One of the many weapons strategic SEO companies use in their arsenal is a content gap analysis. Even if you’ve been creating content for your business for a while, sometimes the content marketing ROI you’ve seen advertised just isn’t panning out. It’s stagnant. You may have some significant gaps in your content. You could be missing out on those low-hanging fruit and lucrative opportunities that really take ROI to the next level.
“A content gap analysis is a strategic missed opportunity identification process.”
A content gap analysis is an essential analysis professional content marketing professionals conduct to assess your current website content’s strengths and weaknesses. Identifying opportunities to update existing content helps your business get more out of its content budget. But a content gap analysis also highlights topics that your competitors have content for that you do not, so you can create new pages to fill those gaps.
What Is a Content Gap Analysis?
A content gap analysis is a strategic missed opportunity identification process. Your objective is to bridge the gap between what content you have and what customers want and need to become delighted customers.
Specifically, you’re asking one fundamental question: Am I covering all of the topics that my customers need at various buyer’s journey stages?
Why is a Content Gap Analysis Important?
To put it simply, the Internet is fast, crowded, and unforgiving for businesses that miss out when opportunity comes knocking.
So one minute, a potential customer is on your site reading an article or watching a video. They like what they see, and you’re building trust.
They’re ready to buy. Yes!
Then they realize they have a question about something before buying. They look on your site for the answer. It’s not there. They go back to Google. They find the answer elsewhere, and Vroom! They’re gone, and they do business with your competitor instead.
This happens all the time. You can think of a buyer’s journey in terms of a chain of content. If one link is missing, it breaks the chain reaction that would have led to a purchase and delighted customer.
A content gap analysis helps you create the right content and distribute it through the right channels. It allows you to uncover sub-niches so you can dominate with less effort because your competition is overlooking them. You don’t have to compete with the whole Internet if you find your little corner of underserved customers.
Warning Signs You Need a Content Gap Analysis
The warning sign can help you identify the place in most need of improvement.
- Low website traffic (awareness)
- Attracting the wrong audience (awareness)
- Low lead conversion rate (consideration)
- Lengthy sales cycle (consideration)
- Low sales conversion rate (decision-making)
- Pitiful average order value (AOV) (consideration and decision-making)
- High return rate (lacking customer support content)
- Bad online reviews (delight- lacking customer support content)
- Sub-par customer lifetime value (delight)
A lot of companies forget about that last stage–delighting the customer. Content doesn’t end when someone makes a purchase. The content you provide to ensure the customer is delighted with their product/service after they buy determines whether you retain that customer. Some experts estimate that it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to sell to an existing customer.
Most customers today prefer self-service options. Content makes this possible. These self-service customers are not going to call you if they have a problem with something they purchased. If you don’t offer a good answer online, they write a bad review, ask for a refund, or both.
How to Do Content Gap Analysis
- Revisit Your Customer Personas – Make sure the personas still represent your target customers. If you don’t have personas, it’s time to create them before you begin.
- Map Out the Buyers Journey – Review website, social media, and customer data to identify how customers find you, consider your offerings, and make a decision to buy.
- Identify which search terms your competitors rank highly for that you do not – There are a number of tools that can help you do this like SEMRush. However, we prefer the more intricate, detailed, old school way – using spreadsheets and formulas. 🤓
- Conduct Keyword Research – Keyword research is still important. It tells you what people are searching for in Google.
- Review What People Search for using Your Website’s Site Search – If your website is not very searchable, consider adding that function. Not only does it help customers find exactly what they’re looking for to complete the chain. You see what people search for and don’t find them.
- Compare the Current Content to What You Learned – You’ll need plenty of spreadsheets.
- Analyze Competitor Content – See what you’re missing. You don’t have to cover everything the competition does in one day, but you should make a plan to do it over time if that content aligns with your target audience and goals.
- Develop a Plan to Fill in the Gaps – Now write out your plan. Set realistic goals for yourself. You can’t do everything at once. Prioritize and target where you can make the most difference and expand from there.
Increase Your Content Marketing ROI
If your content isn’t performing as well as it should, the content gap analysis can help you identify those opportunities and low hanging fruit you’re missing. Realign your content strategy with your customers and business goals to get the most out of content marketing. At Shero Marketing, we conduct content gap analyses at regular intervals to identify new areas of opportunity for clients. Ready to take your internet marketing game to the next level? Let’s talk.