A content inventory is one of the most important phases during content management system changes, upgrades or website redesigns. The inventory also doubles as a useful long-term content management tool. Without a clear understanding of why you are undertaking a content inventory, your expected results and who your target audience is, it is quite easy to find the exercise confusing.  Here are some of the considerations you need to make before embarking on the process.

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.

Designing and hosting an amazing website and writing superior quality content is one thing, but having them indexed by search engines is a whole different ball game. There are currently over a billion websites on the web that have to be indexed, and sometimes it takes a long time to be visited by the search engines’ bots. Furthermore, when a site has hundreds and even thousands of pages, it becomes even more important for web-masters to track a website’s content, but you can do that with a content inventory tool.

If you are about to start re-designing your website, it is highly recommended to take a full account of your website's different content types and pages. You can do that with a content inventory template by review each pages content manually and entering it into a spreadsheet or you can simplify the process by using a content inventory tool like DYNO Mapper. Content inventories were very tedious in the past and left room for human error. DYNO Mapper does all the work and includes sitemap, analytics integration, and comments for efficient collaboration during the web design process. 

In-depth knowledge of HTML and XML Sitemaps with other technical terms has for a long time been reserved for website developers and administrators. This is no longer because currently, it is imperative for every webmaster to master HTML and XML if you are to realize a website’s maximum potential. You can createa sitemap using a myriad of online tools like DYNO Mapper, an effective website sitemapgenerator even if you are not technologically endowed.