Content Gap Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide

A content gap analysis helps find topics you haven’t covered or could improve to boost search results. It includes discovering keywords your competitors rank for or topics to add to cover all stages of the customer journey.

It also involves reviewing existing content for improvements. For example, you could update an article to address more customer concerns or add expert insights.

This process helps identify missing content that fits your audience’s buying process and creates a blog strategy that meets users at different stages. For instance, we noticed content on link building was often outdated, lacked examples, and was hard to understand. These were the gaps we aimed to fill.

Why Perform a Content Gap Analysis?

A content gap analysis helps improve your content’s performance. Here’s what it can do:

• Boost visibility: Finding new topics and improving existing content gives you more chances to rank in search results.
• Attract competitors’ traffic: Covering topics better than your competitors can bring their traffic to your site.
• Save time: A content gap analysis is a quicker way to generate ideas compared to starting keyword and topic research from scratch.
• Improve results: Creating content that matters to your audience can lead to more conversions.

How to Do a Content Gap Analysis

1. Analyze Google’s First Page

Many content creators aim to rank #1 on Google. A great way to identify content gaps is to examine what already ranks on Google’s first page. For example, if you plan to write a blog about Paleo Diet snacks, start by searching for that keyword and see what shows up. Look at the existing content and find areas where it’s lacking.

Common content gaps include:

• Content freshness: When was the content last updated?
• Thoroughness: Does the content cover all aspects of the topic?
• Usability: Is the content easy to read and understand?
• Wow factor: Is the content impressive enough to be shared?

By filling these gaps in your content, you can give yourself a good chance of outranking the competition.

2. Use Tools to Scale This Process

Tools like Semrush can make finding content gaps easier. Simply input a competitor’s website and review their top-performing keywords. For each keyword, check the first page results and look for weaknesses. Sometimes, the first-page content will be solid, but other times, there will be gaps that you can fill with better content. This gives you an opportunity to create content that stands out and provides more value to the user.

3. Audit Your Own Content

Your own website can be a goldmine for content gaps. By conducting a content audit, you can find pieces that aren’t performing as well as they should. Once you identify underperforming content, improving it can boost its performance significantly.

For example, a few years ago, a blog post on an SEO checklist had potential but was missing key details compared to content ranking on page one. By evaluating my post critically (as if it was a competitor’s), I made several improvements:

• Shortened the introduction
• Added more visuals
• Made the content easier to follow
• Made it more thorough

These changes helped the post eventually rank on the first page, leading to a significant increase in organic traffic.

By following these practices, you can easily identify content gaps and improve your content strategy to increase traffic and rankings.

Fill Content Gaps and Track Results

The main goal of content gap analysis is to improve your website’s performance. A great way to measure this is by tracking organic search rankings. Make sure to monitor the rankings for every page you create or update.

Using the Position Tracking tool, you can keep track of your rankings daily. This tool will show any significant drops in visibility, allowing you to quickly identify and address any issues.