This tutorial will show you how to perform a content audit for a WordPress website redesign. It is divided into three sections. The purpose of this tutorial is to explain how to audit content on a website, rewrite the content, and then deliver the newly written content to a web design company.
Introduction
Search engines like Google have to figure out which, of over a trillion indexed pages, are the most suitable pages to present to the searcher. They accomplish this by looking at the text on the website pages, and the links to the website pages.
Unfortunately, most websites are designed before search engine optimization (SEO) is considered. You want your website to rank well in the search engines and need to evaluate what needs to be modified. Assuming that your site has a good design and is well constructed and is easy to use, the next thing to consider is the site’s optimization. This starts with a content audit.
How to Audit the Content of Your Existing Website
Let’s first assume that you have a WordPress website that you are unhappy with and you’re counting on getting more value from it when it is optimized for search engines like Google. What strategies work or don’t work? Do you know what questions you should be getting answers for?
Performing a content audit of your site is an essential part of your SEO strategy. It helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your tactics, identify and correct problems, and make wiser decisions going forward.
But keep involved because circumstances can change, and what worked well two years ago may not work as well currently or two years from now. Data is only as helpful as the people who can make the decisions needed to implement newer and better strategies and tactics.
What is a Content Audit?
A website content audit is a vigilant evaluation of the existing content. It reveals how well content is performing in terms of SEO and driving traffic. It will help you determine which content needs to be kept as-is, improved, or replaced. A/B testing will ensure that you don’t lose rankings for content that’s exceeded its usefulness, nor lose rankings for changing content that has proven valuable after months or years.
A typical content audit can include:
- Ensuring that page titles, URLs, and Meta descriptions are Google-friendly
- Exposing broken or expired links
- SEO checks on content, keywords, images, and tags
- Duplicate or thin content that can be consolidated/improved
- Most visited pages/popular content
What Is the Benefit of a Content Audit?
Have you seen a drop off in visits to your site? Are you getting the response you want from your posts? Are social media responses to your web pages growing or decreasing? What are people responding to?
A content audit assesses the quality of your content and how well it performs. A content audit provides you with invaluable information about articles that don’t have optimized Meta tags, lack focus keywords or have a too low (or too high) keyword density or too little variety of ways of educating or conveying your message.
Apart from the SEO benefits, a content audit gives you the opportunity to identify less-well written or outdated pages and posts and update them, as well as review what content, topics, tone, and candor resonates with your target audience. A good place to begin improving your Internet marketing results is to first audit your existing website content.
An audit will help you focus on those tactics that work for you, keep your website fresh, and increase your SEO and content marketing results.
How to Use a Content Audit as a Marketing Strategy
Two important aspects of any digital marketing strategy require content audits: SEO and content marketing.
Think in terms of SEO content and you will understand the full scope of your marketing strategy, from the ability of Google-bots to find and collect data from the URLs of your pages and keywords to the size of your content and people’s engagement with it.
You must understand that a thorough content audit is not something done in 10 minutes. It can be complex and time-consuming. It requires patience, dedication, and analytics knowledge and the time to gather data. You and your marketing team need to work consistently and be equipped with the correct tools.
If you’re not sure whether you have the right tools and knowledge to carry out your audit efficiently, you should work with a digital marketing consultant or agency. Fixing mistakes you make may be far more expensive than outsourcing your work to professionals. They have the tools and knowledge required to do content audits and help you refine your marketing strategies.
Website & Content Audit Tools
Today there are many tools to use to gain an understanding of what you need and how you can better compete online, such as:
- Google Search Console
- Ahrefs
- HubSpot’s Website Grader
- Monitor Backlinks
- Moz Link Explorer
- SEMrush
- WooRank
Some tools are free, some offer a free trial, and others require a payment to use. There are others, and you should play around with them so you can get a better understanding of what your website can be with just a few improvements (or a major change, depending on the site).
How to Perform a Content Audit
The first place to start is with keywords. For example, instead of a heading or tab that says “News”, place the keyword topic before the word “News”, as in “[Topic] News”. Make up a list of keywords and include them in Headings and in the front of the sentence or paragraph. Also, use multiples keywords, or different but similar keywords.
