Content inventory

A content inventory is the process and the result of cataloging the entire contents of a website. An allied practice—a content audit—is the process of evaluating that content. A content inventory and a content audit are closely related concepts, and they are often conducted in tandem.

Description

A content inventory typically includes all information assets on a website, such as web pages, meta elements, images, audio and video files, and document files. A content inventory is a quantitative analysis of a website. It simply logs what is on a website. The content inventory will answer the question: “What is there?” and can be the start of a website review. A related is a content audit, a qualitative analysis of information assets on a website. It is the assessment of that content and its place in relationship to surrounding Web pages and information assets. The content audit will answer the question: “Is it any good?”
Over the years, techniques for creating and managing a content inventory have been developed and refined in the field of website content management.
A spreadsheet application is the preferred tool for keeping a content inventory; the data can be easily configured and manipulated. Typical categories in a content inventory include the following:

Link — The URL for the page
Format — For example,.HTML,.pdf,.doc,.ppt
Meta page title — Page title as it appears in the meta tag</li><li> <a href="/wiki/Meta_keywords">Meta keywords</a> — Keywords as they appear in the <a href="/wiki/Meta_tag">meta name="keywords" tag element</a></li><li> Meta description — Text as it appears in the <a href="/wiki/Meta_tag">meta name="description" tag element</a></li><li> Content owner — Person responsible for maintaining page content</li><li> <a href="/wiki/Date">Date</a> page last updated — Date of last page update</li><li> Audit Comments — Audit findings and notes</li></ul>Other descriptors may <a href="/wiki/Need_to">need to</a> be captured on the inventory sheet. <a href="/wiki/Content_management">Content management</a> experts advise capturing information that might be useful for both short- and long-term purposes. Other information could include:<br><ul><li> the overall topic or area to which the page belongs</li><li> a short description of the information on the page</li><li> when the page was created, the date of the last revision, and when the <a href="/wiki/Next_page">next page</a> review is due</li><li> pages this page links to</li><li> pages that link to this page</li><li> page <a href="/wiki/Status">status</a> – keep, delete, revise, in revision process, planned, being written, being edited, in review, ready for posting, or posted</li><li> rank of the page on the website – is it a <a href="/wiki/Top_50">top 50</a> pages? a bottom 50 page? Initial efforts might be more focused on those pages that visitors use the most and least.</li></ul>Other tabs in the inventory workbook can be created to track related information, such as <a href="/wiki/Meta_keywords">meta keywords</a>, new <a href="/wiki/Web">Web</a> pages to develop, website tools and resources, or content inventories for sub-areas of the main website. Creating a single, shared location for information related to a website can be helpful for all website content managers, writers, editors, and publishers.<br>Populating the spreadsheet is a painstaking task, but some up-front work can be automated with software, and other tools and resources can assist the audit work.<h2>Value</h2>A content inventory and a content audit are performed to understand what is on a website and why it is there. The inventory sheet, once completed and revised as the site is updated with new content and information assets, can also become a resource for help in maintaining <a href="/wiki/Website_governance">website governance</a>.<br>For an existing website, the information cataloged in a content inventory and content audit will be a resource to help manage all of the information assets on the website. The information gathered in the inventory can also be used to <a href="/wiki/Plan_a">plan a</a> website re-design or site migration to a <a href="/wiki/Web_content_management_system">web content management system</a>. When planning a new website, a content inventory can be a useful <a href="/wiki/Project_management">project management</a> tool: as a guide to map <a href="/wiki/Information_architecture">information architecture</a> and to track new pages, page revision dates, content owners, and so on.<br> </article> </main> <aside> <div class="sidebar-widget"><div class="sidebar-header"><h3>Books</h3></div><ul class="top-10-list"><li><a href="/wiki/Wuthering_Heights"><span class="rank">1</span> Wuthering Heights <span class="pop-tag">287,720</span></a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies"><span class="rank">2</span> Lord of the Flies <span class="pop-tag">41,046</span></a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Tales_of_Dunk_and_Egg"><span class="rank">3</span> Tales of Dunk and Egg <span class="pop-tag">18,945</span></a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Jane_Eyre"><span class="rank">4</span> Jane Eyre <span class="pop-tag">12,439</span></a></li><li><a href="/wiki/The_Housemaid_(novel)"><span class="rank">5</span> The 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