Sign #1: You’ve noticed traffic and conversions dropping off.
Old content can drag down everything you’re trying to do with your website. The information can be inaccurate or outdated. It might reference people that no longer work with your law firm or medical practice. It might reference old statistics and studies that are no longer relevant or compelling. It might use outdated or problematic SEO strategies or target keywords that are no longer a good fit.
And, ultimately, it’s probably leaving both search engines and visitors to your website a little lost and confused.
If you’re doing everything else right, and you see a growing slump in traffic and conversions for your website, this should be a big sign to check up on your content. Take our client Steve Richardson, for example. You couldn’t meet an attorney that is more proactive about his website and marketing, and he’s always gotten a great return from that strategy.
However, a few years ago, he started noticing something wasn’t quite right. It seemed like fewer people were visiting his website, and even fewer still were actually converting into clients for his law firm. He was stumped until he reached out to our team, and we started working with him on a content audit and refreshed content strategy.
Get the whole story of content audit success here.
Within a few months, he was back on track and attracting and converting website visitors again. That’s just one example of how effective a content audit can be!
Sign #2: You’ve been considering a redesign or rebranding.
Have you been thinking about a rebranding or website redesign to freshen up what you’re doing and reenergize your marketing? Make a content audit a part of that process!
Your articles, blogs, FAQs, landing pages, and other content-heavy pages are the bulk of your website. You don’t want to just slap a pretty, new homepage on top of what you were doing before. You don’t want to waste time putting a sleek, modern look on old, outdated content!
It just leaves everything feeling a little “off” compared to your current design and brand messaging. So, if you’ve been feeling like it’s time for a facelift, it’s a pretty good sign that the substance of your website needs a refresh, too.
Sign #3: You’re starting a new content strategy.
You’re probably constantly making little changes to your content strategy based on what you want to promote or who you want to reach at any given time. But if you’re planning a bigger change of direction, a content audit can set you up to do it better.
By looking at all the content pages on your website, you’ll get a clear idea of where you are currently and what you’re working with at baseline. You can get a good look at what topics have already been covered, what needs to be covered better, and what needs to be built out for a new area of practice or service focus.
This keeps you from doubling up on work that’s already been done, and it gives you a chance to revise and adjust older supporting content for your fresh content focus. You’ll start your new content strategy with a lot of the work already out of the way, and you’ll make that new strategy much more powerful and successful in the process.
This is also really important if you’re adjusting your content strategy based on Google’s algorithm changes. Not only will you get the quality of your content up to emerging standards, you’ll also be able to optimize past content according to new best practices.
Bonus: The Other Sign That It’s Time for a Website Content Audit
Don’t wait until you start noticing problems to audit your website content! A content audit should be a routine part of maintaining the overall health of your website. So, if it’s been a few years since you’ve reviewed your content, it’s time to do it and make a long-term plan to keep it up.
If you’re regularly adding several pieces of content to your website every month, you’ll want to audit your content about once a year to every two years. This gives you a reliable check-in and “spring cleaning” that will keep you right on track. However, there’s no “one right time” to audit your content. You might even consider twice a year if your law firm or medical practice is in a period where you’re growing or changing rapidly!
Not sure what your website’s content is really doing for you? Ready to take control and get more organic traffic and conversions? The experts on our content team would be happy to give you a hand. Find out how you can get a done-for-you comprehensive website content audit, or give us a call at 888.886.0939 with your questions.
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