7 Simple Steps for an Effective SEO Content Audit
We’ve become content producing machines.
Each day we wake up fixated on trying to produce the next best article, podcast episode, Youtube video, or social media post that gives us an endorphin rush.
We keep pushing out more, and more, and more…
Yet, many of us aren’t achieving the content results we desire.
Hit the pause button.
Here’s what you should do before you create another piece of content.
Do a full content audit.
Table Of Contents
1. What Is A Full Content Audit?
2. What Is The Purpose Of A Content Audit?
3. Content Audit Questions You Should Ask
4. How To Perform A Content Audit For SEO
What Is A Full Content Audit?
A full content audit looks at all your content assets. Videos, blog posts, whitepapers, landing pages, podcasts...you name it, a full content audit covers it.
The simplest way to describe a full content audit is to consider your decision-making process when you’re thinking about a potential partner. You see someone you like, probably go on a few dates, and now you’re at a crossroads where you’re trying to figure out if this is the right fit.
A full content audit looks at all your content assets to determine whether they’re the right fit for your goals. You’re trying to determine the tweaks you need to make to help your content get to where it needs to be. If tweaks can’t be made, it’s time to consider creating new content and let go of what no longer works.
Some content marketers only look at blog posts when doing a content audit. I look at all your content assets because they all play a role in creating a holistic customer experience. My aim with content assets that can’t be altered, like podcasts, is to find ways to interlink them with your other content assets to create an interconnected web.
Even then, there are ways to better utilize podcasts. For instance, they can be transformed into SEO friendly blog posts. They can also be repurposed for Youtube where the Youtube description box can make the podcast episode easier to discover.
The description boxes of Youtube videos are typically underutilized. So, I also look at ways to make your Youtube description boxes SEO friendly when I do a content audit.
What Is The Purpose Of A Content Audit?
The purpose of a content audit is simple. It’s an assessment of your existing content assets to determine:
Whether they fit your new or existing goals
The changes that should be made to help your existing content perform the way it should
Whether your content is still relevant and valuable to your audience
The steps you need to take with your content to get to where you need to be
Content Audit Questions You Should Ask
There are five important content audit questions that you should ask. It doesn’t matter whether you’re doing the content audit yourself or looking for someone to hire for content audit services.
These five content audit questions help provide a lot of clarity so that the strategy you create at the end of it all has a chance to succeed.
Is My Content Goal Realistic?
You must be crystal clear about what you’re trying to achieve with your content. A lot of people think that the goal of a content audit for SEO is only to find ways to increase website traffic.
It goes far deeper than that. Think carefully about why you’re trying to increase website traffic in the first place.
I have a client who initially expressed that her goal was to move from an average of 3,000 monthly website visitors to 10,000 monthly website visitors within three to six months.
That’s a fair goal. But, what was she expecting her website visitors to do?
Probing further helped me discover that she actually wanted to increase course sales. So, her goal was really to get the right targeted traffic to her website so that her course sales could increase.
Eureka!
Goal: Get 30 course sales each month by August 2022.
Tactics:
Increase targeted website traffic to 10,000 monthly website visitors.
Get at least 1,000 relevant email signups to lead potential customers through the course sales funnel.
Notice the difference between the goal and the tactics. The goal is a clear statement about what you’re trying to achieve while the tactics explain how you’re going to achieve it.
Also, consider whether your goal is realistic based on your existing data. My client can use increasing monthly website visitors from 3,000 to 10,000 as a tactic because:
She’s well-known in her industry
Her website has fairly good domain authority with a strong backlink profile
She has achieved more than 10,000 website visitors in the past when she and her team have actively promoted their content through social media and paid advertising
That tactic wouldn’t work for a brand that only gets 100 website visitors monthly. How’re you going to 100x your monthly website visitors when you don’t have the website strength to back it up?
So, you must be realistic about your goals and the tactics you’re going to use to accomplish them.
