Google's frequent algorithm updates cause organic traffic and rankings to constantly fluctuate. A content audit is essential to identify lost rankings, recover decreased traffic, and find new topics.
Here's how to audit your content to improve search engine optimization:
Evaluate lost traffic
A drop in traffic from organic search can happen for a variety of reasons.
- Over time, newer articles will push current articles deeper into the archives, so updating your article with significantly new information and new dates can help restore traffic.
- Google's core updates are often focused on searcher intent. Many queries imply multiple intents. For example, a search for “backyard BBQ” may imply a need for information (how to cook BBQ) or purchasing options (where to buy a grill). This type of loss is not easily fixed and may require a new landing page or article.
- A competitor's page has outranked yours. Dropping from position 1 to position 2 can result in a significant drop in traffic. This is also not an easy fix. Conduct a detailed analysis of your competitor's page and backlinks to determine the reason for the ranking increase.
- Google changes to the search results page, such as adding sections or reducing the visibility of organic results. There is no fix for this.
Whatever the cause, the first step is to know which pages are causing the drop. Search Console is a simple and free tool to diagnose organic traffic drops.
- Go to the Performance section.
- Click Search Results > Date > Compare.
- Depending on the frequency of your audit, select “Compare last 3 months to previous period” or “Compare last 3 months year-over-year.”
- Click on “Pages” and sort by “Click Difference”.
- Click on any URL in the first column.
- Click on “Queries” and re-sort by “Difference in Clicks” to see which search terms are causing the biggest drop in traffic.
Then, search those queries (keywords) on Google to assess the causes of the decline.
Search Console is a simple, free tool to diagnose organic traffic decline. Click on image to enlarge.
Identify opportunities
There are two main ways to improve your organic search performance.
Identify and improve first page rankings
Even just one position increase on the first page can significantly boost your traffic. Adding more keywords, optimizing your page copy, and increasing internal backlinks can pay off.
To identify these pages, again use the performance section of Search Console.
- Click “Search Results” > “Average Rank” above the graph.
- Click on the filter options (inverted triangle) and select “Location”.
- Click “Filter by location” under “Greater than” 2.
Sort queries by clicks to see the top (and bottom) performers. Again, even a single position increase can mean a huge increase in traffic.
In Search Console, filter for “average position” by “greater than” 2. Click on image to enlarge.
Identify and improve pages with external backlinks
Pages with lots of backlinks but few searchable keywords often don't rank well, so for those pages, do keyword research to help Google understand them.
Semrush’s backlink research tool can identify your most linked pages.
- Log in to Semrush and click on “Backlink Analytics” under “Link Building.”
- Paste the URL and select “Root Domain”.
- Click the Index Page tab.
The report is sorted by the number of domains linking to each page on your site. Pages with more links have an easier time ranking higher.
Use Search Console or run keyword research tools to find new queries for ranking opportunities.
Semrush’s backlink research tool can identify your most linked pages. Click on image to enlarge.
