A content inventory is the process of creating a catalog of the full content of a product or deliverable. It is a method of reducing the complexity of a full survey of the content to a more manageable summary. A content inventory helps content team members to understand the type of content that it creates, as well as how the content is organized, and further informs future efforts to improve content.
By comparing the results of a content inventory against a set of goals for creating and delivering content, a content team can determine gaps and challenges, as well as identify areas for improvement.
A content inventory is useful when content teams want to perform the following:
- Create new content without duplicating effort
- Categorize content or re-categorize content
- Assign value to each piece of content to determine which should be promoted, demoted, or expired
- Identify gaps and inconsistencies in the content
A content inventory is mostly a quantitative analysis of the content. It is meant to create a measurable list. (Efforts to qualitatively analyze content, typically known as a content audit, are not a part of creating a content inventory.)
Content teams benefit from performing a content inventory, as they can improve the efficiency of content creation by avoiding duplicated effort. The potential for improving content quality is increased with an understanding of which content should be promoted, demoted, or completely expired. Content quality is also improved by understanding and removing inconsistencies. Consistent content and content presentation improves customer satisfaction and helps to reduce or eliminate confusion.