2. Do I Have Insights About What My Customers Actually Want And Need?
It’s not uncommon for people to make the mistake of doing an SEO content audit based on what they think the audience wants and needs.
That’s the worst mistake you can make!
You must first understand your customer before setting goals and doing a content audit.
Otherwise, your efforts will be in vain. You’ll end up with a content strategy that doesn’t work!
So, how do you get into your customers’ minds? Talia Wolf explains the techniques you can use in an interview I did with her earlier this year.
3. What’s My Existing Content Data?
I mentioned the importance of looking at your existing content data earlier. Your existing data helps you understand what a realistic goal looks like for your brand.
Here’s some of the data you should pay close attention to:
Content engagement (comments, likes, and shares)
The number of content assets you already have
How many of those assets you’ve repurposed and distributed
The results of your repurposing and distribution
Dwell time on your blog articles
The number of people who’re actually following through with your CTA
Some of these metrics are described in my P-E-G metrics video on my Youtube channel. You can check it out here.
4. Where Are My Best Opportunities?
Now that you’ve looked at your goals, gotten into your customers’ minds, and analyzed your existing data, it’s time to consider the best opportunities for your brand.
This is where you actually perform a content audit and look for:
Gaps in your existing content
Opportunities for creating fresh content
Ways to fill gaps in your competitors’ content
We’ll discuss these strategies further in the article.
5. What’s My Budget?
The final content audit question you should ask is whether you can effectively execute the resulting content strategy with your budget. You’ll probably be considering hiring a:
Content writer for new articles
Copywriter to improve the copy on your landing pages
Graphic designer for repurposing content and adding unique images to your articles
Web developer to help address technical SEO issues
Backlinks expert to help with off-page SEO
The total bill, if you were to hire all these people at once, could exceed US$10,000. That’s if you’re planning to hire top-notch professionals who know what they’re doing and are committed to helping you get results.
You could find more affordable professionals on freelancing sites like Upwork and Fiverr. But, oftentimes it’s better to invest in someone outside of these platforms who can bring the best long-term results.
“Good work ain’t cheap, cheap work ain’t good. ”
— Norman Collins
The reality is that you may not be able to afford all of that in one go. So, you can hire these professionals in stages based on your immediate and long-term needs. Think carefully about who you need to hire now to get things going and who can be added on in the future.
How To Perform A Content Audit For SEO
Set goals.
Your SEO content audit should be based on clear content goals. Instead of starting your thought process with website traffic, think about your end goal and work your way backward to the website traffic that will help you get there.
Let’s go back to my client. She wanted to get 30 course sales per month organically. Her course sales are linked to her email marketing funnel.
Here’s how the reverse thinking process would work.
Achieve 30 course sales per month by August 2022.
How many email subscribers do you need to get 30 course sales based on historical data? 1,000 subscribers.
Tactic: Get at least 1,000 relevant email signups to lead potential customers through the course sales funnel.
How many website visitors would you need to get 1,000 relevant email signups? Roughly 10,000.
Tactic: Increase targeted website traffic to 10,000 monthly website visitors.
2. Create a content inventory.
An effective SEO content audit looks at all your content holistically. So, you need to have all your content organized in one place for easy access and so that you can get a bird’s eye view.
I created a content inventory spreadsheet that can help you. The first row has been done as an example. You can get your own editable copy by clicking the “Make A Copy” button and adding the file to your Google Drive.
The sheet has these headings:
No.
URL
Author/Owner
Date published
Date last updated
SERP page one ranking position
Keyword(s) ranking for
Content type
Content goal
Engagement
Notes
3. Do a content refresh analysis.
Look carefully at the content you own that most closely aligns with your goals. Ask yourself these questions:
What keywords is this asset not ranking for that it should be ranking for?
How can these new keywords be added in a way that still adds value to the reader but helps improve rankings?
Are there any images that you could add to make it more visually appealing and include ALT text?
