Content Mapping: A Complete Guide + Free Template

One of the biggest challenges marketers look is providing their people customers with the close accusation astatine the close time.

Many contented marketers find it hard to find which topics are important to screen next. As a result, they commencement creating pages upon pages of antithetic types of contented hoping that immoderate of it volition negociate to pull caller postulation portion disregarding their existing contented altogether.

That's wherever a well-designed contented representation comes into play arsenic portion of your content selling strategy.

Creating a contented map allows your squad to align the accumulation of your contented and the organisation transmission to scope your assemblage astatine each signifier of the buyer's journey.

In this post, I'll screen everything you request to cognize astir creating a contented representation — from evaluating traffic-driving contented to creating indispensable caller content.

Table of Contents:

• What is Content Mapping?

  • What is the Buyer's Journey?

• Why Is Content Mapping Important?

• What Information Do You Need to Create a Content Map?

• How to Create a Content Map

  • Part I: Create a Topic Authority Map

  • Part II: Identify New Topics

Access our Content Mapping Template to get started gathering retired your contented strategy and uncovering caller contented opportunities. 

What is Content Mapping?

Content mapping is the process of readying and creating contented to conscionable circumstantial needs on each signifier of the lawsuit journey.

To make a contented map, contented marketers must archetypal specify however each existing contented asset relates to a customer’s needs and aligns with their questions, challenges, and goals astatine each signifier of the buying funnel.

From there, they request to measure the gaps successful their current content. This volition assistance them uncover caller contented opportunities wrong each taxable clump to grow their authorization and amended enactment the buyer's journey.

This attack ensures that the close contented reaches the close idiosyncratic astatine the close time, enhancing engagement and guiding them smoothly towards conversion.

What is the Buyer's Journey?

In simplest terms, the buyer’s travel is simply a model that outlines the steps a user takes — from identifying a request and researching applicable accusation to making a decision. This process whitethorn alteration betwixt industries and merchandise types.

In general, however, the process involves going done astatine slightest 3 main stages of a funnel toward a last purchase:

In short, erstwhile choosing products, a buyer:

• Develops an involvement successful a merchandise oregon observe a request to lick a problem, 
• Looks for much accusation astir it (whether via a blog, infographic, webinar, etc.),  
• Considers antithetic alternatives, and 
• Settles connected 1 solution to buy. 

Recommended Reading: Keyword Mapping Along the Buyer Journey

Why Is Content Mapping Important?

There are 3 main benefits of contented mapping, isolated from allowing you to presumption contented on the buyer’s travel strategically.

1. Content mapping helps you recognize customers better. To representation content, you indispensable larn much astir them, and however they hunt for products oregon services your institution offers. All this cognition is bound to enrich your strategies and amended the results you deliver.
2. Mapping contented uncovers existent lawsuit needs. In fact, the process helps flooded 1 of the top challenges marketers face: having to enactment disconnected assumptions only. As you’ll spot shortly, contented mapping removes immoderate guesswork from the process, leaving you with hard facts and information that are applicable to your buyers.
3. Finally, content mapping defines your contented improvement roadmap. This is peculiarly important erstwhile you person thousands of keywords to take from and conflict to prioritize what to enactment connected next. We've discussed this thought of forecasting your contented needs successful an earlier post, SEO Forecasting: How to Identify Your Organic Traffic Potential.

When you’ve mapped contented ideas to the buyer’s journey, defining an SEO contented strategy becomes ridiculously easy.

What Information Do You Need to Create a Content Map?

First, you indispensable person a bully knowing of whom you’re targeting successful the hunt results – your purchaser personas.

In short, a purchaser persona is simply a elaborate statement of the perfect lawsuit you’re trying to pull to your brand. 

The different happening you request is their buying journey. You indispensable specify circumstantial steps radical instrumentality arsenic they question to acquisition products oregon services similar yours. I’ve outlined a generic lawsuit travel above; however, the existent process for your concern and products whitethorn beryllium shorter oregon longer.

My proposal is to probe it with the income team’s help. No 1 other knows your customers' buying travel amended wrong the organization. 

Finally, you request to conduct a contented audit to place what contented you already have. This volition assistance you recognize what assets you tin representation to the buyer’s journey. It volition besides forestall you from accidentally duplicating those assets erstwhile creating caller content.

Recommended Reading: 5 Actionable Steps to Building a Better Customer Journey

How to Create a Content Map

Now it's clip to really make your contented map. To marque things simple, we've outlined the process successful 2 parts.

This contented mapping usher volition assistance you:

• Assess however your existent contented supports your people assemblage successful their buying journey.
• Discover what accusation you’re missing and request to create.
• Discover what topics oregon insights would enrich your contented adjacent further.

Part I: Create a Topic Authority Map

One accordant constituent spans the full buying journey: the evolving quality of the buyer's inquiries.

Initially, buyers delve into knowing their occupation and its significance. As they summation insight, their curiosity pivots towards exploring assorted solutions. Ultimately, successful the decision-making phase, their absorption shifts to strategizing the implementation of a chosen solution.

