How-to

– 13 min read –

August 15, 2019

How to carry out the content analysis and content audit on the website

If the traffic on your website decreases and the percent of leads conversion falls as well, then it is worth carrying out the content analysis and learning the reason for such negative tendency. We will take a look at one of the helpful tools. Our article is devoted to a website content audit.

What is content audit – the main advantages of the procedure?

Content audit is the website contents parameters check that is aimed to assess the content marketing efficiency. The result of the carried-out content analysis is the description of a current content condition with its weak spots and strong sides. The content audit also includes the recommendations concerning the errors correction. Depending on web resource specifics, the assessment could be carried out for the efficient solution of the following tasks:

The reasons for search engines sanctions determination.

Search of pages which contents should be corrected.

Determination of pages which should be integrated or deleted.

Content arrangement strategy planning.

Forming of the actual and ideal keyword map for website promotion.

Search of opportunities to build the traffic and to develop it.

Content marketing efficiency assessment.

Content audit before the web resource sale.

The website content analysis will help to achieve specific efficiency metrics improvement that will aid online project development paired with business profitability growing.

Work stages

If the online resource is small-space, its check will be not complicated at all. So, the blog that includes dozens of articles needs the analysis by means of Google Analytics. It will be necessary just to get acquainted with the guide concerning the aspects of audit carrying out. There is an efficient plan for larger websites (these ones usually contains more than 500 pages). Follow the presented algorithm to cope with audit task:

All links conducted on the pages with contents should be written out into the separate table.

Analyze the efficiency level of these pages.

Carry out content research. Use audit with by-hand concept.

Assess the situation on key queries.

Determine which content the website needs.

Describe the current situation and make up the list of recommendations to correct all weak spots.

This method of the content analysis could contain additional plan items, depending on the resource specifics. It is recommended to use special tables, write out assessment results, and make up the recommendation list for more efficient and comfortable work.

Step-by-step guide to carry out the content audit

The content analysis is a long process which can be divided into several stages. We will take a look at the main steps and suitable tools for each audit stage.

Preparation of the assessment scenario

Each website has its own specifics, so it is reasonable that each online resource needs individual approach. However, the basic algorithm of actions has to be defined. Two factors should be taken into account while choosing the best scenario:

resource size;
the risk of search engines sanctions.

If there are no obvious problems with content, the website does not get under search systems sanctions of searchers and on top of it the resource is small-space (for example, less than 100 pages), then the manual audit can be used. The semantic kernel formation also plays an important role on this stage because its research will be done on the basis of the current situation. The strategy for sizable websites (the projects that contain more than 1 thousand pages) remains the same but the priority sections audit takes place first.

The semantic kernel is the table that includes all key queries the content promotion based. The list of key queries also contains the key phrases that do not take part in the SEO campaign but could be efficient for traffic building.

If there is a risk of search engines sanctions, the additional stage should be added in terms of paging-out process of irrelevant ones. The same solution is optimal for websites under the search systems sanctions. Small resources which faced with sanctions because of low-grade content quality should be checked in by-hand manner.

Scanning of the website

This step is necessary to gain the list of active URL which will lead the consumers up to your resource web pages. Carry out scanning by means of online tools, for example, by XML-sitemaps. The websites with the number of pages less than 500 pages will be checked for free. Set up the XML-sitemaps website. Insert the address of the website of interest into input line on the homepage of service and press the "Start" button to begin the check procedure.

Download the check-up results in the form of the separate table at the end of scanning.

Analysis of the content on the page

The URL Profiler program for the content analysis will be helpful on this stage. Install the program on the computer. The 14-days free-of-charge trial is available. Open the program and import the timely downloaded file in the URL input line. Open a context menu with the right mouse button and select the corresponding option for this purpose.

Select the needful options for the analysis of the content efficiency. They depend on tasks of audit and the used web analytics tools. However, it is possible to use the recommended settings.

By means of these metrics you gain all information necessary for the website content analysis:

Moz is the predictive value to show the platform efficiency on a scale of 1 to 10.

HTTP Status shows the page status code. It is possible to determine if it is active and working without errors or not.

Social Shares demonstrates the quantity of the "Share" marks.

The Readability parameter is understood as the content readability.

uClassify showings show the fact that the website is analyzed concerning its type.

Copyscape option is responsible for plagiarism finding and sanctions risk determination on account of content weak spot in terms of its non unique feature.

To provide the program with ways of information gathering, specify the following services:

Google Analytics. Connection will be made directly to API of this service.

Google Indexation load mass metrics of links.

Desktop PageSpeed is responsible for the pages download speed of the website (for the standard desktop version). Data is taken from Google PageSpeed.

Then click "Run Profiler" button and continue operation in the service.

Checking the performance of URL profiler website pages

All results will be presented in the form of the table.

Tabulate the quantitative data in the special table for content audit results. Carry out the pages efficiency analysis on the basis of gained results. For example, run analysis according to the number of reposts or on the basis of other metrics.

Keywords research

If the keyword map is covered your content audit scenario, it is recommended to use Google tools. Open Search Console menu devoted to search traffic and queries.

Analysis of the Google Search Console searches

Go to the "Pages" tab and set the maximum date range for the analysis.

Find the "Show … rows" button in the bottom of the window and select the maximum rate — 500.