Can you include a visual call-to-action so that the reader/viewer clearly knows what to do?
Ahrefs can help you answer the first question in this list for blog posts. Here are the steps.
Go to site explorer.
2. Copy and paste the exact URL of the blog post. Ensure “Prefix” is selected.
3. Click the search icon or press enter.
4. Click on “Organic Keywords”.
5. Sort by position.
6. Go through the list and look for keyword ranking opportunities.
Another way to approach this is to compare your website with your competitors’ and identify the keywords they’re ranking for but you aren’t ranking for. Learn more in the video below.
There may also be opportunities for you to merge existing articles to reduce keyword competition among articles on your website. If you do this though, you’ll need to perform a 301 redirect on the URL you will no longer be using.
4. Identify competitors’ gaps.
You can perform a similar gap analysis as described in the video but compare your competitors instead. Try to identify the keywords they’re not ranking for but should be. Those keywords represent an opportunity.
Another way to identify competitors’ gaps is to look deeply at the articles they have that directly relate to yours. Identify their strengths and weaknesses. Ask yourself these questions:
How could you add more value to your existing articles?
Should you create a new article entirely?
5. Assess your technical SEO issues.
On-page SEO isn’t the only thing that matters. Search engines also use technical and off-page SEO factors to determine website rankings.
According to Big Commerce, “technical SEO refers to website and server optimizations that help search engine spiders crawl and index your site more effectively.” It includes factors that impact user experience (UX) such as:
Page load speed
Pop-ups
Compatibility with mobile devices
There are a wide range of resources available that can help you identify technical SEO issues. One of the most popular is Google’s Page Speed Insights tool. It provides numerous recommendations for improving page speed that you can work through with your web developer.
6. Look at gaps in your off-page SEO.
Backlinks are one of the biggest contributors to off-page SEO performance. Your backlinks, or lack thereof, can affect your search engine rankings over time. You may be on page one for a while but that ranking can quickly fade away without appropriate backlinks.
So, use this content audit as an opportunity to identify some backlink opportunities. The type of content that will more easily get backlinks is content:
With good design
First-hand research and statistics
A unique and fresh perspective that isn’t discussed anywhere else
That’s targeting keywords with traffic potential
That’s actionable
That more than likely isn’t all the content you have in your inventory. So, be strategic about the content you use for backlink opportunities.
7. Develop an appropriate content strategy brief.
You’ve essentially completed your content audit. But, you now have a wealth of information that you need to act on. That’s where your content strategy brief comes in.
A content strategy brief usually has two to three pages and outlines your:
Goals
Tactics
Key findings from your content audit
Step-by-step process for addressing these findings
People responsible for executing each aspect of the process
How and when goals will be tracked, measured, and the metrics analyzed
Evaluation process based on the metrics
It’s an important document that helps everyone involved understand what’s expected from the get-go. You’ll be referring to this document regularly as you execute your content strategy.
Who Should You Hire For Content Audit Services?
The person you hire for content audit services should understand content marketing. You should see this demonstrated through results from either the person’s brand or for clients.
I offer content audit services as part of my content writing package. Want to know my results? Here’s what I have achieved so far:
Rankings for my website on pages one, two, and three of Google search.
Page one rankings for my client’s new real estate blog within two months of posting articles.
Increasing website traffic to my client’s niche-specific (and new) real estate blog from 0 to over 300 regular website visitors within three months of starting the blog.
Final Words
A content audit should be the first thing you do if you’re frustrated with your current content results. It’s through doing a thorough content audit that you’ll identify issues that can be addressed.
Remember, an effective content audit for SEO will help you:
Clarify your goals.
Identify the tactics that will help you achieve your goals.
View your existing content in a new light.
Refresh content that needs to be refreshed.
Identify gaps in your competitors’ content.
Identify technical and off-page SEO issues.
Develop a content strategy that’s more likely to help you achieve your goals.