To get the strongest results, develop a detailed outline of the business and its goals:
- The problems, needs, and wants of the target /market
- The strengths of the business
- Why customers should choose your business over another
- List the benefits to emphasize other than price
- The results you want from the website (customer action desired)
- The type of communication tone to use
Produce detailed, specific answers that will develop compelling, relevant content. Determine what specific words to link from (also known as Anchor Text) and the pages you want to link to and from.
Step 1. Structure Your Information by Creating a Spreadsheet of Your Content Pages
The first step you need to take is to enter all of your website’s content in a Google Spreadsheet or a content audit template like Content Audit & KWM Template, Content Quality Audit Template, or Content Audit Template, and manually gather and enter each of your URLs.
Let’s say you want to start with the “About us” section. This section further branches out into numerous subcategories, such as “Our Story,” “Our Mission,” “Our Values,” and “Testimonials.”
Step 2. Collect your Data
There are a couple of ways to proceed:
- Collect your data manually
If you have a smaller site, this is probably the easiest way to collect your information. The most important part of this process is finding all your URLs and copying them to the spreadsheet.
- Let a Tool Collect URLs for You
On the other hand, if you have a big website, collecting data manually would consume lots of your time and probably result in making mistakes. To avoid that, you should rely on a web crawler.
For example, Screaming Frog is a great tool that will provide you with important insight into your page URLs, title length, Meta descriptions, headings, broken links, word count, and more, so use these to make the changes and improvements that will enhance the search engine optimization.
Most significantly, it lets you condense your data into a CSV file and download it which can save you much time and hassle as you analyze and improve each page of your website.
Another great tool you should use is Google Analytics. Choose the Site Content from its Behavior section and then select All Pages. Observe the Show Rows option and you should increase the number of your URLs to 100, for example, so the tool can create the report for all of your URLs. Then, go back to the top of the page, export the report to Microsoft Excel, and download it.
Step 3. Review and Customize Your Content Data
Once you have entered your URLs into a Spreadsheet you need to start analyzing their performance. First, you should determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) you want to focus on during your content audit. Prioritize your metrics to those that are the most valuable to you.
Here are a few ideas that may help you. Before we go much further here, know that WordPress websites can be easily enhanced with the addition of the Yoast SEO plugin. The simple plugin makes all the following easy and quick to optimize every page of your site.
Finally, to check how optimized your content is for search engines, here are some questions to ask:
- Are there any broken links on your website?
- Are your visuals (images, videos, graphics) displaying properly?
- Do your pages have optimized Meta tags?
- How many internal and external links are there?
- What is the length of your posts?
- What is the keyword density on your content pages?
Things to Consider During a Content Audit
Readability
Check whether your content is readable. Here is what you need to consider:
- Check your readability score with the Yoast plugin.
- Is your content pleasing to the readers’ eye?
- Have you left enough open space to enable your content easier to read?
- Are your headings and subheadings used correctly?
- How consistent is your content? Does it flow?
User-Friendliness
Check whether your content is user-friendly and easy to absorb and retain.
- Is your website structural design simple and logical?
- Are your site and content responsive (that is, does it conform to various types of handheld mobile devices, different browsers, and online channels)?
- How easy is it for people to find the desired content on your site?
Engagement
The goal is to see whether your content resonates well with your target audience and inspires them to take the desired action, such as call, place an order, or ask for more information.
- Can any outdated or poorly-written posts be updated?
- Is your content still relevant?
- How engaging is your content? Is your content getting many likes, shares, and comments?
How to Rewrite Your Content for a New Website
A website is separated into pages, so the content should be divided the same way. This makes it much easier to scan through when searching for a specific page. If done well you should have to only rewrite the text once, but be aware that things people missed the first time they might notice the second time.
Create a New Content Outline for Each Webpage
A content outline is a visual mapping technique to help you plan and organizes your content in line with a website’s goals and users. It will become your point of direction when you begin writing, keeping you focused on the type of content you need to create. It can also be a great way to show your web designer how you see the content fitting together so that you’re all on the same page.
Oftentimes professional writers will begin the outlining process with headings on 3″ x 5″ note cards so that as the ideas come to them they can arrange and rearrange the order in which they want to structure the flow of the content. It’s actually a pretty fast way to assemble this part of the process.
