This article is a highlight of my work at Genesis10.
In the ever-evolving digital landscape, maintaining a clean and efficient content repository is crucial. As an Adobe Consultant and a key player in client Content Cleanup initiatives, I’ve had the unique opportunity to help drive efforts that ensure digital content remains relevant and impactful.
The Cleanup Crusade: A Strategic Approach
Content cleanup is not just about decluttering; it’s a strategic move towards optimizing my digital presence. Any approach should be methodical and data-driven, focusing on enhancing user experience and content relevancy. To this end, it’s important to set a threshold based on data such as engagement and KPIs whether that be visits, pageviews, form submissions, time on site, or whatever is relevant to the client.
Examples of Site Data to Use
In Adobe Analytics I’ll often set up a workspace with various panels for each site, or sometimes I may need to work with a report in a DEP (Data Experience Platform) like Domo. In either case, for content that is revenue-focused, the report may include a Lead Sequence. Again this will vary for each company and even organizations within the same company but could look something like this:
Page Urls | Visits | Form Success | MQL | SQL | Closed | BookingsAnother example could be sites that are focused more on engagement with content and not on revenue impacts and could look something like the following:
Page URLs | Visits | Page Views | Unique Visitors | Form SuccessNavigating the Cleanup Process
Cleanup processes can be comprehensive, involving multiple stages from defining criteria for content retirement to involving content owners in the review process. It’s important to meet with content owners and establish a regular rhythm for my cleanup activities, adopting criteria based on their organizational goals.
While AEM can allow us to extract data from specific folders, depending on how a client has set up their sites folder it’s not uncommon that they’ll use a standard naming convention for language-region paths. Since many larger corporations have different site owners based in specific locales there could be a need to manually extract and parse this data.
One such example of an Excel Forumal to do this is:
=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("en-us", A2)), "AMER", IF(OR(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("cs-cz", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("da-dk", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("fr-fr", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("de-de", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("it-it", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("su-se", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("ru-ru", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("pl-pl", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("pt-br", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("ro-ro", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("nl-nl", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("nb-no", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("uk-ua", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("tr-tr", A2))), "EMEA", IF(OR(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("ja-jp", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("hi-in", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("id-id", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("zh-cn", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("zh-tw", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("th-th", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("tl-ph", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("ms-my", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("ko-kr", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("en-in", A2))), "APAC", IF(OR(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("es-es", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("es-mx", A2))), "LATAM", "Other"))))The Human Touch in a Digital World
While automation plays a significant role in many aspects of data pulls, the human element remains irreplaceable when it comes to reviewing reports suggesting deprecation of certain content. I engage with content owners to review and provide feedback on articles to be archived, ensuring that every piece of content is given due consideration.
Data-Driven Decisions
Data is at the heart of my cleanup efforts. I meticulously gather and analyze data points like page visits, asset counts, and revenue impacts to make informed decisions about which content to keep, update, or retire. This data-driven approach allows me to prioritize my efforts and focus on content that delivers the most value to my users.
What about underperforming content?
- Is it a content issue or a marketing issue?
- Is it required by law?
- If the content is no longer relevant why does it need to stay?
- Is there a need for historical articles such as on news sites?
- Do you really need an old CSS article about deprecated tags?
- If the content is still relevant but not performing as desired, would a refresh or promotion help it?
- Should old content be promoted or should it be refreshed?
The Impact of Content Cleanup
The results of my content cleanup are clear: a streamlined, efficient content repository that serves my users better. Retiring outdated content and enhancing what remains provides a more focused and valuable digital experience for authors and site visitors.
What do we get out of content cleanup?
- Less clutter when navigating your CMS content trees
- Faster report times with less content
- Ensure only latest web components are used on pages providing a better visitor experience
Calling Myself Out
As an Adobe Experience Consultant, I’m often immersed in the complexities of client projects and their pursuit of digital excellence. Obviously, in the whirlwind of professional projects, I’ve often overlooked the upkeep of my personal blog. It’s a common oversight of mine where I prioritize my client’s digital landscapes while my personal domains gather virtual dust.
I recognize the irony, especially given my advocacy for content cleanup to clients.