Simona Hostakova

How to Find and Fix Content Gaps on Your Website

Image by Rawpixel.com on Freepik

One of the Easiest Ways to Grow Your Blog Traffic You Might Not Know About

Ranking your blog high in the Google search is getting harder every year. The main reason? Content overload.

Taking into account the fact from Backlinko, which states that

“Only 0.63% of Google searchers clicked on something from the second page”,

landing your site on the first Google page is the most important (and challenging) thing you should aim for.

But with almost two BILLION websites out there, moving up your ranking and increasing the chance of being discovered is complicated. Like everything else, SEO keeps changing, and some SEO methods don’t work as well as they used to.

Yet, there is one method you might not be aware of, but its efficiency can convince you to start using it. It’s called filling the content gaps.

What exactly is it?

Content gaps are simply missing pieces of content that are decreasing the quality of your website. Almost every blog or website has these, and they can cause you the following issues:

  • losing new customers (as they can’t discover your page)
  • not converting the existing customers (as they might shift to your competitors’ pages)
  • getting a higher bounce rate (as people aren’t finding what they are looking for on your site)
  • moving lower in search results ( because of higher bounce rate and less relevant content due to the content gaps)

Although there are even more issues driven by content gaps, the good thing is that it doesn’t take long to find & fix them.

So let’s begin.

What is causing content gaps?

Before you learn how to fix the content gaps, it’s important to understand what is actually causing them. The most common reasons are:

  • Customers(/site visitors) keep changing: Whether their behavior, habits, or interests, over some time, there is always a slight shift in people’s nature.
  • Keywords keep changing: The difficulty to rank with some keywords alters periodically, the same as the search phrases people use (for example, people don’t search for iPhone 7 anymore, but usually iPhone 13 or 14).
  • Information gets outdated: New research and statistics come in, so the data on your page might not be current anymore. Also, new trends and insights keep continuously arising.

How to find content gaps on a website

As content gaps present content or information missing on your website (yet your audience would love to see it), your search for these gaps should start by answering these questions:

1. Do your posts cover everything so people don’t have to search for additional info somewhere else?

  • E.g., you run a page about digital marketing. In your posts, you often mention that having a great landing page is crucial for success. But do you have an article about how to create a landing page in the first place? If not, people will check for this information on your competitors’ websites.

2. Do your posts dig deep enough so readers can get a full understanding of a particular topic?

  • When I’m revitalizing my clients’ websites, one of the common mistakes I see is content “shallowness”. The posts on their websites are often too specific to be a “general guide”, yet too shallow to cover the particular topic fully. It means the general audience won’t understand it, while the “niche” audience won’t get enough details.

3. Do your posts get a regular update?

  • Technologies and trends keep advancing every day, so you need to refresh your articles now and then. Neglecting updates decreases the relevance of your content (hence, your page ranking) and gives an advantage to your competitors who outperform you with the freshest content.

4. Do your posts contain various multimedia?

  • Visual content shouldn’t be missing on your website, especially nowadays, when people want to digest new content as fast as possible, with the least effort. If you rely only on written content, you might be losing a huge chunk of the audience.

5. Does your content depend only on short-tail keywords?

  • If the answer is yes, it’s time to rethink your content strategy. Short-tail keywords are often extremely difficult to rank for and usually have a low(er) CTR (click-through rate).

How to fix content gaps

Now that you know what’s causing content gaps and how to identify them, you can start working on fixing the problem. I will list here the most efficient ways to improve your content and increase the quality of your site.

1. Raise the amount of long-tail keywords in your content

Even though the search volume for long-tail keywords is lower, they convert better.

(For those who aren’t sure what I’m talking about, here is an example: short-tail keyword: “sports trainers”, long-tail keyword: “blue sports trainers for long-distance running”)

However, your posts should be loaded both with short and long-tail keywords because this organic combination can give a better user experience and higher ranking.

The easiest ways to find long-tail keywords:

  • use Google autocomplete suggestions while adding qualifiers to short-tail keywords
  • use tools like Semrush, HubSpot, or Ubersuggest

2. Update old content

Outdated numbers, data, or statistics should be replaced with new ones, and the latest trends and insights need to be added to your old articles.

Make sure you adjust the post to the new sections or keywords, so the content flows naturally and organically.

3. Implement multimedia to your posts

Visual content often helps people understand certain topics better and learn faster compared to written content.

And it’s not just that. Videos, infographics, or pictures have the potential to help your business performance too. Look at these results from various surveys:

  • “87% of marketers say video has helped them increase traffic and 81% of marketers say video has helped them directly increase sales” (Wyzowl video marketing statistics 2022)
  • “32% of marketers believe that visuals are the most important type of content that their business creates.” (HubSpot Blog report 2022)
  • “Infographics are 30 times more likely to be read in their entirety than blog posts or news articles.” (Digital Information World)

You can use videos in the form of animations, screen recordings, live talks, or presentations, or you can bet on infographics — one of the most powerful ways to increase blog traffic. If you want to learn more about them, check this guide:

Want More Traffic to Your Blog? Focus on These 4 Content Types

4. Create content for all stages the visitor might be in

I highly recommend creating posts for different audiences — this way, you cover all potential content gaps in this area.

In this case, I would suggest using these three audience categories:

  1. Curious but not ready to buy (create content about what you’re selling and how to use it)
  2. Almost ready to buy (create content with data and stats on why your product/ service works and why the visitor should purchase it)
  3. Already a customer (create more in-depth info about the product customer already bought so they can make the best out of it)

5. Observe your competition

Whether manually or by using Ahrefs, HubSpot, or Ubersuggest, ensure you are up to date with your competitors’ content.

Check their sites for the content they have — but you don’t, analyze their performance and use your findings for further improvement.

Conclusion

Locating and fixing content gaps isn’t a long process, especially if done regularly. Plus, it doesn’t cost any money yet brings in fruitful outcomes.

So to sum it up, by using this method on your website or blog, you can gain the following:

  • increase domain ranking
  • decrease bounce rate
  • improve conversion rates
  • attract new readers and customers
  • outrank your competitors