The human attention span is shorter than ever. A recent Microsoft study shows that the human attention span has dropped to just eight seconds. So if your visitors can’t find what they want fast, they will move to another website, and you don’t want that. 

You want to retain your visitors, and you’ll need to retain their attention for that to happen. This is where content discovery shines through. Content discovery will help web visitors find what they want fast. It helps them sift through debris of content to find exactly what they actually want. 

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What is content discovery? 

Content discovery is the process customers and users go through to find, discover, and consume relevant content on your website. 

It encapsulates all the various ways your content is discovered on your website. In very simplified terms, it’s a bridge that connects your content to your users.     

For a user, website content discovery would look like: visiting a website, navigating through the web pages, and typing key phrases into the site search bar. After entering keywords into the content search bar, they browse through the search results to see related content. Then, users select the most relatable content from these results. Lastly, they interact with the selected content and spend some time with it.     

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Why is Content Discovery Important?

Not sure about the importance of content discovery? You might want to change your mind after this:

• ‍It bridges the gap between your content and web visitors: There is no point in having web content if no one reads it. This is where content discovery comes in. It serves as the link between your content and those who need it.‍
• It improves your RVR (repeat visitor ratio): Your RVR will improve if contents are easily discoverable and accessible on your website. Repeat visitors are very valuable. Statistics from Barilliance show that returning visitors add items to their carts 65% more than first-time visitors.  They are also 73% more likely to convert than first time visitors.
• It reduces the bounce rate of your website: Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors that leave your website without taking any action on it. Simple content discovery tools like a site search field can reduce bounce rates significantly. 
• It improves the visibility of your web content: The more discoverable your content, the more visitors read it. The more site visitors read, the more they share and recommend it to others.
• It saves both you and your site visitors a lot of time: A good content discovery system will save visitors time by easily finding what they need. They will also spend less time raising concerns to  you and your customer support team. This saves you more time and energy to improve the overall experience of navigating and using your website.
• It raises revenue: Web users will spend more time and make more purchases on your website when they easily locate their ideal product. They are also more likely drop their contacts for your sales funnel.

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How to make it easier for your users to find what they want?

Now that we know the importance of content discovery, the following tips will help improve your website and make it easier for users to find what they want. These tips will also help bring in organic traffic.

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Improve your site search

A major tool for improving content discovery on your website is site search. Improved and intuitive site search helps visitors search contents easily, with relevant search results popping up instantaneously. 

You should also ensure that your website content is constantly indexed for optimal website content discovery. The user experience of your site search must always be good. Make your search button easy to find and use. You should also use dynamic search results for improved content search by brand

Several website administrators make the mistake of placing the brand before the audience, client, and leads when it comes to website content discovery. This leads to poor content discovery for site visitors. You need to step into the shoes of your users and imagine how they would behave when trying to discover content on your website. See through their thought process, intent, demographics and pain points. 

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Delve into search intent research for your focus audience

Search intent refers to the reason why a focus audience needs content discovery. You need to understand why your target audience is looking for specific content. This helps you create the best possible content for your target audience. It also improves your understanding of the audiences and make the web content discovery process much better.

Some website visitors might need content in the form of tutorials and guides. Others may need directional or navigational content that points them to a specific need or contact. Some may simply need purchase information on goods and services. A few others may require entertainment pieces that warm their heart to you. Search intent will clarify this and help you create content accordingly.

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Do some sub-niche audience research

Audience research is much more than targeting a broad group of people. You might need to go deeper and do a sub-niche research for those with specific interests. Do that, and produce contents for each niche, thereby increasing the possibility of content discovery from those people.

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Conduct a content audit

A content audit analyzes the content on your website and evaluates its performance. It might also include a comparison with similar contents from your competitors to rank your content. A content audit gives you the relevant information on improving current and future content for better content discovery.

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Use the right content discovery tools

Content discovery tools like Omnisearch, Google, Outbrain and hashtags can vastly improve content discovery for your website. These tools will recommend relevant content from your website to your target audience.

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Conclusion

Content discovery is key to improving the performance of your website. The points discussed above will help you improve content discovery for your website. That said, readymade tools like Omnisearch will make it easier to improve your website’s content discovery process. Sign up today, and take your content discovery to the next level.