How to do a Content Audit

How I would do a Content Audit

Your website can be a powerful tool for making sales and growing your business. But if it’s not doing as well as you hoped, it’s time to take a close look at your content. This means checking what’s working and what’s not, so you can make improvements. I’ll guide you through each step.

Things to do before you start:

Step 1 - Back up your website
Step 1 - Back up your website
Step 2 - Define your website goals
Step 2 - Define your website goals
Step 3 - Google Analytics
Step 3 - Google Analytics

Start with:

Step 4 - Content Audit
Step 4 - Content Audit
Step 5 - Image Name and Location
Step 5 - Image Name and Location
Step 6 - Word Count
Step 6 - Word Count
Step 7 - Links
Step 7 - Links
Step 8 - Prioritise Tasks
Step 8 - Prioritise Tasks

Step 1 - Back up your website

Before making any changes or modifications to your website, it’s essential to back up all your website files and databases to ensure you can restore them if needed. Talk to your web hosting provider to see if this is done automatically or if it is something that you need to action.

Step 2 - Define your website goals

Determine what you want your website to achieve, whether it’s increasing online sales, improving brand awareness, or both. Your goals should be measurable and look something like this: “Increase monthly online sales by 20% within the next six months.”

Step 3 - Google Analytics

Have you installed Google Analytics? It is an essential tool for understanding your website visitors, their behavior, and how they discover your site. Without it, you might be missing out on valuable data that could contribute to your business growth.

If you haven’t set it up yet, it may take a few weeks before you can start receiving data. Once it’s up and running, you’ll be able to see how users interact with your site and whether they become customers. This information helps you assess the effectiveness of your content and identify popular pages. You can then use this data to optimize your marketing efforts more effectively.

Step 4 - Content Audit

We have included a Content Audit Template for you to download and use. Once you’ve downloaded and saved the template, you’ll need to enter the relevant information into this editable spreadsheet. This includes checking for information accuracy, ensuring consistent formatting, testing links, verifying metadata, and more. Completing the Content Audit requires gathering as much information as possible to get the maximum benefit.

Step 5 - Image Name and Location

It is important to understand the significance of the Image Meta Title in helping your customers find your products. To make this happen, you should track and list each image and keep a record of all this information in the appropriate section of the Content Audit Template.

Step 6 - Word Count

Use a free word-counting tool like Quillbot’s Word Counter to determine the number of words in the content on your website pages.

Step 7 - Links

Use a free tool like https://sitechecker.pro/website-crawler/ to check all your links. It will also provide valuable information in terms of basic on-page SEO and page speed.

Step 8 - Prioritise Tasks

After collecting all the data in one place, it’s time to analyze it and determine your next step. Remember the website goal you wrote down? That goal will determine which content to prioritized.

In summary, conducting a content audit is crucial to improve your website’s performance and achieve your business goals. By following the outlined steps, such as backing up your site and focusing on key tasks, you can identify areas that need improvement and make changes to increase online sales. With some effort and attention, you can transform your website into a strong sales tool that delivers real results for your business both now and in the future.

Read more: Customer-Centricity and Content Audits: Driving Engagement

Read more: Content Audit Strategies for Busy Business Owners