B3 How to audit and fix thin content with no value Stephen Kenwright, Senior Search Strategist @stekenwright
Jun 09, 2015
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How to audit and fix thin content with no value
Stephen Kenwright, Senior Search Strategist @stekenwright
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Time to long click
Time to long click by AJ Kohn:http://b3.io/BlindFiveYearOld
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Google thinks these aren’t the pages they’re looking for
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HOW TO CREATE A
Content Inventory
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#1
Take a sample of pages on your site and add them to a spread sheet
#1
Add all the pages on your site to a spreadsheet
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Use a crawler…
Try this: http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/screaming-frog-guide
…and export to .csv
Status Code Title 1 Title 1 Length Meta Description 1 Meta Description Length1 H1-1 Meta Data 1 Canonical Link Element 1 Word Count404 0 0 0
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Export from Analytics
#1
Behavior > Site Content > All Pages(Remember to change date range!)
#2
Export to .csv and copy into workbook (new sheet)
#3
=VLOOKUP
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Bounce Rate
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Page Views
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Bounce rate improved by 31%Average Time on Site
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Bounce rate improved by 31%Conversions
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£
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HOW TO
Audit Content
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Add columns to ExcelKeep Needs Rewrite Issues ActionsY Y Poor copy Rewrite copyY Y Poor copy under tabs Rewrite copy under tabsY NY N No quotes from senior team Add 2 quotesY NY NY NY Y Copy is shorter than other pages / no quotes from senior team Extend copy / Add 2 quotesN NN NN N Add paragraph breaksN N Similar page already exists 301Y NY Y Language too colloquial Formalise copyY NN NY Y Thin content Provide additional information about the linkY Y Irrelevant copy Move copy to relevant page / create new copyY N Copy is too dense Create additional paragraph breaksN N Weak introductory copyN N Similar page already exists 301N N Doorway page 301
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Columns
Must have:• Title 1 (Title tag) Screaming Frog• URL Screaming Frog• Status Code Screaming Frog• Canonical Link Element 1 Screaming Frog• Pageviews Analytics• Avg. Time on Page Analytics• Bounce Rate Analytics
Nice to have:• Title 1 Length Screaming Frog• Title 1 Pixel Width Screaming Frog• Meta Description Screaming Frog• Meta Robots Screaming Frog• Word Count Screaming Frog• Social shares www.socialtally.co.uk • Backlinks Open Site Explorer / Ahrefs /
Webmaster Tools
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What is the most important factor in the design of a website?
The website makes it easy for me to find what I want
The website offers a cutting edge interactive experience
The website has a beautiful appearance
Other
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How long do you have to engage a user?
3.8 secondsJacob Nielson – useit.com
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Your content has 3.8 seconds to establish…
Relevance• Are you right for me?• Have you answered
my question?
Trust• Do you look credible?• Can I trust you with my
money?
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Inverted triangle
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Most web content…
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This is how users read web content
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Content
Content
Content
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+2,800%
TRAFFIC INCREASE
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What you should look for
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Indexation
How to find out:site:search
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Duplication
Also watch out for:• Duplicate titles and meta descriptions• Aggregation pages e.g., tags, categories• Content that has to be duplicated across
pages e.g., disclaimers, “the small print” – make sure it’s up to date!
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THE FOLD
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Top heavy
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Cite your sources
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Trust signals
#1
Contact information / address clearly displayed on the page
#2
About Us (not just for conversions – Panda too)
#3
Author name / photo
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When was this fresh?
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High quality images =
Higher CTR, more salesEconsultancy
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Increase in conversions on pages with user generated content
Source: CMO.com
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You’re not going to like this…
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IT’S HARDER FOR
Exact Match Domains
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IT’S ALSO HARDER FOR
Highly regulated sectors
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Doorway Pages
≠ search traffic
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Thank you!Please email any questions to
get in touch on Twitter: @stekenwright
@stekenwright