What are the different types of content audits and how can you perform them effectively?

1 Inventory audit

An inventory audit is a comprehensive overview of all the content assets on your website, such as pages, posts, images, videos, PDFs, etc. It helps you create a detailed spreadsheet or database that includes information such as URLs, titles, formats, categories, tags, meta data, word count, and more. You can use tools like Screaming Frog, ContentKing, or Sitebulb to crawl your website and extract this data automatically. An inventory audit can help you organize your content, find gaps and opportunities, and prepare for further analysis.

4 Quality audit

A quality audit is a qualitative review of how your content meets the expectations and needs of your target audience and brand. It helps you evaluate and improve your content's tone, voice, style, readability, accuracy, consistency, and value. You can use tools like Hemingway, Grammarly, or Yoast to check and enhance your content's writing and SEO quality. You can also use tools like Hotjar, SurveyMonkey, or UsabilityHub to collect and analyze feedback from your users. A quality audit can help you create and maintain content that is engaging, trustworthy, and useful.

5 Competitive audit

A competitive audit is a strategic analysis of how your content compares to that of your main competitors. It helps you identify and leverage your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the market. You can use tools like BuzzSumo, Ahrefs, or SpyFu to research and benchmark your competitors' content topics, keywords, formats, performance, and more. You can also use tools like SimilarWeb, Alexa, or Lighthouse to compare and improve your website's speed, usability, and accessibility. A competitive audit can help you gain insights and inspiration to create and optimize content that stands out and attracts your audience.

6 Content gap audit

A content gap audit is a creative exploration of how you can fill the missing or underperforming areas of your content. It helps you discover and prioritize new content ideas, formats, channels, and keywords that can address your audience's pain points, questions, and interests. You can use tools like AnswerThePublic, Google Trends, or Quora to find and analyze what your audience is searching for and talking about. You can also use tools like Content Harmony, MarketMuse, or Frase to generate and optimize content topics and outlines. A content gap audit can help you create and update content that is relevant, timely, and valuable.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?