However, the best online marketers know it\u2019s important to look back at past content AND make adjustments to older pieces in order to improve results.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
By conducting an online content analysis or a content audit, we’re not just trying to create new posts\u2014we\u2019re retroactively making old posts even better.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What Is a Content Audit in Online Content Analysis?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
A content audit<\/a> is the process of tracking all of your site\u2019s past content, organizing it, and making improvements to optimize it where necessary.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It\u2019s also fast becoming one of the most powerful ways companies can quickly improve their websites\u2019 traffic.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Think of it like pruning a rose bush. As the years go by, some parts of the bush become healthy and robust. Others become sickly. If you don\u2019t prune away those ailing areas, the problem threatens to spread and put an end to the bush\u2019s purpose: creating beautiful roses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The folks at Method and Metric summarize well:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Over the years, some of your content works better than others. That\u2019s why you need to conduct content audits. It\u2019s important that you separate the content you still want on your site from the kind that is holding it back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Your site\u2019s content can be broken down by:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cThe Good\u201d, which is your:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n [su_note note_color=”#dfe2e3″ text_color=”#fffffff”] [su_heading size=”16″]Use BuzzSumo to find most shared content for any domain or topic[\/su_heading]<\/p>\n [su_button url=”https:\/\/app.buzzsumo.com\/research\/content” target=”blank” background=”#329cdb” size=”5″ center=”yes”]Find the Most Shared Content for any Topic or Domain[\/su_button] [\/su_note]<\/p>\n\r\n\r\n \u201cThe Bad\u201d:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n And \u201cThe Ugly\u201d:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n These three categories each need to be addressed through a thorough online content analysis \u2013 or content audit.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Your first content audit will probably be quite time-consuming, even though it only involves four steps. Still, audits get easier each time and the results are always worth it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As we touched on above, there are three main metrics you can hope to hit with your content:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Each of your webpages should contribute to at least one of these KPIs. Those that don\u2019t are the ones that fall into \u201cThe Ugly.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The only exception would be mandatory pages like \u201cAbout Us\u201d, \u201cContact Us\u201d, etc. They may have room for improvement, but they\u2019re not the main focus of this kind of widespread content analysis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Alright, roll up your sleeves, because this is where the heavy-lifting starts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n To begin, find all <\/em>of your websites\u2019 pages. You might be able to easily pull these from your backend or your sitemap<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Otherwise, you\u2019ll need to do a Google search of your entire site. This is what you\u2019d enter into Google to do one for our site:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201csite:BuzzSumo.com\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Google will then return every single page that exists for your website.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Once you have your webpages, create an Excel sheet with the following columns:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Again, this step could take a while, but when you\u2019re done, you\u2019ll have a very valuable database you can use again and again in the future.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The next step to this in-depth online content analysis is to actually measure how well each of your pages is doing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n So, go through and see where your conversions have come from over the past year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Using BuzzSumo<\/a>, you can quickly find which pages have gained traction on social media.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n BuzzSumo or various other platforms can help you to find backlinks to your content.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Use Google Analytics to<\/a> find the traffic your individual URL’s receive. We like the Behavior > Site Content > Landing pages report for this task.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n When that\u2019s done, get the average for each metric. Fortunately, finding the average in Excel<\/a> is extremely easy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n All pages that show above average results for any<\/em> of those metrics go in \u201cThe Good\u201d category.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Those that show below-average results are \u201cThe Bad.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Any that have zeroes across the board is \u201cThe Ugly.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Finally, we arrive at the point of this kind of online content analysis: improving the pages that need it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For now, leave \u201cThe Good\u201d alone. Unless you know that some of the information has become outdated, this category doesn\u2019t require any attention.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The majority of your time will be spent on \u201cThe Bad.\u201d This category has shown promise, so look for ways it could do better.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For example, if the page was built for traffic and is below average, you could add another keyword-rich section and some outbound links. You could also link to it <\/a>from one of your own better-performing pages. Any of these changes will help your \u201cBad\u201d pages do better and, thus, your site as a whole.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n What about \u201cThe Ugly?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Simple.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n You delete them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n There are no such things as neutral pages on your website. They\u2019re either helping your site or holding it back. The more you\u2019re able to show high-value pages to Google, the better it\u2019s going to rank and the more traffic you\u2019ll generate and convert.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n![\"Quote:](\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/content-audit-quote2.png\")
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![\"How](\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-10-at-1.29.17-PM.png\")
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4 Steps for a Successful Content Audit<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
1. Get Clear About What You Want from Your Content<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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2. Organize Your Content<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
![\"Example](\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-10-at-2.22.35-PM.png\")
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3. Measure Your Content\u2019s Success<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-10-at-2.28.33-PM.png\")
<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n4. Improve Your Content<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Audit Your Content at Least Once a Year<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n