Content ecosystems

In sections below you will find:

• Processes to learn about
• Templates and examples
• Tools to help

What are content ecosystems?

Content ecosystems are maps that include all the elements of your organization's content. In these maps, you will find your content plan and types, workflows, processes, teams, and technologies or tools.

Content ecosystems help organize ideas and can also serve as templates to help set guidelines and outline actionable items of projects. They are the foundation for your content.

How to create content ecosystem maps

Processes to learn about

• An Introduction to Content Ecosystem Maps Scott Kubie explains how to create an ecosystem map to understand and document an organization's content.

• What to Include in a Content Ecosystem Map Scott Kubie sets out what data a content ecosystem map needs to include.

• How to Plan Your Content Ecosystem Mapping Project More from Scott Kubie, as he discusses how to  bring the right people on board for content ecosystem mapping.

• Show the content ecosystem Australian Digital Guides show how to use a map or illustration to show the extent of your content ecosystem.

• Ecosystem Map Service Design Tools gives a brief step-by-step outline on how to create an ecosystem map

• Creating a content ecosystem map Pickle Jar Communications offers advice on how to create your content ecosystem map with suggested tools to use.

Templates and examples

• Ecosystem mapping template This ecosystem mapping template can be used to set a direction for your research and take the pulse of your brand's ecosystem.

Tools to help

• OmniGraffle This tool can help you to organize, communicate, and share ideas with stunning visuals (for Mac users).

How to run content audits and create content inventories

A content audit is a procedure to identify, analyze, and evaluate your content. It can help identify gaps and opportunities to improve content.

A content audit is used to ascertain if your content is meeting your objectives so you can plan your content strategy.

It is a systematic process of reviewing all the content on your site, and can tie in with  taking a closer look at your SEO strategy and optimization efforts.

When done correctly, results of a content audit can give you the information you need to make decisions about your content so that, ultimately, it serves your audience better.

A content inventory is an extensive list of all the content on your website. This usually includes text, documents, images and applications and their characteristics.

It's important to evaluate each piece of content to gain insight from your inventory. This would help you understand exactly what is on the site, whether the content is updated, and if it's located where it should be.

A content inventory can also serve as a basis for your content audit.

Processes to learn about

• Conduct your audit The Australian Digital Transformation Agency showcase the steps to follow in order to conduct a content audit.

• How to Conduct A Content Audit This blog post (includes a sketch video) from UX Mastery shows you how to conduct a content audit.

• Content audit 18F Methods show you the 'what, why, and how' of content audits.

• Audit content The Australian Digital Transformation Agency and Department of Industry, Innovation and Science share their six-step process in carrying out a content audit.

• How to Audit Big Websites Brain Traffic explores how to conduct a qualitative website content audit specifically for large websites.

• 7 reasons why you should audit your content In this first of four-part series, GatherContent share why you should audit your content.

• 3 steps to prepare for an effective content audit GatherContent explains the key stages of doing a content audit in the second of this four-part series.

• How to run the perfect content audit This third article in the series outlines the five things to consider when running your content audit.

• Never run a content audit again GatherContent share what you need to think about in order to continuously keep your content 'in shape'.

• How to find out what's wrong with your content GatherContent share the different types of content audits, and tips for getting the most out of them.

• How to automate your content audits The benefits of using tools to automate your content audits.

• Content Audit The University of Oregon enumerates a seven-step process on how to complete your content audit.

• What is a Website Content Inventory Siteimprove discusses website content inventory, what to include, and its benefits and limitations.

• Content Inventory Usability.gov share a brief outline of what to include in your content inventory.

• Content Inventory and Auditing 101 Nielsen Norman Group presents a detailed look at how to carry out a content inventory and audit.

• How to Use Airtable for Content Audits, Part 1 A helpful article to help you run a content audit with Airtable.

• How to Do a Content Audit and Extract Actionable Insights A step-by-step guide on how to do a content audit, with a free template.

Templates and examples

• NSW Department of Education: content audit spreadsheet A downloadable sample of an editable content audit spreadsheet.

• Department of Agriculture: content audit spreadsheet This is a sample content audit spreadsheet from the Australian Department of Agriculture that you can use for guidance.

• UK Government Digital Service: content audit spreadsheet GOV.UK share a sample content audit spreadsheet that you can download and edit.

