing agency with content and SEO expertise.

Why is web content so important?

Although writing blog posts and optimising for keywords could feel like just another task on your rapidly growing to-do list, web content does have a purpose.

Good web content is essential as it drives user engagement, builds brand awareness and increases chances of customer conversion. High-quality content attracts visitors to your website, keeps them engaged and encourages conversions – this might mean visitors signing up for your newsletter, buying a product or filling in a form.

Content can also help your website’s SEO. According to research by the New York Times, around 88% of marketers currently invest in SEO and plan to maintain or increase their investment.

When your content has the proper structure and keywords, it can increase your online visibility on search engine results pages and help drive organic traffic. Useful, engaging and expert content can also establish trust in your business, as your target customers come to you for inspiration and solutions.

Find out about our blog writing services.

How does a website content audit work?

1. It shows you what’s working well

An audit is a valuable tool for understanding the performance of your content. By examining each piece of content on your website, you can identify which articles, blogs or webpages are resonating with your audience and achieving your desired business goals.

It uncovers the type of content that successfully drives traffic, encourages engagement and leads to conversions. This can be incredibly affirming for your business efforts and inspire your team to create high-quality content.

You can use tools such as SEMrush and Google Analytics to measure how content performance is stacking up.

2. It reveals what’s not working

Just as some content could be an asset to your business, others could be a hindrance.

A content audit can help you determine which content fails to attract traffic or encourage user conversions as expected. It also allows you to pinpoint elements that might negatively affect your website’s overall performance or user experience, such as outdated information, poorly written blogs, poor SEO or broken links.

Some older pieces may no longer be relevant to your business, and with the information from your content audit, you’ll be confident in removing them from your site.

3. You can create a more targeted content strategy

Sometimes, your original content strategy doesn’t work out – and that’s OK!

Besides showing you what content is and isn’t working in your favour, a content audit can help you plan your next steps. By thoroughly evaluating all your existing content, you’ll be armed with the information to create a stronger, more targeted content strategy full of valuable pieces your target audience needs.

Discover how content can boost customer loyalty.

4. It can inform your SEO strategy

Content can play a huge role in a larger SEO strategy.

By analysing your existing content, you can identify gaps and opportunities such as outdated keywords, missing meta descriptions or poorly structured content.

Spotting and fixing these issues enhances the user experience and can increase session duration. It also improves your website’s visibility on search engines. An audit can also help you discover underperforming content that might benefit from optimisation or a focus on more relevant keywords.

Optimising your content could involve light editing – or an entire rewrite and restructure – while the purpose of the piece remains the same. For example, you might adjust your content with your brand’s current tone of voice or update important information.

Read about why SEO fails and what you can do about it.

5. You can identify new content opportunities

By assessing your existing content, you can recognise gaps in your coverage or topics that could be explored deeper. Knowing what has worked for you can shed light on potential future topics and new angles to explore with your target audience.

A content audit could also highlight various content formats you could explore, such as blogs, infographics, articles and videos. You may already be using a variety of formats, but are you using the right ones? Analysing how specific topics perform when presented in different formats could help pave the way for fresh ideas.

Find out about how storytelling can help when you’re creating content for your brand.

Signs your website needs a content audit

• Low organic traffic and search performance – Reduced organic traffic and poor search engine rankings for critical pages mean your content needs attention. SEO-optimised content helps to improve visibility and attract more visitors.
• Declining user engagement and high bounce rates – If metrics such as dwell time, average session duration and page views per visit are decreasing or your site has high bounce rates, your content may not be engaging or valuable to visitors. If people leave your site quickly, it indicates your content doesn’t meet expectations.
• Outdated, irrelevant, or inconsistent content – Content that hasn’t been updated in a long time, no longer aligns with your brand or audience or varies too much in tone and style can dent your site’s credibility and confuse visitors.
• Low conversion rates and a lack of clear calls to action (CTAs) – If your content isn’t driving conversions, it needs improvement. Without snappy, clear CTAs, content won’t guide people towards your desired actions.
• Poor usability and readability – Do you feature content that is difficult to read, full of broken links, not optimised for mobile devices, or lacking visual elements like images and videos? These can all drive visitors away.

When should I do a content audit?

The right time to conduct a content audit depends on various factors, including the size of your business, how much content you have to audit and your industry dynamics.

If your industry is fast-paced and you need to produce a wide range of content to keep up, you might want to perform frequent content audits. It could also be worth making time for monthly mini-audits to keep track of content performance and make quicker adjustments as needed.

You may also need an impromptu content audit when:

• Your competitors are outranking you
• You’ve run out of content ideas
• You plan to undergo a website migration
• You’re undergoing a brand revamp
• You’re introducing a new product or service

If you want to keep your content fresh, relevant and aligned with your business goals, undergoing a content audit can help you on your journey to success.

Contact the Submerge team to discuss a content audit today.