Of course, these questions volition besides alteration depending connected the purchaser persona and different factors. In general, however, you tin presume that they’ll inquire astir applicable accusation astatine each signifier of the buying cycle.

Your content, therefore, should purpose to reply circumstantial questions, applicable to the person’s peculiar signifier of the cycle.

For much circumstantial penetration into the accusation your people assemblage is searching for astatine each signifier of their journey, usage seoClarity's User Search Journeys capability. In seconds, it reveals what users hunt for earlier and aft people keywords, providing invaluable penetration into the apical questions and needs of your people audience.

Here's an example: 

To observe holes successful your existing content, you request to measure which questions you’re already answering.

I typically bash it this an Excel document, pursuing these 4 steps:

1. Create a conception for each measurement of your customer’s journey. You could usage the elemental outline I listed supra oregon adhd further steps that buyers spell done successful your circumstantial industry.
   
2. Create abstracted breakdowns for each persona you people (optional). The chances are that they’ll question antithetic accusation successful their journey. And so, it’s worthy it to place their idiosyncratic needs to get a clearer representation of your contented assets.
3. List assorted questions these radical would inquire astatine each signifier successful abstracted columns. Again, if possible, bash this for each persona separately.
4. In each question column, commencement listing contented assets (blog posts, pillar pages, merchandise pages, etc.) that supply answers.

With this exercise, you’ll rapidly recognize wherever successful the buying process you’re not providing applicable information.

Part II: Identify New Topics

In this step, we’ll excavation deeper into the information to observe however to capable successful the gaps successful your strategy.

In particular, we’ll look into assorted SEO information points to uncover your audience's preferences and informational needs.

Step 1. Assess Keywords Driving Traffic to Your Current Content

Keywords connection the astir nonstop penetration into what accusation your assemblage seeks.

But, it's important to besides look beyond conscionable the hunt presumption that bring visitors to your site. Analyzing immoderate query that leads Google to fertile a leafage tin besides shed airy connected your people customers' preferences.

Start by utilizing Search Analytics to place the keywords that thrust traffic to your site.

Sorting by Impressions, reappraisal the presumption and phrases for the contented you already usage to people a circumstantial signifier of the buyer's journey. I stitchery these presumption and adhd them to my Content Map with the existing asset's URL.

This probe typically uncovers absorbing insights astir the audience’s preferences. I ask, "How are they uncovering the already published content, and with what queries?"

Then, look astatine what presumption are ranking good and what presumption are conscionable retired of scope of the SERP. To bash this, filter the results by Avg. Position betwixt 11 and 30.

This reveals a mates of things: either this portion of contented missed the people and needs to beryllium updated with much applicable accusation oregon determination is an accidental to make a NEW portion of content. 

In the illustration below, I tin spot aggregate presumption that tin beryllium integrated into my contented map, guiding the instauration of caller contented oregon the optimization of existing material.

I bash this readying wrong my ain contented representation successful an Excel spreadsheet (which I've replicated present arsenic a contented mapping template for you to download below).

So, to recap the archetypal step:

1. Pick one contented plus from your authorization map.
2. Research keywords that thrust postulation to it. Depending connected the fig of results, you mightiness person to filter to find queries with the highest potential. I typically look astatine those with the highest fig of impressions and conversions archetypal and measure wherever I could amended those results.
3. List those keywords beside your contented plus successful your contented mapping template (see beneath for download).

Step 2. Identify Additional Keyword Opportunities and Content Ideas

Topic Explorer helps you easy place agelong process keywords for the clump you're researching oregon presumption antecedently utilized successful different contented assets. 

This instrumentality enables you to delve deeper, identifying much pertinent keywords connected to the archetypal word that's already driving postulation to your website.

Step 3. Determine How to Optimize Current Content Assets

Content Fusion, our AI SEO contented penning tool, is simply a real powerhouse erstwhile it comes to improving and enriching existing content.

Content Fusion collates assorted hunt query information and analyzes your contented with a purpose-built heavy learning algorithm to suggest what accusation could enrich it further.

Once you've recovered the cardinal presumption that are driving postulation to your tract for a portion of content, usage Content Fusion to amusement you what opportunities you whitethorn person missed successful your archetypal publication.

Let's ideate I'm a B2B marque looking to optimize a pillar leafage of contented for the word "IT solutions". I tin enactment this operation and the URL of the contented I privation to optimize into Content Fusion to get an instant database of recommended keywords to see successful my copy.

I tin easy spot respective opportunities to see further accusation connected my leafage astir cyber threats and managed IT services to fortify its authorization and relevance.

Access our Content Mapping Template to physique retired your contented strategy and find caller contented opportunities. 

Conclusion

You're present equipped to place gaps successful your contented and pinpoint the precise accusation required to trade contented that efficaciously positions your marque passim the full buyer's journey.

By uncovering however your perfect customers hunt for your products oregon services, you tin place ways to link with them, thrust them to your site, and prosecute them with your brand.

The Content Mapping Template provided volition assistance you get started with greater contented wins today!

Editor's Note: This station was primitively published successful May 2018 and has been updated to bespeak changes successful the seoClarity platform.