• Content Audit Spreadsheet GatherContent's template helps to audit your content inventory to identify gaps and gain insights around your content.

• Example Content Audit An example of the University of Oregon's content audit results.

• Content Audit Template The University of Oregon share a downloadable content audit template.

• Sample Content Inventory Amazon offer a content inventory example which you can download in Excel format.

Tools to help

• Similar Page Checker This tool allows you to determine the percentage of similarity between two specific pages.

• Content Audit Tools – 8 Best Web Content Inventory Tools This article explains what a content audit is, why you need to do it, and eight tools that you can use.

• Screaming Frog A desktop app that crawls a website and generates an SEO report that includes insight on potential problems.

• Google Analytics This essential, free tool allows you to track, gather and analyze data, enabling you to make informed decisions.

• Semrush A tool created especially for more in-depth web page content analyses. It produces user-friendly page reports for users and provides SEO-related scoring.

• SEO Review Tools These tools conduct an on-page content SEO audit, check the overall quality of content, the quality of backlinks, rankings, and keywords.

• SEO Site Checkup This tool checks website content for more than 40 different parameters such as 'meta title' and 'description'. Access competitor domain tests, sitemap tests, and more.

• OnPoint content auditor A powerful content audit and inventory tool designed for content strategists.

• Dyno Mapper A useful tool that pulls together a comprehensive list of content types such as pages, images, documents, video, audio, and files.

• Blaze Discover gaps and opportunities, and flag content for archiving or rewriting.

• MarketMuse Use AI to help you turn inventory data into meaningful insight about the quality of your content, semantic analysis, and more.

• Readable Access a readability test to score your content on its reading level or difficulty. It also highlights potential areas for improvement.

How to create a competitive analysis

A competitive analysis is a process of researching and analyzing your competitor's content, service, strengths and weaknesses. The best time to conduct a competitive analysis is during the discovery phase of a project – where it can provide invaluable insight to help you craft better service, website, and content.

From a content perspective, a competitive analysis can help you to form a well-researched content strategy.

Processes to learn about

• How to Analyze Your Competitors' Content Strategy This article from UX Design talks about how to approach a competitive analysis from a content perspective, so you can create a more effective content strategy.

• Stop copying, and start doing competitor UX analysis properly UX Planet share how to do design a UX competitor analysis in five steps.

• How to Conduct a Competition Analysis Based on Content This Medium article outlines how to get started with content-based competition analysis.

• Competitive Analysis Yale University briefly examine the pros and cons of conducting competitive analysis, and shares some quick pointers on how to conduct it.

• Comparative analysis 18F Methods share a guide on how to conduct a comparative analysis of competitors, or related agencies or services.

• How to Do a Competitive Analysis – 8 Simple Steps An eight-step framework on how to do a competitive analysis - plus some suggestions on tools that may be useful.

• Conducting a Solid UX Competitive Analysis Danforth Media outlines how to do a competitive analysis and use a competitive assessment rubric to track your results.

• A Guide to Competitive Analysis for UX Design Adobe answers the question of 'when and how' to perform a competitive analysis, plus some real-world UX competitive analysis examples.

• How To Do A UX Competitor Analysis: A Step By Step Guide Usability Geek's tips on how to do a competitor analysis. There's also information on the benefits, limitations, and pitfalls behind this exercise.

• How to Do Competitive Analysis With Conclusive Results Similarweb share an article on how to do competitor analysis (includes a free template).

Templates and examples

• Web Design Standards Comparative Analysis An example of a comparative analysis from 18F Methods.

• Competitor Analysis This guide takes a content design perspective on competitor analysis on what to watch out for and how often it should be done.

Tools to help

• Airtable This tool is a spreadsheet-database hybrid – with the features of a database, but applied to a spreadsheet.

• Ghostery A paid subscription tool you can use to check competitors' websites. Includes tools, plug-ins, and more.

• Page Speed Insights This tool from Google can show you how quickly users are able to see and interact with a website's content.

• Buzzsumo A popular content discovery tool that content producers and entrepreneurs use to identify content enjoying engagement on social media.

• Mailcharts This database focuses on email marketing and aggregate competitor email campaigns to influence and compare with your own.

• SimilarWeb This tool helps you to analyse traffic to competitor websites, and view how your SEO keyword traffic compares.

• Ahrefs The tool's content gap analysis helps you to see which keywords and topics your competitors rank for (and you don't).