Developing content audits�with purpose: �make them work for you�
Linda Jameson (she/her)
Web Content Manager
Newcastle University
ALT title: ��I bloody love a spreadsheet, me!!
*waits for people to leave*
About me
What I’ll cover
WHAT IS AN AUDIT?
WHY CARRY OUT AN AUDIT?
DESIGNING YOUR AUDIT
BUILDING YOUR AUDIT
PRESENTING FINDINGS
What is an audit?
Inventories vs Audits
Content inventory
Content audit
A content audit examines, assesses, and evaluates the quality of the content
Nielsen Norman Group, 2020
“
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You can audit anything you like…
My focus is on websites
Even with a focus on websites, the scope is still huge.
Why carry out an audit?
Because we were told we had to.
“
”
Answer the ‘why’�(with a ‘what’)�
Audit statement
An audit statement can help you frame the ‘why’ requirements of the audit and help you decide on the information you need to collect.
Our questions | Our answers |
What hypothesis are we testing?
| Our website is difficult for international students to understand |
What problem are we trying to fix? | Readability of content for people whose first language might not be English |
What project do we have in mind? | Improvement of readability scores across the web estate |
What will we do with the findings of the audit? | Identify areas of the site that are high traffic, low readability and use these findings to fund a project/influence stakeholders to buy in to the need to improve content |
Example audit statement
Newcastle University believes that the readability of the website is too complex for our international student audience. We will carry out an audit of content to benchmark:
The aim of the audit is to influence funding of a project to improve readability.
Don’t try and do everything
Page title | URL | Readability score | Traffic | Bounce rate |
| | | | |
Designing your audit
Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.
Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
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Set priorities
Scope
Time
Cost
Quality
Audit themes
Development
Maintenance
Measurement
Legal
�Make stakeholders understand why we are making changes
Identify content gaps
Identify areas where UX needs improving
Identify where we need to redesign the user journey
Understand number/quality of pages to reduce them
Identify broken links
Identify pages that are orphaned
Identify any duplicate or unnecessary content
Analytics – high bounce rate, low visits etc
Is content aligned with business goals?
How are we doing around SEO?
Make sure content is fit for purpose
Assess accessibility – requirements have changed – has our content?
Last update date – are our facts correct?
Is bad content being accessed and potentially damaging our reputation?
Translating themes into actions
Development
Maintenance
Measurement
Legal
Obtain stakeholder support for projects
Fill content gaps
Improve navigation and findability
Manage time and resources
Improve content Quality
Reduce duplication and improve site load times
Improve content performance
Create content that has agreed measurement criteria
Improve rankings in SERPS – improvement of SEO
Meet accessibility requirements and avoid legal issues
Create a content calendar to keep on top of important information
Remove damaging content
The devil is in the detail
Your themes and likely actions inform the fields you need.
Newcastle University had 33 fields in one of the first audits I saw.
That’s too many…
Recommendations
RID status
Use of media
Writing for web
Keywords
SEO score
Accessibility
Last update
Bounce rate
Page views
Readability
Page purpose
Audience
Metadata
URL
Page title
Building your audit
Automation
Tools such as:
Manual review
Tools such as:
It’s spreadsheet time!
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1295753603/freak-in-the-sheets-spreadsheet
Why a spreadsheet?
Spreadsheets are great for:
Building your audit
What does this look like?
What does this look like?
What does this look like?
What does this look like?
Examples
What if it didn’t need �to be in �a spreadsheet at all?
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC.
Other options
Microsoft lists
Microsoft Lists - categories
Microsoft Lists - interface
Microsoft Lists - comments
Microsoft Lists - filters
Airtable
Airtable – audit template
Airtable – data manipulation
Airtable – data manipulation
Visual audits
Visual audits
Understanding and presenting findings
No-one reads the data
You can share your amazing audit all you like – but no-one will read it. Sad truth.
The audit summary is your friend.
Understanding your audit
Audit summary
Presenting your audit
Actions
Run the automated parts of your audit again and tell stakeholders what you've achieved.
Governance
Conclusion - takeaways
Thank you – any questions?