Create a Draft
Begin writing with these ideas in mind:
What existing content will you keep? Refer back to your audit. Popular, relevant content should be improved, not removed.
What do you want this page to achieve? Think about how you will drive sign-ups, shares or sales.
What information is missing? What will the readers want to know in order to act?
What’s the tone of language? Does it compel readers to take action? Is it humorous, authoritative, or intelligent? What sort of words will appeal to the target audience? Should the language be basic for younger users or more sophisticated for educated users? Try not to get too cute or the results may backfire!
Have you established the page (Meta) description? Remember, the content must deliver what you’re promising users when they click through the page.
What keywords are currently ranking? Check back to your audit, or use SEMrush and Google Trends to research keywords. Are there other keywords and phrases the page should be ranking for?
Keep referring back to your brief and content map and work through each page keeping the above details in mind.
Ask for Feedback
Now you have your first draft; send it to other stakeholders. Explain in your email that the first draft isn’t necessarily perfect. It’s the first draft to get their feedback and give them a chance to highlight any concerns. It will save time in the long run. Make sure they are comfortable with it and don’t be upset if it needs rewriting. Another option is to have the copy edited by an experienced copywriter, preferably one with SEO experience. It can save you a lot of time and will ensure you get everything done correctly the first time.
Continue to send each version to the stakeholders and work their feedback into the next version. With each edit, your content will become stronger and better. By the time you reach this stage, spelling and grammar should be completed.
Polish the Content
Once you have the bare bones knuckled down, go over what you’ve written page-by-page asking:
Are the titles and subtitles (and Meta descriptions) engaging enough? Do they meet Google’s character requirements?
Do the messages create interest and value for users?
Is this sentence necessary or strong enough?
Does the tone reflect the company brand?
Do the sentences and meanings flow smoothly? (The content should progress as a story. Sentences should vary in length.) The idea being that the heading should make the reader want to read the next sentence or subheading, and then continue reading the next sentence.
Are the call-to-actions powerful enough? Do they evoke the intended emotion?
Does the content give my client an edge over their competition? (Are their strengths and differences clearly emphasized?) Suppose your company made the most expensive widgets in the industry and everyone knew it. If everyone had the exact same price why would customers want to buy yours? Those reasons are why your widgets are more valuable to the customers and they are the benefits that differentiate your products.
Can SEO be improved without impacting the strength of the content?
Some writers like to use a tool like the Hemingway App or Grammarly to help strengthen their writing. The Hemingway App highlights long, complex sentences, poor word choice, passive voice and adverbs that can be replaced with verbs. Grammarly checks in real-time for spelling and grammar errors, and also makes suggestions for replacements.
But the easiest way to tell if your words are making sense is to read the sentences aloud. If it seems labored, or if you have to take a breath before completing, or if you are stumbling, then it is a sure sign that the copy needs to be rewritten for clarity and simplicity.
How to Deliver the New Content
Inevitably, there comes a time in the process where you need to send your content to your web designer. The usual format content is delivered is by using Google Docs or Microsoft Word.
In your documents use a dark color for everything (either black or dark blue) and a brighter color for your notes (e.g. light blue). Keep it simple and uniform. Don’t try to be a designer at this stage. All a web designer wants is text. In fact, they may want to receive your content in a .txt file accompanied by your Word document (to show what text is a headline 1 or headline 2, etc.).
If you’re trying to describe a complex element like a slider or a pop-up box, just write “POP-UP: This is the text on the pop-up.” Don’t try to design one with Word’s less-than-impressive drawing tools. You’ve got more important things to do than waste your time with the design now.
Shapes, diagrams and other objects create visual noise which makes your document difficult to scan. If you’re struggling to describe an element, link to an example of it. Again, keep things simple in the document. Only include your site content and relevant notes, nothing else.
Ensure the styling of all element types is the same. All headings, body text, and lists should look the same. Consistency is key, especially in large documents.
Finalize the New Content by Signing Off
Make sure the new content is final.
Designers are forever disturbed with clients who make continuous changes to copy that should have been finalized before they ever provided it to the web designer after the first copy. Often times designs are generated with “Latin” (lorem ipsum) filler copy that is just a prop to get the design underway with the purpose of expecting to be replaced later with a finalized copy.
