In 2026, content is the primary focus of marketing efforts, with an emphasis on quality over quantity. Brands produce fewer pieces of content. But the content is highly targeted and designed to elicit a specific reaction from the audience. However, some underperforming content still needs content development to make it sizzle.
With the proliferation of content, marketing teams need to be more strategic than ever in order to cut through the noise and reach their audiences. So much is changing in the content creation arena today.
Those who can do so will find that content marketing is an incredibly effective way to build brand awareness and drive conversions.
Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- In 2026, content development focuses on quality, prioritizing audience reactions over quantity.
- Underperforming content generally fails to engage, aligning poorly with user intent or lacking effective keywords.
- Conduct regular content assessments using tools such as Google Analytics to identify underperforming pieces.
- Update, rewrite, or promote underperforming content while ensuring it aligns with current trends and user searches.
- Employ content development strategies to enhance structure, engagement, and effectiveness, ultimately improving performance.
How to Detect and Improve Underperforming Content
Often, brands face underperforming content on their blogs or websites. If your content is underperforming, it isn’t engaging enough.
Or not reaching the audience that you had hoped for.
Keep reading to learn what underperforming content is, how to detect it, and how content development can address these issues.
What is Underperforming Content?
Underperforming content is content that fails to meet the expectations of its audience. This can be due to a number of factors: including poor writing, incorrect or outdated information, or a lack of relevance to the audience.
To avoid these issues, it’s important to regularly assess your content to see how it’s performing. If you have content that isn’t performing well, it’s important to take a step back.
Then, analyze why that might be. Use both desktop and mobile analytics tools to track metrics such as page views, time on page, and bounce rate.
If you see a sudden drop-off in any of these metrics, it’s a sign that your content is underperforming. It may be time to update or replace it.
Content Drop Reasons
There are many reasons why content may underperform. In any case, it is a frustrating situation for any business. Let’s have a deeper look at the reasons:
- Competition
With so many businesses vying for attention online, it’s easy for content to disappear in the shuffle. To stand out, content must be well-written, compelling, and relevant to the target audience.
- It does not match the user intent
User intent is the purpose for which a user is searching for information. If your content does not align with the user’s purpose and does not answer the question they are looking for, they are likely to leave your site.
They do this without taking any action, which can hurt your performance.
- Wrong keywords optimization
Using the wrong keywords can bury your content under a sea of more relevant content for the searcher’s query. You also might not be using enough of the right keywords.
That can result in your content not being found by potential customers.
More Underperforming Content Drop Reasons
- Outdated information
In today’s rapidly-changing world, information can become outdated very quickly. Therefore, if your content is not regularly updated, it will soon become irrelevant.
Outdated information can also lead to incorrect information. Incorrect information confuses and misleads your audience.
Source: The Verge
- Poor formatting
Poor formatting can include using large blocks of text, not breaking content into smaller paragraphs, and not using bullet points or lists.
Additionally, using too many images or videos can make content appear cluttered and difficult to read.
Content with poor formatting is off-putting to readers and can lead them to quickly abandon your website.
- Unattractive design
When content is presented in an unattractive or difficult-to-navigate format, audiences are less likely to engage with it. Even if a poorly designed article had better content, chances are you would still prefer the better-designed one.
This is because good design is visually appealing and makes reading more enjoyable.
- Content duplication
When content is duplicated, it can be difficult for search engines to determine which version is most relevant to a given search query. It can lead to search engines penalizing the site for having duplicate content.
That can result in the site being pushed down the search engine rankings and losing organic traffic.
Content Development: How to Detect Issues Affecting Your Content?
If you’re not seeing the results you want from your content, it may be time for a content audit and more content development. It can help you identify which pieces are underperforming and why.
Once you know what’s not working, you can take steps to fix it. There are a few different ways to approach a content audit:
Use Google Analytics for Content Development
If you’re running a website, it’s important to track how users interact with your content. Google is a free tool that lets you analyze your organic channel. Organic traffic is the traffic that comes to your website from search engines.
This can come from people typing your URL into the search bar or clicking a link to your website from another site.
By tracking metrics such as page views, session duration, and bounce rate, you can get a good idea of how users engage with your site.
