Content is a vital aspect of a digital marketing strategy. A brand’s online presence, image and customer engagement are directly linked to the quality and relevance of the content the business publishes. It has the power to convert potential leads into loyal customers.
However, Brandon George, Director of Content at Thrive Internet Marketing Agency, said the digital space is constantly shifting.
“How someone searches for something on Google evolves as changes happen,” said George.
“For example, Google Business Profile used to be called Google My Business, Twitter became X, Software is updated daily and AI is constantly evolving. Things change, so the way [users] search also changes.”
Due to this, any content published will inevitably become outdated, irrelevant or fail to cater to the needs of the consumer market. This is where a content gap analysis comes into play: identifying potential issues in your content and ways to keep your strategy relevant at all times.
Below, we discuss the significance of content gap analysis, how it can contribute to the success of your online marketing strategy and the steps you need to follow to conduct an effective study.
We answer the following questions:
• What Is Content Gap Analysis?
• What Are the Types of Content Gaps?
• How To Conduct a Content Gap Analysis
• How To Measure the Content Optimization Efforts
Keep reading to elevate your online marketing strategy.
What Is Content Gap Analysis?
Content gap analysis is a strategic process for identifying shortcomings in a website, platform or marketing campaign’s existing content. “[This] provides opportunities to update your keywords, optimize the content for how it’s being discovered or sometimes, simply remove old content that is no longer relevant,” George said.
An analysis helps organizations better understand the needs of their target audience and create more effective, informative and engaging content that effectively addresses those needs while outperforming competitors.
What Are the Types of Content Gaps?
When crafting a content strategy, it’s essential to identify any gaps affecting your online marketing success. This way, you can take a data-driven approach to your content creation and improve your keyword research.
The following are the types of content gaps that you may come across during your audit:
• Recency: Recency refers to the freshness of your content compared to your competitors. In many industries, staying up-to-date with the latest trends and information is crucial.
• Readability: Readability covers elements like sentence length, jargon and language complexity. If your content is difficult to understand or navigate, visitors may leave your website for a more accessible alternative.
• Format: Content format refers to how information is presented, whether in text, images, videos, podcasts or infographics. Different audience segments and industries may prefer varying formats, and a diverse content strategy will cater to these differing preferences.
• Expertise: Expertise is all about credibility. It refers to the depth of knowledge and understanding demonstrated in the content. Analyzing your content for expertise allows you to identify areas where you can further establish your business as a thought leader.
• Experience: Google has updated its E-A-T ( Expertise, Authority, Trust) guidelines to include Experience, which refers to the creator’s first-hand experience in the subject matter of the published content. Incorporating your personal experiences in content creation enhances the information’s relevance for users.
How To Conduct a Content Gap Analysis
Conducting a thorough content gap analysis boosts your online marketing strategy. It allows you to better target your audience’s needs and preferences, improve search engine optimization (SEO) and increase conversion rate optimization.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to doing an effective content gap analysis:
Step 1: Define Your Content Goals and Objectives
Before conducting a content gap analysis, it is vital to establish your content goals and objectives. These objectives may include increasing organic traffic, generating more leads, improving conversion rate optimization or enhancing engagement. Having clear goals will enable you to align your content strategy with your overall digital marketing efforts and provide a framework for your analysis.
Step 2: Analyze Your Existing Content
Conduct a content audit to assess the performance of everything you have published. Follow these steps:
1. Compile an Inventory of Your existing Content
Create a spreadsheet listing all content pieces with essential details such as URL, title, date of publication, author and target keywords.
2. Gather Performance Data
Utilize analytics tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush or Ahrefs to gather essential data for each content piece. Metrics to collect include organic traffic, search rankings, bounce rates, session duration, social shares and conversion rates.
3. Analyze This Data To Identify Trends and Patterns
Look for patterns in the types of content that perform well and those that don’t. Identify any gaps in your content strategy, and take note of underperforming pieces that may need to be updated or removed.
4. Prioritize Content Improvements
Based on your analysis, create a priority list of the content that needs to be updated, removed or created. Focus on high-impact actions, such as improving the SEO of top-performing articles, redesigning essential landing pages or creating content to fill critical gaps in your strategy.
