to optimize content that is underperforming

It’s time to update your content if it isn’t performing the way you expected or if old pieces that you published a few decades ago aren’t relevant anymore.

It’s time to optimize underperforming content.

This involves the updating, tweaking and editing of old content that isn’t generating ROI. It is important to make the content more useful so that it can eventually become effective.

• Search ranking
• Read it.
• Engaging in activities such as comments or shares.
• Conversions are possible

Optimizing underperforming content can often be a cost-effective way to improve your content market overall. Optimizing doesn’t require you to create new content. You can simply rejigger the existing pieces and make them better.

It is a good idea for any brand that uses content, especially as part of a Content Audit. This ensures that every piece works towards your goals and not hinders them.

First, identify the underperforming content. This will help you determine which pieces aren’t performing at their best. Then take steps to improve it and optimize it.

How to spot underperforming content

How can you tell which content pieces are underperforming

To find them, you will need to examine specific metrics.

You can use tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush or Google Analytics to analyze this data and identify your underperforming content.

Search ranking metrics

• Keywords that are organic
• Average position

Look at your search keyword statistics to identify content that is underperforming in search results. This includes the average position of your content on Google. Pay attention to:

• Anything ranked #5-10: Optimizing them further could lead to higher rankings.
• Anything below #11: Optimize further and rewrite these to help you reach Page 1, depending upon the keyword.

Engagement metrics and traffic:

• Page views
• Sessions
• Rate of bounce
• Time on the page
• Social shares
• Comment

What pages are losing visitors?

What pages receive little or no engagement (i.e. people don’t spend enough time reading the content on the page)?

These are excellent candidates for optimization.

7 questions to optimize underperforming content

Identify the underperforming content you want to optimize. Then ask these questions:

1. Are your keywords actually winning?

First, consider whether your keyword is winnable for you brand if your content is not performing.

If you target the keyword “content strategy” and your piece is languishing at page 5 in search results, it could be due to two factors.

• You are a new or small brand that is still building online authority.
• There is a lot of competition for the term “content strategy”, with names like HubSpot, Content Marketing Institute, or even the U.S. Government at the top on Google.

It is unlikely that a site with low authority or a new site would rank among the top 10 results for this keyword.

Switch keywords to focus on what you can win. Long-tail keywords are easier to rank for, especially for smaller brands. They also generate 70% percent of all traffic.

Instead of targeting content strategy, you might instead target “content strategy for beginners” and “content marketing strategy to SEO.”

Long-tail keywords are generally more effective and more targeted to searchers with more specific intent.

This is because they are actively searching for solutions and not just browsing.

2. Are you optimizing your content with keywords strategically placed?

Consider whether a piece of content is optimized if it is already well-written.

Google stated as the best practice for optimizing your SEO.

• Use the correct words people would use when searching for your content.
• Using the correct words at prominent locations on-page.

How well you rank in search depends on how keywords are used and placed.

Google will not give you enough signals to say “Hey! It’s unlikely that Google will notice you.

Here are some tips to help you use keywords and place them in your content

• Include your
  
  Focus keyword
  
  In
  
  All
  
  These are the best places to optimize your business:
  • In the H1 heading (a.k.a. page title).
  • The meta title and description should be placed at the beginning of each.
  • The first paragraph.
  • At least one of the H2 headings.
  • At least one H3 heading.
  • Sprinkled throughout the body text.
  • Image alt text inside image (for images on the page)
• Include
  
  Synonyms and variations
  
  These are the places where you should use your focus keyword:
  • At least one H2 (depending upon how many appear within the content).
  • At least one H3 (same above).
  • All throughout the content.
  • Inside image alt text.
• Never keyword stuff. Always try to include keywords that are helpful and descriptive for readers.
• Use keyword-optimized headings to organize and structure your content. They make your content more readable and easier to understand. Search engines also use headings to determine if your page is relevant to a search query.

3. Are your headings and subheadings, meta title and meta description strong?

People often overlook the smallest details, such as writing strong headings and a descriptive meta title. This is a big mistake.

These small pieces are a lot of work. Searchers can click on your link from a list of similar results by simply looking at the meta title. This is especially true if it is more descriptive or thoughtfully written than other options.

Google searches for “how to make caramel popcorn” yield almost identical results. Only one of the results mentions “easy” within their meta title. This is enough to convince me to click on it.