Getting Started
To start, go to the Acquisition tab in Google Analytics, then click Channels. There you’ll see an overview of organic traffic, including the average number of pages visited, average time on site, and bounce rate.
You can also use other tabs in Google Analytics, like the Engagement tab, which can show you what pages are being visited, and the Demographics tab, which can show you who is visiting your site.
What’s more, you can compare the current period with the previous one to detect which pages have a decrease in traffic. Just go to the Reports tab, then click on the Add comparison button.
This will show you a side-by-side comparison of the two periods. By using Google Analytics to analyze your organic traffic, you can get a better understanding of what’s working well and what’s not.
Then you can begin to fix underperforming content.
Search Engine Ranking
SE Ranking offers a powerful On-Page Audit tool that helps you analyze your webpages’ optimization scores and SERP competitors, and identify areas for improvement.
The tool analyzes your URL alongside your target keywords and checks the SERP for each keyword.
Then it compares your URL to your top organic rivals to identify how you should adjust your content to beat the competition.
SE Ranking’s tool also provides you with a great action plan on how to improve your on-page SEO of URLs that perform poorly.
On-page SEO Audit report on SE Ranking.
Technical Checks of Underperforming Content
If you’re not happy with the performance of your website’s content, there are a few technical checks you can perform using Google Search Console, or something similar, to help fix the problem:
As part of ongoing SEO efforts, you can run a coverage report to assess your website’s crawlability and indexability. To check for crawlability and indexability, use tools like Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools.
They will help you identify any errors or issues on your site that prevent it from being crawled or indexed. You can also use them to submit your sitemap to Google, which will help them crawl and index your website more effectively.
Finally, you can try crawling or indexing your site yourself. If you can’t access your site or pages, then chances are that search engines can’t either.
Orphan Content Not Good For Content Development
Is the content not internally linked on your blog or website? Having all your content linked internally is important for your site’s overall SEO. You want people to stay on your site longer and read through other related posts.
Having that content link back to another relevant post is important for your reader and for your SEO.
JavaScript Check
When you are running a website, it is important to periodically check for JavaScript errors. These errors can cause your website to malfunction and pose a security risk.
You can use a browser extension or plugin to generate a report of JavaScript errors on your website. However, you can use an online service that scans your website and provides a report of any errors it finds.
Upon completing a JavaScript check, don’t forget to tell your developer to fix the errors. Only one error can stop rendering in Google, and your web pages won’t be in the index and won’t be found by users.
Duplication
Duplication occurs when there is more than one piece of content on your site that covers the same topic, while cannibalization occurs when one piece of content competes with another for the same keywords or search terms.
To check for these issues, you can use a tool like Screaming Frog. The tool will crawl your website and identify pages targeting the same keyword. There are a few ways to resolve duplication and cannibalization issues:
- The first way is to make sure that each piece of content serves a different purpose. For example, if you have two blog posts that are both about the same topic, make sure that each post targets a different audience and uses different keywords.
- Another way is to use canonical tags. Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a piece of content is the original and should be indexed. This can be helpful if you have two similar pieces of content but don’t want both to be indexed by search engines.
Content Development Strategy To Fix Underperforming Content
Once you’ve identified the problem areas, it’s time to take action. If a piece of content is out of date, either delete it or update it. Or, if it’s poorly written, rewrite it.
However, if the underperforming content is not getting any traffic, promote it more. Now, let’s discover what actions we should take for a content development strategy:
Content Development May Exclude Technical Aspects
If your website’s content is underperforming, there are a few potential technical aspects that could be to blame. First, check whether all of your content is loading properly. If some of your content is “broken” or missing, that can definitely impact performance.
Second, make sure your site is properly indexed and that your content uses relevant keywords and tags.
Finally, take a look at your website’s design and layout. If it’s outdated or not user-friendly, that could impact your content’s performance.
Refresh The Underperforming Content
As a content creator, it’s important to monitor current trends. There are a number of ways to stay up to date on trends, including following industry news, reading blogs and articles, and attending conferences and events.
Of course, you don’t want to blindly follow trends. You should always consider how trends apply to your specific content and audience.
But keeping an eye on trends can help you ensure that your content is fresh, relevant, and engaging.