Nothing slows down the process like making multiple, after-the-fact content changes when a site is already built. Making changes to a Word document is easy. Making type changes to a website takes much more time.
Small alterations here and there are fine but they do add up and creating new pages or moving entire sections around takes much more time. Finalize your content first and you’ll avoid headaches later in the process.
When clients come back multiple times to designers with changes later they are essentially saying,”…we didn’t do our job thoroughly so now we have to make alterations.” When this happens, they are in effect paying extra for the design services unless they want to replace the copy themselves.
The sign-off also assures all stakeholders that the work has been approved and nobody wants to make (or be charged for) alterations, or, something is incorrect and needs consideration before it meets the satisfaction of all involved.
Create a Document for Each Webpage
Similar to the outline necessity mentioned above, keep things simple and organized by using one document for each webpage of your site. Developers want clarity so it’s important to remain consistent as contributors pass content back and forth for editing.
Keep Images Separate
Don’t copy and paste images into your document. This creates extra work for you and Word will compress images so they won’t come through at full size. It’s a hassle anyway. Send images via email or another cloud-based tool like Dropbox or Google Drive. Just indicate on the Word document what image is intended to go where.
Label images or graphics per specific webpage and establish a code, such as, place at page 2 paragraph 4 after (subheading x), to keep things organized and eliminate questions. Consistency is key!
Use Google Docs
A simple and easy way to share your documents with others is to use the Google Docs app to store your documents so that others can open them to put their additions or comments to the pages.
Use Microsoft Word via OneDrive or Dropbox
For pages with lots of data necessary such as e-commerce site with lots of images, it may be worth the money to use Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive to share folders with others. It can simplify the work of changing and switching images or graphics, for example, as well as adding or altering the copy used in MS Word files that may also correspond with images and graphics.
Investigate which one to use and budget for before getting too far into the rewrite if you have a lot of pages.
Create a Wireframe
The key is to keep things simple. Try available online wireframing tools, for example, HotGloo, a wireframing and prototyping tool, OmniGraffle, a diagramming and mapping tool for Mac, and Balsamiq, another wireframing and prototyping tool. These are just three of the more popular tools, and will usually contain fields for some or all of these elements:
- Company logo
- Navigation: upper navigation bar, sub-navigation, sidebars, and breadcrumbs
- Search field
- Page title
- Headings and subheadings
- Body copy
- Call to action (CTA)
- Buttons
- Footer navigation and copyright information
Once your wireframe is finished, it can be given to the web designer and/or graphic designer to create the comp (comprehensive layout), which is a visual representation of how the website will look.
Web development can begin after the comp is approved and all parties are satisfied with the new web design. It’s a much faster and simpler way of getting things done and infinitely more valuable in the long run.
Summary
There are various methods to use to do a content audit and there are as many templates and aids online available to help you. Golden Oak Web Design has offered you here some invaluable information and suggestions based on many years of service to hundreds of clients in as many different sizes and business sectors.
Tailor your action plan to your needs and goals, using the tools and the information to strengthen your content.
Simplify your action plan by adding a “To-Do” column on your spreadsheet, where you would highlight how each of these pages should be improved in the future. Date the refinements because you will want to revisit these in the future after you perform another site audit to continue improving your website.
Once you start auditing your WordPress site regularly (quarterly, for example), you will be able to make informed decisions and take your SEO strategy to a whole new level. Most importantly, the process of auditing content will become simpler once you establish a system that works and you set the precise goals.
See how your pages are performing and make adjustments to ensure you are getting the best results possible. There is always room for improvement.
Take a look at the articles How to Create an About Us Page for Your Business Website, How to Create a Contact Us Page for Your Business Website, How to Create a Services Page for Your Business Website, and Why Your Business Website Needs a Privacy Policy for more tips about creating content for your website.
For help designing your website call 602-633-4758 or contact Golden Oak Web Design.
Very useful blog, thanks for sharing it. We have to make improvements at every point in our site to better the performance.
Let me know if I can help you.
Hi James, you provided a very essential guide here for every content marketer in the industry. All the points are worth-noted and must be implemented in order to gain the required traction your content needs. A tool to keep a record of your entire data is very very essential.