How to analyze search queries in the Google Search Console

Open the Javascript console with the help of Ctrl+Shift+J combination. Insert the following code into the input line:

(function(){eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,r){e=function(c){return(c<a?'':e(parseInt(c/a)))+((c=c%a)>35?String.fromCharCode(c+29):c.toString(36))};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--)r[e(c)]=k[c]||e(c);k=[function(e){return r[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--)if(k[c])p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c]);return p}('C=M;k=0;v=e.q(\'1g-1a-18 o-y\');z=16(m(){H(v[k]);k++;f(k>=v.c){15(z);A()}},C);m H(a){a.h(\'D\',\'#\');a.h(\'11\',\'\');a.F()}m A(){d=e.10(\'Z\').4[1].4;2=X B();u=B.W.R.Q(d);7=e.q(\'o-G-O\');p(i=0;i<7.c;i++){d=u.J(7[i]);2.K([d,7[i].4[0].4[0].j])}7=e.q(\'o-G-14\');p(i=0;i<7.c;i++){d=u.J(7[i]);2.K([d,7[i].4[0].4[0].j])}2.N(m(a,b){P a[0]-b[0]});p(i=2.c-1;i>0;i--){r=2[i][0]-2[i-1][0];f(r===1){2[i-1][1]=2[i][1];2[i][0]++}}5="S\\T\\U\\V\\n";9=e.q("o-y-Y");6=0;I:p(i=0;i<9.c;i++){f(2[6][0]===i){E=2[6][1];12{6++;f(6>=2.c){13 I}r=2[6][0]-2[6-1][0]}L(r===1);2[6][0]-=(6)}5+=E+"\\t";l=9[i].4[0].4.c;f(l>0)5+=9[i].4[0].4[0].j+"\\t";17 5+=9[i].4[0].w+"\\t";5+=9[i].4[1].4[0].w+"\\t";5+=9[i].4[3].4[0].w+"\\n";5=5.19(/"|\'/g,\'\')}x="1b:j/1c;1d=1e-8,"+1f(5);s=e.1h("a");s.h("D",x);s.h("1i","1j.1k");s.F()}',62,83,'||indices||children|thisCSV|count|pageTds||queries|||length|temp|document|if||setAttribute||text|||function||url|for|getElementsByClassName|test|link||tableEntries|pages|innerHTML|encodedUri|detail|currInterval|downloadReport|Array|timeout1|href|thisPage|click|expand|expandPageListing|buildCSV|indexOf|push|while|25|sort|open|return|call|slice|page|tkeyword|timpressions|tclicks|prototype|new|row|grid|getElementById|target|do|break|closed|clearInterval|setInterval|else|block|replace|inline|data|csv|charset|utf|encodeURI|goog|createElement|download|GWT_data|tsv'.split('|'),0,{}))})();

Click Enter. This code provides all queries available for each link. Save the ready CSV-type table and import data to the file with audit results.

Analysis of site pages in the Google Search Console

The data consolidation according to the keyword aspect

The Google scheduler will provide you key queries with the total number of requests and information on the competition level. Consolidate gained data with the webmasters' tools results: CTR, page view showings, average position, and other aspects to take into account. To save time and make the process more comfortable make up the table with the following columns:

key query;
position;
query volume;
CPC (cost per click).

Use the gained information for the semantic kernel formation.

Missing content determination process

This step can be missed. However, during the key queries analysis you are able to see those keywords which any website page is not ranged through. Besides SEO texts, it will be necessary to create separate landing pages. The website structure extension on the basis of the semantic analysis will be helpful for these purposes. It will become clear what material needs to be added.

For example, checking query "what is landing" you can find out that there is a big number of similar phrases. For instance, "the one-page website" and "contextual advertising". The monthly number of impressions is rather big, but your content does not contain these queries. It means that if you create the SEO optimized texts according to these keywords, your traffic will increase. It happens because the resource will get higher up in search results this way.

Additional features analysis

It is necessary to return to the URL Profiler showings to carry out the last stage of the SEO content analysis. Pay attention to pages with high risk, Copyscape. It means that there are sources with similar information floating around the Internet. That is why the search imposes sanctions against your website.

Edit texts on such pages to get the content uniqueness. You can also delete this content and create new texts for pages according to all needful parameters. The pages with the smallest traffic showings deserve the focused attention too.

Such content can be deleted if you have a big website with numerous pages and texts to edit. If such pages are found on a resource with a small amount of sections, then it is reasonable to carry out the SEO rates analysis separately. It will be possible to determine the reason of low-grade traffic and change the situation within the weak spots correction.

Conclusion

Online website audit allows to find problems and weak spots of the resource. The webmaster or the website owner are able to find the reasons of downturn in sales with the help of content analysis. So the comprehensive audit has obligingly to include the website content analysis.

Let's take a look at the brief form of the content audit algorithm with the main stages to complete:

Choose strategy for website check procedure on account of the resource size and search engine sanctions availability.

Make up the list of all active links by means of XML-sitemaps.

Carry out the website pages work analysis by means of URL Profiler.

Assess the situation on key queries by means of Google tools for webmasters.

Get rid of not unique content and determine the low-visited pages with the help of URL Profiler data presented.

Describe the current situation and make up the list of recommendations to correct mistakes, dismiss the weak spots on the website.

You will be able to create detailed report concerning the website efficiency on the basis of the content audit results. The strategy should be chosen according to the website size and its specificity. The described above content audit plan is aimed at the semantic kernel forming paired with irrelevant content search.

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