Let’s say your group’s content material technique has been rolling alongside in keeping with plan for months or possibly even years. You’ve bought an environment friendly pipeline pumping out blogs, ebooks, infographics, social media, and thought management. And but, the outcomes nonetheless don’t mirror the hassle. That is your cue to take initiative within the subsequent planning assembly and recommend a deep dive to see why.
This course of—going by your backlog to see what’s efficient and what’s missing—is named a content material audit. Moderately than a chore, a web site content material audit is a helpful train for sustaining an efficient advertising and marketing technique. It helps groups take a big-picture view and discover content material gaps and potential alternatives.
An outline on the content material audit course of
So, are you questioning carry out a content material audit? There are many approaches and instruments and you need to take into account whether or not your finish aim is to enhance web optimization, enhance conversions, or drive visitors. Regardless, your audit ought to include these key steps under.
1. Discover each asset produced in a sure time interval
That is probably the most time-intensive a part of the method, and it may get unwieldy quick. The trick is to set boundaries. You don’t wish to waste time going again 10 years—any information or commentary you used has possible misplaced its relevance. As an alternative, evaluate and stock content material from the final two or three years.
Take note of how a lot you wrestle throughout this train. Does your group have an environment friendly labeling and archiving course of? How are you going to enhance on it to ease future content material audits?
2. Map content material to your advertising and marketing infrastructure
When you spherical up all of your content material, the subsequent step is to tag the whole lot. Not solely will a sound tagging construction assist you arrange your outdated belongings, nevertheless it’ll additionally provide you with route for brand new items. Frequent tags may apply to components of the advertising and marketing funnel, personas, subject pillars, industries, and so forth.
3. Determine what’s value preserving
That is the enjoyable half. As you’re making use of your taxonomy, a superb audit will reveal what content material you’ll be able to reuse, repurpose, or discard.
Advantages of a content material audit
Now that you know the way to conduct a content material audit, what are you able to count on subsequent? There are a number of common advantages, and having a tidy content material stock is only one of them.
Get monetary savings
When surfacing forgotten belongings, you may discover content material instantly able to go dwell or belongings that solely want minor revisions. After Contently performed an inner audit in 2022, we found 22 articles that supplied our viewers essential recommendation however had outdated analysis. We up to date the copy after which resurrected all 22 hyperlinks. Moderately than begin from scratch, the audit saved us money and time that may be redistributed elsewhere. Simply this yr, we went deeper and reviewed a decade’s value of weblog content material to find out what wanted refreshing or rewriting — as an alternative of making new content material — so we may proceed to offer the best-quality content material to our viewers.
Improve effectivity
Losing content material is unhealthy, however this stat is much more disheartening: on common, 42 % of salespeople don’t use B2B content material advertising and marketing belongings to generate gross sales/income, in keeping with a Content material Advertising and marketing Institute and MarketingProfs research. Why? Perhaps as a result of your content material is both unusable or unfindable.
Both approach, your content material ecosystem has an issue. If folks can’t simply discover the content material they want, it doesn’t matter how good it’s. And if content material is straightforward to seek out content material however not excellent, it received’t get used both.
An audit is the proper alternative to evaluate why content material goes unused. Maybe there’s a workflow breakdown, or your salespeople don’t know the place to entry the content material they want. Regardless of the cause, make it a degree to lower the litter. So, in the event you discover a piece of content material that may’t be repurposed, delete it.
Preserve consistency
Advertising and marketing departments reorganize on a regular basis — software program techniques change, model tips evolve, and targets alter. As you’re deciding what content material to maintain, ensure outdated belongings match these adjustments. Getting so far might require updating tags, tweaking language, and importing content material into a brand new system.
When you’re achieved auditing, you’ll have an excellent alternative to do a broad evaluation of what content material carried out effectively and why. You’ll be able to then use that historic information to tell your technique transferring ahead.
Corporations that take the time to maximise their editorial belongings can see huge outcomes. Are you prepared to start out a content material audit? Contently’s professional content material strategists can assist you with the general technique, suggestions and execution of every step.
Ask the Content material Strategist: FAQs about carry out a content material audit
How usually ought to a content material audit be performed?
It’s typically advisable to conduct a content material audit yearly or bi-annually, relying on the quantity of content material and adjustments in your advertising and marketing technique.
What instruments can be utilized to conduct an web optimization content material audit?
Instruments like Google Analytics, SEMrush, Screaming Frog, and content material administration techniques (CMS) with built-in analytics can assist you establish what content material is performing effectively and what content material may use some consideration in the event you’re doing an web optimization content material audit particularly.
Who must be concerned within the content material audit course of?
Usually, a cross-functional group involving advertising and marketing, gross sales, and generally even IT or product groups must be concerned to make sure that the audit is complete and aligned with broader enterprise targets.
To be taught extra about do a content material audit or construct a content material technique that performs, subscribe to The Content material Strategist.
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