Owners of websites often find themselves at the mercy of search engines, and increasingly it has become important for search engine optimization (SEO) efforts to focus on content problems. Modern search engine algorithms are oriented toward quality content, and this has given rise to the content audit as a practice within the SEO industry. The content audit is a review of what a website’s goals are, what content it presents and how it might present content in a fashion that better facilitates the aims of the site.
The first step in any effective content audit is to clearly outline the website’s goals. Owners need to ask serious questions about their business or organizational models. Is the website intended to drive traffic, or is it focused on converting specific visitors? Does the website attempt to promote a message, or is it driven by sales? Companies and groups that are struggling with answering these questions may need to take a look at defining a site’s core mission before proceeding with a content audit.
Websites operators also need to ask questions about the content itself. Search engines strongly prefer quality content. A search engine company’s core product is the content of all of the world’s websites is, and it wants to provide visitors with the highest quality and most appropriate content in the quickest manner possible.
The second step of a content audit is asking serious questions about the site’s content itself. Is the content well written? Are clear writing standards in place? Are writers conforming to established standards for quality? Companies that are having trouble achieving these goals may wish to turn to an SEO content writing firm for assistance in defining such standards and seeing that they’re being correctly implemented.
Once a website has a defined site of goals and content quality standards, the content audit turns to the question of how to exploit the available content in order to achieve the site’s objectives. If a website has a quality blog in place but still needs to convert blog visitors into leads or sales, then a clear and SEO-friendly set of practices needs to be advanced in order to achieve those goals. Preferred keywords need to be defined and distributed to writers in order to achieve the desired search results. A method for routing blog visitors into the site’s conversion mechanism also needs to be defined and implemented with the assistance of an established SEO professional.
Once a set of standards and practices is in place and being followed, the content audit moves toward assessing effectiveness. Clear metrics need to be established and followed consistently throughout the entire process and well into the future. Standardized data needs to be gathered and put into spreadsheets for analysis.
Specific questions ought to be asked about the content during this analysis process. Is content evergreen or does it age? If a site has aged content that no longer benefits the visitor or the website, then practices need to be put into place for efficiently archiving and retiring the content in question.
It’s a good idea to bite off a small sample of a site’s content rather than trying to digest tens of thousands of page’s worth of metrics. It may also be worth the time necessary to study the work that a competitor is engaged in. The goal is to create an efficient method for measuring the success of a website and taking corrective actions with newer content as opposed to trying to fix everything in one fell swoop. The process of auditing a website’s content will always be time-consuming and a source of anxiety, but with a more professional approach it is possible to establish metrics, analyze the results and implement new practices that help a site achieve its long-term goals.
Must Read: How to Conduct a Content Audit on Your Site
Aaron Russell, an internet marketing master, is highly dedicated in developing strategies for SEO Company Guru. The company deals with various techniques used in Search Engine Optimization like SMO, link building, reputation management and much more. If you want higher search rankings for your website, stop waiting and get your desired results.
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