When was the last time you audited the content that resides on your company or organization’s website?
If you’re like most New Bern businesses, chances are your answer is “rarely.”
It can take a long while to properly audit and fix the problems with the content on your website—especially if you haven’t updated it in ages.
There’s a good chance you have outdated information, aging blog posts that once drew in a flood of traffic that’s now only a trickle, and product pages that are not optimized for conversions.
We want to share with you why a content audit is so important and how it can help improve not only the user experience of your site, but your sales as well.
What is a Content Audit?
A content audit takes a good look at the content that resides on both your website and blog to see if it’s meeting your organization’s goals.
For example, maybe you have several product pages, and you’re not noticing many sales coming from them. An audit can identify the problem and provide a solution on how to fix it.
In this scenario, you would look at the content to see if it’s still relevant and try to determine what you can add to improve the overall user experience.
Once you’ve completed the audit, it will tell you which pages need updating, which pages you should leave “as is,” and which pages you should delete because they’re not adding any value to the reader.
What is Content Decay?
Content decay refers to web pages and blog posts that used to drive a lot of traffic but not so much lately. This is completely natural and happens to all websites, regardless of their size.
Blog posts and informational pages that haven’t been updated in over 12 months are ideal candidates for sprucing up or a total rewrite. Google loves fresh content, and by taking an older blog post that used to drive traffic and adding newer information, you could see improved organic rankings in the search results.
Content decay can also happen on other pages on your website—even your contact or company pages. Contact information, Upper Management changes, and even your hours of operation should all be updated accordingly. This will help provide a better user experience and give people the information that they seek.
Other Things an Audit Can Improve
There are several other things that a content audit can improve, such as plugging content gaps, improving conversions, and increasing your organic search engine rankings:
Plugging Content Gaps—Content gaps are information that your website visitors are looking for but cannot locate. A content audit can help fill in that gap, which provides for a better user experience and chances of increased conversions.
To identify content gaps, look at your site analytics to see what keywords people are using to find you on the internet. Does the content on your website match up well with those keywords? If not, you should add more content and watch how your bounce rate will improve.
You can also perform competitor research by looking at what your top competitors have for content and then adjust accordingly. For example, perhaps a competing website has a few articles of information about the same blue widget that you sell. You should write a few pages that provide the same info—this will enable your website visitors to find the information they need to make an informed buying decision.
Improve Organic SEO—Google loves fresh content and will reward websites with improved organic rankings and increased traffic. An audit will identify which pages could benefit the most from reworking them or adding more content. It will also determine which pages have “thin” content—and offer a poor user experience. You should consider deleting those pages as they can cause more harm than good.
Improved Conversions—By auditing the content on your site, you will find opportunities to add persuasive language or other information that could increase conversions. This will help the buyer feel like they’re making the right choice in buying from you instead of the competition.
Marketing and Content Help in New Bern
A content audit isn’t something you can do in a few minutes. You need to identify your goals and then carefully go over the existing content to determine if you’re meeting them. Then, you’ll need to fix the problems by adding new content.
If you need help auditing or writing content for your website, give us a call. To learn more about how AlphaGraphics of New Bern can produce and design your next project, you may
email us,
request a quote, or call us at
(252) 633-3199.