As one of the three core pillars of SEO, auditing content and on-page factors is a critical part of completing any SEO Audit.<\/p>\n
Content makes up a large proportion of discovery and lead generation for websites, attracting users by providing informational content to answer questions and meet their needs. Similarly, on-page factors are core for effective optimisation and ranking highly for target keywords. This makes both of these a highly important part of any audit.<\/p>\n
As an experienced agency with SEO audit services<\/a> that have helped both large and small businesses, we\u2019ve developed robust processes for auditing these factors. To help you with your own analysis, we\u2019ll run through the steps we take to audit on-page factors and content.<\/p>\n The aim of any audit should be identifying weak and poor performing content or pages, and then providing recommendations on how to optimise and improve it.<\/p>\n Good quality content provides useful information that meet the needs of visiting users and is written by qualified subject experts. Meanwhile poor-quality content tends to be thin, lacking in unique information, and is often written by someone with little to no experience on the topic. When completing a content audit, these key factors that should be identified.<\/p>\n The same can mostly be said for on-page factors, with the added caveat that these should be tailored for the search queries you want the individual page to rank for. All of this is usually completed in the context of a wider SEO audit, where all aspects of site performance are being audited.<\/p>\n By auditing your content and on-page factors, you can easily discover:<\/p>\n By focusing on one of more of these outcomes from your content and on-page audits, you can improve the content offering on your site and improve how it performs its function as content (for instance, if it provides users\u2019 informational or transactional needs).<\/p>\n Let\u2019s explore how you can conduct this audit.<\/p>\n A content audit is a large-scale audit that analyses all the content currently on your site and produces wide-ranging recommendations for improving content quality and effectiveness.<\/p>\n Start by setting the boundaries your audit will operate within and the aims it will focus on completing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s sensible to set defined, limited boundaries for your audit. Creating an audit scope that\u2019s too wide-ranging can result in a process that takes too long and is too complex. You may spend too much time conducting it and end up with actions that are too far-reaching to sensibly complete.<\/p>\n Successful audits have a defined scope of the content that will be analysed and a set output objective. For example, you may run a content audit on all blog content on-site with the aim of identifying any content that currently receives less than 5 clicks per month for optimisation.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve specified the content that you want to audit, create a list of all the content assets that you want to include within your audit. This should be a full list of the URLs you want to analyse.<\/p>\n Before you start to assess the content pieces or add contextual or performance data, run through the content and categorise it. Categorise content pieces by:<\/p>\n Export and collect relevant data on the performance of the content you\u2019ve listed in your inventory. This data can relate to the traffic, engagement, conversion, backlinks and crawlability of the content. Some typical data sources include:<\/p>\n Map this data across all your content. If using a spreadsheet format, you can start to use custom formatting to visualise poor performing content.<\/p>\n This step requires manual analysis of the content, evaluating the quality of the content specific to the topic it\u2019s written about.<\/p>\n There are a few factors to consider when evaluating the overall \u201cquality\u201d of a piece of content. First, analyse the content\u2019s relevance to the target audience<\/strong>. Does it meet their level of expertise, and does it meet their informational needs? Next, assess the content\u2019s accuracy and timeliness<\/strong> \u2013 whether it is up to date. Consider its readability<\/strong> and style<\/strong>, as well as whether it is well-structured<\/strong> using headings. Finally, assess the originality<\/strong> of the content \u2013 does it stand out from the crowed?<\/p>\n You can also audit your on-page factors at this time. This should include:<\/p>\n Make notes on these and, if necessary, grade it with scores that reflect how it rates against these factors.<\/p>\n Collect the competing content from your top competitors, whether that\u2019s the content that directly ranks against your own audited content or from your business competitors.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no need to go into too much detail, but your analysis should include an evaluation of how they perform versus your content. Asses the following: does it have a higher ranking? Is the quality of the content higher than yours? Add all of this information into your audit sheet.<\/p>\n Compare your content to that of your competitors and look specifically for the topic they cover and that you don\u2019t<\/strong>. These are your content gaps.<\/p>\n Analyse the gaps and start to assess whether or not you need to fill them. Only fill them if your site and organisation have expertise in the topic at hand \u2013 creating content just for the sake of aligning with competitors can result in poor quality content that will not perform well.<\/p>\n Make a list of the content gaps you want to fill with new content.<\/p>\n Now is the time to collate everything together. In a single location organise your performance analysis <\/strong>based on the data you collected, the content quality <\/strong>you graded your pieces against, any competitor insights <\/strong>you found and finalise with your list of content gaps<\/strong>. This forms the analysis section of your content audit.<\/p>\n Use these insights to develop an action plan. This strategy could include the following actions:<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s the Aim of an On-Page or Content Audit?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why Conduct This Audit?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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How to Conduct a Content On-Page Audit in 7 Steps<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Define the Audit Scope and Objectives<\/strong><\/h2>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Create an Audit Inventory<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Collect and Map Data<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Assess Content Quality<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Analyse Competitor Content<\/strong><\/h2>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Identify Content Gaps<\/strong><\/h2>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Collect Insights and Develop an Action Plan<\/strong><\/h2>\n