Do You Need a Content Audit?
When you think of all the content you’ve published under your brand, you likely acknowledge that some of it probably hasn’t aged well. New advances in your industry and in technology in general, shifts in customer perception and other changes can make keeping up with your content strategy a challenge.
In this post, we’ll share one of our best strategies for deciding whether to update or prune underperforming or outdated content — the Content Audit.
What is a Content Audit?
A content audit is simply a deep-dive into your current content, including content published in past years, in terms of its performance, ranking and other factors that influence how it’s received by your target audience.
With the pace of modern technology, it’s a good idea to do a content audit every quarter so that you can gauge whether or not a piece can be left as is, updated or repurposed in some other fashion. This will not only show your target audience that you’re keen on making sure they get the latest updates from your industry, but also helps position you as a thought leader and an authority in your field.
Companies who consistently update their content also tend to get more attention from the search engines and users get the most up-to-date information available — in short, everyone wins.
The good news is that you can use this simple guide when doing your content deep-dive to determine what your next steps should be with each piece.
The Content Can Stay As-Is
Content that ranks well, is timely, authoritative and helpful can often stay as it is with minimal, if any updating. These are often your “pillar pieces” that serve as the cornerstones of your content strategy. You can leave these alone and be confident that they’ll continue to perform.
The Content Needs to Be Updated or Refreshed
In some cases, the information that’s being presented has changed and the content needs to be updated or refreshed. If the information has changed drastically and a simple refresh won’t cut it, it may be best to scrap it and start over from scratch. Pay attention to how much time you’re spending on an update and what has changed so that you can consistently keep your content ranking as high as possible.
The Content Should Be Repurposed
Sometimes your content isn’t performing as well as you’d liked, due to being outdated, no longer as relevant or other factors. But the core message or teaching is still valuable. If that’s the case, look to see if you can repurpose the content in some other way. Could you turn it into an infographic? A video? A checklist? The possibilities are endless!
The Content Can Be Retired
Last but not least, if none of these questions apply, it may be time to retire the content. Industry changes happen faster than ever, and fresh new ideas are always bubbling to the surface. Now’s the time to shelve the old content so you can be poised to pounce on the new changes and advances that are happening in your field.
And if you’re ready to take the next step and zero in on the best content marketing strategy for your niche or industry, now’s the time to reach out to the experts at Workdom. Our experienced and knowledgeable content creators, researchers and advertising specialists can help you formulate a winning content strategy that positions your business front-of-mind when it comes to reaching your prospects at all stages of the sales funnel. Get in touch today!