Step 3: Research Your Competitors’ Content
According to Emerald.com, 90% of Fortune 500 Companies already leverage competitive intelligence to gain a strategic advantage over their industry competitors. This practice involves gathering, analyzing and using information about the competitive landscape to make better-informed and data-driven business decisions.
A critical aspect of competitive analysis is the content gap analysis, which is essential for companies to identify areas where they can differentiate themselves from their competitors, capitalize on opportunities and address weaknesses.
Step 4: Map Your Audience’s Needs and Preferences
Understanding your audience is crucial to creating a successful digital marketing strategy. It helps businesses provide more personalized content to their consumers, resulting in higher engagement and conversions.
Conducting market research is one of the most effective methods for identifying your target audience’s preferences and requirements. There are several ways to do this, including sending out surveys to existing customers or potential leads. The data gathered provides valuable insights into their interests, concerns and motivations, helping you design your digital marketing strategy accordingly.
In addition, analyzing online forums such as popular discussion boards and community platforms can reveal common trends and interests among your target audience. Examining social media interactions is another useful technique for understanding your audience, as these platforms offer a wealth of data on user behavior and interests.
Step 5: Create a Content Plan
Content planning involves creating a well-defined editorial calendar that outlines the different types of content, topics and distribution channels that allow you to effectively engage your target audience and boost your SEO optimization efforts.
To create an editorial calendar, you must identify the most suitable content formats, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts or social media updates, based on your audience’s preferences and consumption habits. The goal is to increase the likelihood of engagement.
For your content to be effective, it must be relevant to your audience and industry. So, it is essential to align the subject matter with your target demographic’s interests and pain points. For example, a health blog targeting a specific age group should focus on topics that cater to their unique medical concerns.
Defining the frequency of publication is a crucial component of the content planning process. Consistent content creation is vital to keep your audience engaged and maintain your brand’s credibility. You should choose a suitable publication schedule based on your target audience and content format, whether daily, weekly or monthly.
Finally, the distribution channels you choose to promote your content play a significant role in your content plan’s success. Identifying the right platforms where your target audience spends their time is crucial to ensure your content reaches them. Popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (previously Twitter), YouTube and LinkedIn are some examples to consider.
How To Measure the Content Optimization Efforts
Measuring the effectiveness of your content optimization efforts is crucial to maximizing the benefits of your content gap analysis. According to George, utilizing tools is the best way to achieve this.
“[They] provide an analysis of how your content compares to your top competitor, show how your content is performing in the search engine results pages (SERPs), identify which keywords are working and can even show you if you have duplicate content concerns, whether as a fault of yours or other sites are copying your work.”
Here are some platforms that can aid in your content optimization efforts:
• Google Analytics: Analyzing user behavior on your website can reveal content gaps. Look at pages with high bounce rates or low engagement to identify topics needing more comprehensive coverage.
• SEMrush: This tool offers competitive analysis and keyword research features. You can identify keywords your competitors are ranking for, but you are not, indicating potential content gaps.
• Ahrefs: Similar to SEMrush, Ahrefs provides insights into keywords, backlinks and competitor analysis. Use it to find keywords and topics with high search volume but low competition.
• Surveys and Feedback Forms: Directly asking your audience about their interests and needs through surveys or feedback forms can provide targeted insights into content gaps.
• Content Audit Tools: Tools like Screaming Frog or ContentKing can perform content audits on your website. They highlight areas where content is lacking or needs improvement.
Unlock Your Online Marketing Potential With Content Gap Analysis by Thrive Professionals
Staying ahead of your competitors and continually improving your content is essential for maintaining long-term success. A content gap analysis is a reliable method for identifying areas for improvement in your content strategy and aligning your marketing efforts to increase brand visibility, traffic and conversions.
The professionals at Thrive have expertise in keyword research and SEO optimization, making them the ideal partners to guide you through this process. We can identify the opportunities that your competitors are capitalizing on and provide actionable insights to help you adapt your strategies accordingly. Our comprehensive approach to content planning and conversion rate optimization ensures that your brand’s unique offering is communicated effectively to your target audience and maximized for conversions.
In addition to content writing, Thrive also specializes in web design and SEO solutions. Our experts can boost your online presence through visually stunning web designs and tailored SEO optimization solutions.
Contact us today.