Keep this in mind when creating meta titles, descriptions, headings, and headings to your content that isn’t performing well.

These elements can spark your readers’ interest and curiosity, which can lead to a greater understanding of the piece. This can have a positive impact on its performance.

Here are some tips:

• Increase the length of your headings. These headings are better for keywords.
• Consider headings and metas as hooks . Headings are more than just a way to divide your content into sections. Your headings can be used as hooks to pull the reader down the page. Your meta description can also be used as a hook to grab the reader and make them click on your link in search results.
• Talk to your reader. What makes a hook? Talk directly to your reader. As if they were sitting right in front of you, address them. Their concerns should be addressed. Make their lives easier.
• Learn how to create good headlines. Learn to write a solid headline if you aren’t confident in crafting these pieces. This knowledge can also be used to write metas and headings. This article from Brian Clark at Copyblogger is a good place to start.

4. Are your statistics, facts or links out of date?

This is one of many ways to optimize content that isn’t performing well. It should be up-to-date, relevant and current for modern readers.

Are the statistics in the content, for example, from 2016? This is too old, especially as companies update their studies or conduct new ones every few years.

It is a good rule of thumb to replace statistics that are older than five years, unless the stat is fundamental or ground-breaking in your industry.

It is okay to cite statistics that are unique and have not been replicated or updated.

Then, how about the links? Is it still relevant to use links to other sites or resources? Are they pointing to the right pages? Are they authoritative and of high quality? Update if they are not.

Last, make sure your content is relevant. If 2020 is mentioned in a blog that has been around for a while, make sure to update the references to reflect current events.

5. Is the content of high quality?

Let’s suppose that the content piece you are optimizing is short and thin. You would expect it to be longer.

Perhaps the piece isn’t complete about the topic or delves into irrelevancies.

Maybe the topic requires supporting statistics or data to add weight, but there isn’t any.

Oder it could be missing images or spelling errors.

These issues are all related to content quality – how helpful, relevant, accurate, and informative/entertaining/empowering the content is for your particular audience.

In all these cases, it is possible to make minor changes that will improve the quality of the code without having to rewrite everything. Take this example:

• To make the piece more comprehensive and useful, you can add additional information.
• Reduce the number of irrelevant parts and include more information that is relevant to your audience’s needs.
• To increase engagement, find relevant images that you can add to the content.

6. Do you think the content needs to be completely rewritten?

Sometimes, you just can’t save low-quality content.

Some pieces might need to be completely reworked. This means that you will need to delete all of it and start again.

How can you tell if your content needs a complete rewrite

• It is poorly written, lacking structure (read: headings), or logical flow.
• It misses the main point of the topic, and what readers want when they search for it.
• It is focused on the brand and not the brand’s audience.
• It is a focus on an event or date which has long passed.
• The brand can still win with the targeted keyword and it is well worth the effort/investment to rewrite.

7. Are there site issues that are preventing you from reading or crawling your website?

When optimizing content that is underperforming, remember to zoom in to see the larger picture.

There are several ways that your site could be contributing to poor content performance.

• Your site is not being viewed by all visitors.
• It is not possible for search engines to crawl it and index it.

If your website loads slowly, it can impact your engagement and rankings. People won’t wait for a page to load fast.

Perhaps your website isn’t optimized to mobile browsing. This means that people who try to access your content via smartphone browsers are unable or unwilling to read it.

Poor site design can also affect its readability. For comfortable reading, ensure that there is enough contrast between your text and the background.

Avoid lengthy paragraphs. They can be hard to read from a screen.

Last but not the least, make sure Google and other search engines crawl all pages you have to index them.

Sometimes, a simple error may lurk beneath the surface. For example, a “noindex” tag was accidentally added to the code of one of your blogs. This tells search engines that the page will not be included in their results.

Optimize underperforming content to improve your ROI

Optimizing poor content can help you get the best ROI.

Each piece of content needs a certain amount investment. This is the effort, money and time it takes to create. You can stretch your investment by optimizing and updating it.

Even better, content with a high performance rate will yield even greater positive returns.

This means that your content assets will last longer and continue to perform well into the future, bringing in passive traffic, leads and conversions.

To get the best results, it is important to keep repeating the optimization process as part of your Content Strategy. This will ensure that all your content is working towards your goals.

How to optimize underperforming appeared first at Search Engine Land.