Why a content gap analysis is a must for any content strategy
A gap analysis is the best place to start when revising or creating new digital content.
A gap analysis is the best place to start when revising or creating new digital content.
Author: Hannah Barker and Abbie Krajewski
Last updated: 01/28/25
Let’s say your organization just announced a new service line. Perhaps it’s in response to recent changes from your top competitor. The update will affect operations. It will affect marketing and your team. And, no doubt, it will affect the website. After collecting some details, you and your communications team decide to dive in to see what kind of catchy content you can create. You’ll polish it and figure out where it lives later. You just need to get something on the page. Right?
Maybe not.
With a project of this size, a content gap analysis may be your best first step.
It’s a helpful place to start when revising or creating a large chunk of digital content. It’s a content strategy tool that sets your content up for success and helps you maintain that success throughout its lifecycle. But what is a gap analysis? Why is it important? How and when do you do it?
To learn more, we spoke with two of our WG Content content strategy experts — Nikki Breen and Stella Hart. They define gap analysis and explain the ins and outs of why it’s important for healthcare marketers.
Nikki: At a very basic level, a content gap analysis is about identifying where there are holes in your content strategy. I typically think of three different types of gap analysis:
Gap analysis is kind of a wide umbrella term. You may hear similar phrases that mean gap analysis, such as competitor analysis, SEO analysis, keyword strategy, gap assessment, needs assessment or needs gap analysis.
Stella: Gap analysis is an important part of a content strategy and can happen at different points. For a gap analysis on a website, I might ask these types of questions:
Gap analysis helps you identify opportunities to meet your users’ needs better, outperform your competitors and stand out as an organization.
You work for a healthcare system. Your organization’s website has a page called “Lactation Services.” As part of a regular gap analysis, you look at your Google Analytics. You see that people search for “breastfeeding class” after they look at your page about lactation services. You know that your healthcare system offers breastfeeding classes and support groups.
You’ve identified a gap in your services and content: they’re missing information. You now have an opportunity to fill the gap. Maybe you decide to add another page to your website that talks about your breastfeeding classes. That way, your content gives your users what they need.
Nikki: A gap analysis helps you understand what content you have on your website (or elsewhere).You can lose users if you don’t have the right content on your website. Statistically, if you can’t answer questions for someone, they’re going to look online somewhere else. Whoever can best answer those questions is the one people will rely on as a thought leader, go to with a health problem or question, or turn to for care. For healthcare systems, this can mean the difference between gaining or losing potential patients, employees, physicians, donors or volunteers.
Did you know? In the past, Google did a hospital study where they found that 61% of patients go to at least two healthcare websites before they book an appointment. That means if one site offers a better user experience and conveys that it’s better for a patient’s care, the patient will choose it.
Nikki: It’s a good idea to do a gap analysis regularly. Some hints that you may need a gap analysis include:
Stella: It’s also helpful to listen to what people are saying at your organization—especially about your website. If you need need of a gap analysis, you may start hearing internal people say:
Any of those kinds of internal stressors or pain points can be a good trigger for bringing in a content strategist to help with gap analysis and other content strategy work. Or, if you’re using Google to find content on your own website, it’s a sign that your content and how it’s organized on your page isn’t as helpful as it could be.
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Stella: Gap analysis steps can vary by project. But it’s helpful to start with a conversation about goals — not only your organization’s digital strategy but also your larger strategic goals. First, I ask, “What are you hoping to accomplish with the audience you’re trying to reach?”
Then, I move into the research phase to figure out where gaps are happening. I might:
I always tell clients to send me everything — and the kitchen sink. Once I know what’s there, then we can figure out what might be missing, what they do or do not offer and how they’re promoting these offerings. We can develop a plan to prioritize how to fill the gaps.
Stella: I think there’s always value in having an outside perspective coming in—someone who doesn’t know how your organization is structured or how things work. Because that’s how patients experience it. They don’t know how your organization or content is structured going in. Someone coming in with an outsider’s perspective and identifying those gaps can be really helpful.
Nikki: When you have an outside perspective, you’re also getting people who have worked with many different health systems. We have knowledge in our heads, like, “This has or hasn’t worked well for this type of health system in the past.” So, you’re getting that kind of consulting expertise. When you’re inside the organization, it’s easier to get tunnel vision that someone from the outside doesn’t have.
Stella: Using AI is a great tool to ideate and identify potential content gaps. If you have an idea or working list of content gaps, you can also use AI to “spot check” for any topics you may have missed. But an AI query shouldn’t be the only step in your analysis. You’ll need solid data reflecting actual user interests in your market and how users are currently engaging with your existing content. It’s critical to have an accounting of the actual services your organization offers and what’s strategic to promote from a business perspective that can be supported operationally. Another key element is understanding what your competitors offer and promote online and how their content resonates.
Ready to do a gap analysis on your content? Before you start, Nikki and Stella have a few helpful tips and lessons learned to share from their experiences.
To illustrate the power of a comprehensive content gap analysis, consider this recent project we did with St. Elizabeth Healthcare. This health system, serving communities across Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, aimed to reimagine its online presence to reflect its expanded services and improve patient pathways to care. With ambitious goals for its primary service lines — including Cancer Care, Heart & Vascular and Orthopaedics — St. Elizabeth needed a strategy to ensure its content resonated with target audiences and stood out in a competitive market.
We began by conducting a thorough content and competitive analysis for each key service line. This process identified areas where existing content was underperforming or didn’t effectively meet patient needs. Some findings included opportunities to:
With these insights, we developed a customized strategy to address these gaps and elevate St. Elizabeth’s digital presence. The deliverables included targeted recommendations for audience engagement, patient journey mapping, keyword optimizations and metadata updates.
“The thoughtful approach to service line content strategy and development is paying off. Coupled with investments in digital media, the health system is seeing improved search rankings, increases in branded traffic and increases in new users visiting the site for the first time,” says Jessica Guido, digital Communications Coordinator at St. Elizabeth.
Read the full case study to learn more.
WG Content can help fill gaps in your healthcare content to make it as effective as possible. Our expert content strategists use their experience to conduct a gap analysis, interpret the results and create a plan of action. Let us know how we can help your team achieve content success.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2022. It was updated in January 2025.
The timeline for a content gap analysis can vary based on the size of your website or project. For a smaller website, it could take 1–2 weeks to review content, analyze performance and identify gaps. For larger healthcare systems or service lines, the process may take several weeks or months, especially if stakeholder interviews and comprehensive audits are involved.
Common tools include:
Combining these tools with direct feedback from internal teams and patient surveys can provide a well-rounded picture of gaps.
Engaging with content strategists early allows organizations to use their expertise to identify and address content gaps effectively. Get experts involved ASAP to help you get more done without needing to redo already completed work. When they collaborate with experts in content strategy, organizations can develop a complete plan to fill content gaps and optimize content for better user engagement and searchability.
While the work can be done without stakeholder input, you might be missing out on critical capabilities that have developed since you last took a fresh look at your content. Stakeholders can inform on everything from new processes and services to common hurdles your users struggle with. This can inform the future state of content a strategist may recommend. If arranging meeting dates and times is challenging, consider an online survey so stakeholders can complete it on their schedule.
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