How to Do a Content Gap Analysis?

Creating content is more than just providing the target audience with information. It is about creating content that fills the gaps and can resonate with the audience. With content gap analysis, you can identify the content that your audience is lacing and establish yourself as an authority in that space.

What is Content Gap Analysis?

Content gap analysis is a process of finding and evaluating any missing content that could align with different stages of your buyer’s journey. In other words, you find the topics that your competitors may have covered but have not. You can also look at the gap as the portion of the search engine results where your competitors are ranking, but you are not. The analysis is achieved by auditing what you currently have and then laying out a content strategy that addresses the needs of users at multiple touchpoints.

Importance of Content Gap Analysis

Content gap analysis is an important part of search engine optimization. It identifies gaps that can help your content perform better in search engines. By knowing which information is more relevant and useful to customers, you can improve the quality of your content even before publishing it. This helps to

• Find the best topics to cover in your new content
• Increase traffic to existing content
• Enhance your product demand strategy
• Steal your competitors’ traffic
• Make your brand relevant and authoritative

How to Conduct Content Gap Analysis?

Content gap analysis can be performed in several ways. You may be struggling with related keywords or lack of topic ideas, which can signify a gap in content. You may also be looking to identify customers’ pain points and tap into that opportunity. The main approaches that you can use to identify the gaps include:

Analyzing Google’s First Page

When publishing content, most people focus on ranking higher in Google’s search engine first page results. Looking at what is already ranking on the first page can help you identify any gaps in the content. For instance, if you want to write a blog post about the keto diet, you would search the keyword and check the results you get on Google’s first page. Depending on the results, gaps in the content may include:

• Lack of content freshness (When was the content published or updated:
• Gaps in content usability (Can users readily read and understand the content)
• Topic Thoroughness (Does the content provide all the important details)
• The wow factors (Are readers likely to share the content)

Once you identify any of the gaps, filling or improving it can give you an edge over the competition and increase the chances of your content getting on Google’s first page.

Utilize Website Analysis Tools

You can easily scale the content gap analysis by using tools such as Semrush. The tool comes with a feature for finding topics that have lots of gaps. To get started, enter the name of a competitor in the tool and explore the generated list of their top-performing keywords.

Once the keywords have been generated, check each on Google’s first page. If the first page by all means appears solid, then the content is legit and there aren’t many gaps. In some cases, however, you may notice lots of holes that you can fill with your own content. Other tools that you can use to conduct a content gap analysis include Ahrefs and keyword.io.

Research Customer Needs

Finding out what your target customers read about can help in identifying gaps. You can do this by directly asking about their pain points or preferences. Then create content that aims to genuinely address those needs. You may ask questions related to:

• Top challenges they face in your industry
• The kind of products they use or features they love the most
• Solutions or information they are currently struggling to find
• Frequently asked questions or queries searched online
• Their experiences with specific products or services

Audit Your Own Content

You may also identify gaps in your own content. Conducting an audit helps to identify any content on your site that is underperforming. You can then improve on these gaps and set your content up for better performance. Some of the ways you may improve the content include:

• Adding more visuals
• Shortening or enhancing the intro
• Making the content more thorough and complete
• Making the content easier to read and follow

Hire an Expert to Conduct Content Gap Analysis

Content gap analysis is a vital step in creating an effective SEO strategy. It helps you find out the kind of content your competitors have published and if there are any gaps left. Although the process is relatively easy, hiring an expert can help in doing it the right way and getting the best results. Nvent Marketing offers search engine optimization services, including content gap analysis to help you and your clients catch up and stay ahead of the competition.