Content is alive. Attractive photos, witty texts, stirring videos – it’s hard to imagine how a well-performing website can do without them. The common thing is that such content is usually complex to produce, distribute and evaluate. Even once content has been created, after a while, it mainly just gathers dust in various departmental data silos. The result: outdated or incorrect range, as well as unused potential that, in the worst case, nobody knows about anymore.
In our magazine article, you will learn how to become the boss of your content again with the help of regular content analysis and which practical methods you can use for this yourself.
Table of Contents
What Is Content Analysis?
A content analysis takes stock of existing content. The entire content (text, images, videos, etc.) available to a company is considered. That objective content analysis must be carried out. Depending on the project, it can make sense, for example, to subject only a sub-area of content (e.g. only the functional content of a website such as button texts, hover texts, etc.) to a revision. The operational and strategic objectives should always be known before a content analysis. Monitoring and action planning can sometimes be part of the content analysis. This also shows that the scope of content analysis can vary greatly.
Why Is Content Helpful In Analysis?
There are many reasons for content analysis. Whether it’s a website, online shop or corporate blog – a content analysis provides a comprehensive insight into existing content. It helps to recognize your potential and to optimize existing marketing strategies.
The following reasons can speak in favour of content analysis:
- Re(launch) of a website, an online shop or an internal system
- The desire for a repositioning of the content
- Need for update and process determination
- SEO optimization and conversion rate increase
- Strengthen your online reputation
Is That Content, or Can It Go Away?
A (regular) content analysis, therefore, helps to ensure the quality of your content over the long term and to determine a targeted content requirement over a long time. This avoids so-called “thin content” (i.e., shallow content) and permanently pleases search engines.
What Methods Are There?
Content analysis can vary significantly in scope. Depending on the company’s objectives, there are different methods and formats with which a content analysis can be implemented in a target-oriented manner.
A so-called content audit is often the method of choice here. Content strategists and SEO specialists work hand in hand here and create an overview of the existing content in an inventory.
The following aspects should not be ignored:
- content type
- Persona relevance
- links
- Prioritization & Tonality
- content format
- Text elements (word count, character count, keywords)
- Optimization potential
- Timeliness
- legibility
- content quality
- location
All content is on the table, checked and evaluated in a content audit. Existing duplicate content comes to light here, as does content that needs to be updated or more relevant. At the same time, the potential for content recycling and curation opens up, making long-term content planning much more accessible. The aim is to generate a reliable, cross-departmental overview of the content and check the performance. The focus here is also on questions about target group orientation, search engine optimization, topicality and the quality of the existing content. It makes sense to cluster your content accordingly, for example, through well-founded content mapping.
Even if little or no content is available, for example, at the beginning of creating a new website or online shop, it makes sense to conduct a content analysis. This usually contains the character of a recommendation, which is made based on the concept and in close cooperation with the design ideas. If, for example, the website is planned with a clear visual focus, although the budget required for image material is not available, a problem arises at the latest when the content is entered. It makes sense to work out the need as precisely as possible in advance, for example, in the context of a content workshop, and to record it accordingly.
Avoid Mistakes And Recognize Opportunities.
Optimizing your own content production and content offering is a permanent task. However, the priorities that are set can vary greatly. For example, the focus can be on a stakeholder analysis, which is essential to how the target group reacts to the content offered. Depending on the scope, a brand analysis, which deals with whether the topics the company is promoting fit its brand, or a company analysis, which investigates whether in-house expectations are being met, can also be included as a focus.
The Content Is Good, And Everything Is Good.
Strong content is playing an increasingly important role in terms of external appearance. It is, therefore, a clear advantage if this is known, up-to-date and consistent. A content analysis offers a valuable starting point for this, as it makes the content visible and usable in the long term. In addition to significant time savings in content production, for example, through content recycling or content curation, it leads to more stringent processes in terms of time, also concerning your workflows. Content analysis can be pretty time-consuming, depending on the company. However, this should not put you off, as the long-term benefits outweigh the initial additional effort.
Also Read: Developing A Content Strategy: Helpful Tips To Get You Started
