You know you need a content audit when you realize that your organic search traffic has been going flat in the recent past or the ranking of your keywords in vital search terms has been falling.  A content audit is an assessment that examines the web content assets of your company for SEO value, relevance, messaging and quality.  Taking a comprehensive approach towards examining the nature of your website’s content goes a long way in enhancing your website for significantly better results. An audit can be time-consuming and boring especially because you are not spending your time on content creation and promotion. However, when done appropriately, it can be very effective in revolutionizing your online presence.

Why are Content Audits Important?

A website content audit becomes a critical practice when you migrate a site to a new CMS (Content Management System) or when rebranding.  An audit makes it possible for you to ensure that all the pages in your website are relevant, up-to-date and helpful.  In addition to this, if you are working towards improving the ranking of keywords or commanding better website authority, then you can rely on this analysis to identify the problematic pages in your site.

There are also other reasons why a content audit could be much more helpful than you have ever imagined:

Remove Duplicate Content

The worst thing that you can ever do to your site is publish duplicate content within your meta data. Such content seems to imply to search engines that your site is unorganized and hard to search. By removing duplicate meta data and content such as blog posts that were unintentionally published twice, you enhance credibility in search engines like Google.

Replace Broken Links

Broken links send an indication that your site has been abandoned and as such, the links appear to be spammed in the eyes of search engines.  If for instance you cite an article on a page that has been deleted or moved, your website could potentially be experiencing negative SEO.  A website content audit will help you identify any broken links in your site and consequently replace them.

Help in Updating Content

The industries and areas of interest you write about might be undergoing changes at a very fast pace. This means that your old content could become irrelevant and misguiding in light of the existing state of the industries you write about. A website content audit will help you identify the changes and developments that have taken place in your industry of choice and consequently help you in updating your content for relevance purposes.

Identify Content Pieces that can be Beneficial if Promoted

Many content marketers find it challenging to harness the power of their content assets after they are published.  However, a website content audit can help you identify the potentially powerful articles that can be exceptionally beneficial if promoted consistently or updated for relevance. This way, you are able to utilize your old content assets.

Quality is King

Google algorithm has undergone numerous changes in recent years with much emphasis being stressed on the need for high quality content.  Content audits will help you improve the quality of your articles and other content pieces for a higher ranking in search engines.

Get a New Direction

A website content audit is one of the most practical approaches to use in focusing on an analytics directed strategy even if your site does not rely on blog marketing metrics.  This audit will make it possible for you to identify patterns in your most efficient content.