User centred content audits

When conducting a content audit, be sure to include all content, such as:

• written content such as articles, editorial copy, white papers, blog posts, PDFs, Word documents, forms
• Audio content such as podcasts, music or audio clips
• Visual content such as photos, Logos, videos, infographics and animations

What are the benefits of reviewing your content?

• Identifies valuable content - if launching a minimum viable product (MVP) you can ensure you are migrating the most business-critical information first
• Enhances the user experience
• Aligns with new goals and objectives
• Facilitates content migration
• Supports strategic planning
• Enhances analytics setup
• Supports goals for sustainability
• Supports AI tools in accessing the most relevant content for users
• Enhances the reputation of the University

Who is the content for?

Note: if your content doesn’t have an audience it shouldn’t be on a website.

Segment your audience

Divide a broad audience into smaller, more manageable groups based on shared characteristics. This helps tailor content to meet the specific needs and preferences of different user groups, thereby enhancing user experience and engagement. Many may overlap.

Do an inventory on all content

Create a sitemap to identify all pages currently on your website. This will show the number and location of pages. It will also identify duplicate pages of content. This can be used throughout the process as a content checklist.

Toolkit

If you're on a Mosaic site, you can use the following links to generate a list of pages:
[site_prefix].web.ox.ac.uk/sitelist.html
[site_prefix].web.ox.ac.uk/sitemap.xml
[custom_domain]/sitemap.xml or [custom_domain]/sitelist.html

XML-sitemaps.com is a free tool that will create a free site map for small websites (up to 500 pages); the paid version will index up to 1,500,000. To create an excel version, enter your URL, enter and download the XML file it creates. Open excel, select the downloaded XML file and it will open it up in excel. You can then use this as a basis for your checklist.

Analyse Content Performance – keep or cull?

If content is analysed prior to launch it can identify high performing content and support prioritisation. It can spot underperforming content to allow you to decide whether to update, consolidate or remove it. It also helps to understand user behaviour.

Toolkit

• Google Analytics
  

  will create a report showing all webpages that have been visited by users to your site. It won’t show you pages that haven’t been visited. Use this data to support your decision whether to keep or cull.

• Microsoft clarity is a free tool you can install on your site, in the same way as google analytics. It provides insights into how users interact with your site, such as where they click and how they navigate. It is very useful for designing a new structure or improving an existing one. It shows where users experience frustration and where design and content doesn’t align with their expectations. It also has built in AI to support your analysis.

Design content iteratively

Content should be continually analysed for it's effectiveness with users:

Continue this cycle until the content meets the desired quality and effectiveness or is retired.

Helpful tools to review content

• VWO – Free version tool for A/B testing i.e. comparing two different versions with users to see if there is a statistical difference.
• Run user interviews to test the changes. Maze has some great suggestions on how to run content tests.
• Carry out some guerilla user testing e.g. ask parents on the school run what they think of the copy, ask colleagues from other teams to review for you. This approach won’t always work but it will see if you are heading in the correct direction.

Does your content meet user needs?

• Ensure relevance. If content is out of date, it can negatively impact engagement
• Improve Search engine optimisation. For internal content this will be key as external search engines like google will no longer be interrogating your content and you will be relying on the SharePoint search. Use the words that your users are familiar with. Look at your analytics and see what search terms are popular - but don’t keyword ‘stuff’ e.g. try and fit your keywords into every sentence.
• Enhance user experience. Quality content will engage, educate and retain users.
• Maintain consistency and authenticity. High quality content builds trust and credibility with your audience. Duplicate content will be penalised by search engines.
• Tone of voice, must resonate with your audience

Tools to help evaluate content quality

• Hemingway Editor – highlights lengthy complex sentences and common grammatical errors. Free and paid versions available.
• First Word - Free readability text that will score content based on complexity.
• Grammarly - Supports the creation of well written content. Free and paid versions available.
• Co-Pilot and other AI tools
• Create personas - by understanding your audience better you can write content that is more relevant and engaging. This isn’t a quick task and research of your audience is required at the beginning.
• SurveyMonkey - survey your current users and see how the language resonates with them.

Legal compliance - Accessibility

As an organisation we need to be legally compliant with the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (PSBAR) 2018. The Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK ultimately enforce both, supported by other governmental departments, such as Government Digital Service (GDS), who have spoken with the University in the past regarding non-compliance. The Equality Act protects people from discrimination and unfair treatment in the workplace and in society.

PSBAR states that we must:

1. Ensure that each website we publish meets the international accessibility guidelines WCAG 2.2 to AA level.
2. Publish an accessibility statement on each set of webpages detailing our levels of WCAG conformance, known cases of non-compliance, along with other information like contact information.

Note: This information is provided as an overview only and is not intended to be taken as legal advice. Please consult your local legal team for clarity on PSBAR and the Equality Act as and when required.

Make your content accessible

Digital accessibility is often associated with screen readers and tools for visually impaired users, but its impact extends far beyond that. Ensuring your website is accessible means creating an inclusive environment where everyone, regardless of their abilities, can access and benefit from your content.

Toolkit

• For a large site an accessibility audit would be recommended. An external organisation such as AbilityNet or Silktide could support with this.
• GoogleLighthouse - free tool to perform page level audits. It creates a detailed report looking at accessibility, SEO and best practices.
• Accessibility Insights for Web - free Edge/Chrome extension that helps find and fix accessibility issues such as missing headings, incorrect tab order
• deque.com - free and paid for version. Developer tool for checking accessibility.
• Digital accessibility training - Internal training offered to increase understanding of digital accessibility with practical tips and tools.
• SiteImprove - Will provide an automated check of content

Accessibility checklist for editors

• Is the text written in plain English without slang, jargon and acronyms?
• Is the content in a logical order? Are headings correctly nested?
• Is link text meaningful and unique?
• Do all tables use the caption or summary tag?
• Are the headings of tables correctly defined?
• Do all images have appropriate alt text?
• Are all images free of text?
• Are all pdfs accessible?
• Does all audio have a transcript?
• Do all videos have a separate audio track with audio descriptions or a static text alternative?
• Do all videos have captions?
• Are there controls to pause/stop video and audio and to control the volume?

Does your content work for your users?

There are a few factors to consider when presenting content online including navigation, page structure, links, images, audio, video, language and interactivity. For more information, please see our guide: Making content that works for your users.

Find out what the users want

It really is important to find out whether your website meets the needs of the user as well as the website owner. There are many ways to get user feedback both qualitative and quantitative and it will save time and money if this is done prior to migration.

Toolkit

• Usability testing - participants complete a task whilst being observed. Behaviour and feedback are then used to provide recommendations for improvements.
• User Surveys - Help to understand user need, identify pain points and prioritise content. Questions could include: Which topics do you find most useful on our site? Are there any more topics we should cover more extensively? Did you find out content easy to understand? How easy is it to find the information your need on our site? What type of content format do you prefer e.g. articles, video, plain text. Tools such as Microsoft Forms are free and easy to use.