Looking at new data can also help you keep information current and relevant to your readers. When looking for new statistics and facts, be sure to choose reliable sources.
Look for data published by reputable organizations or individuals.
This will ensure that the information you are using is accurate. It’s important to keep your content fresh and relevant. If you notice something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to make a change.
Understand Search Intent
Search intent is the purpose behind a user’s search. Understanding search intent is key to creating content that meets users’ needs. If your content isn’t performing as well as you’d like, take a look at the search intent behind the queries it’s ranking for.
Is your content fulfilling that intent? If not, you may need to revise your content. Adjust it to better match what people are looking for to improve your performance.
For example, this page, written by a well-respected online marketer named Ron from OneHourProfessor, is about the best privacy policy generator software.
Notice that the post starts with “What are the Best Privacy Policy Generators?” and then under those recommendations, he covers “What is a Privacy Policy Generator?”
Many bloggers make the mistake of explaining what privacy policy generators are first, trying to make their content more in-depth, but that wasn’t what the searcher primarily wanted.
They wanted to know which privacy policy generator software is best, so he addressed that first.
Improve Content To Be Better Than The TOP In The SERP
To make the content better than the top spot in the search engine results pages, you need to first understand why a particular piece of content is ranking higher than yours.
Once you know the reasons why the content in the top spot is ranking higher than yours, you can start to make changes to improve your own content.
Some common reasons why content may rank higher than yours include:
- The content is more comprehensive and covers all the key points on the topic
- Better written and more engaging content
- The content is more visually appealing and uses multimedia
- Updated content more frequently
Structuring The Content To Fix Underperforming Content
Is the content not performing because it’s not relevant to your audience, or because its structure is off? If it’s the latter, the solution is to restructure it to be more effective.
This means breaking it down into smaller, more manageable chunks and then organizing it in a way that makes sense. You can also add headings and subheadings to make it easier to navigate, or use bullet points or numbered lists to highlight key information.
Moreover, by adding schema markup, you provide search engines with more information about your content, which can help them index it more effectively and improve your website’s search rankings.
In addition, if a website’s content is confusing or hard to read, a well-designed layout can make it much easier to understand.
Likewise, if a poorly organized website is slow, a good design is much easier to navigate. By making your content more digestible, you increase the likelihood that your audience will stick with it.
And that means better results for you.
Adding Videos, Infographics, And Other Engagement Actions
If you have content on your website that isn’t performing as well as you’d like, there are a few things you can do to try and fix it. One option is to add videos and infographics to the page.
It will help to make your content more visually appealing and interesting, break up text-heavy content, and encourage people to stay on the page longer and interact with it more.
Another option is to review your engagement actions and see if there’s anything you can do to make them more effective. Maybe you need to add more CTAs or make them more visible.
By adding comments, likes, and shares, you can increase the visibility of your content and encourage people to interact with it. Moreover, you can try repurposing your content into different formats. Like a video or a podcast, to reach a wider audience.
Conclusion: Use Content Development To Find and Fix Underperforming Content
If your content is underperforming, it’s important to take a step back and figure out why. Is it because the topic is uninteresting? Are there any technical issues that need fixing? Are the visuals unappealing?
Once you’ve pinpointed the problem, you can start to fix it using the methods we’ve mentioned.
If the topic is uninteresting, try to approach it from a different angle. If there are any technical issues, try to fix them as soon as possible. If the content is out of date, try to stay up to date with current trends and news. That way, you can make it more relevant.
Whatever the problem is, there’s probably a way to fix it. So don’t give up on your content just yet.
With a little effort, you can turn it into something your audience will readily consume.
FAQ: Spotting Weak Content and Making It Shine with Content Development
Look for low engagement metrics in your content development. If your bounce rate is high, visitors aren’t sticking around. Flat traffic numbers can also signal poor content.
Headlines do heavy lifting. They grab attention and set the tone. A dull or confusing headline means your post gets ignored, no matter how good the writing is. Focus on clarity, keywords, and curiosity.
Not always. Keywords help people find your content, but true value comes from solving problems or answering real questions. Google rewards content that helps readers.
Review key pages and posts at least twice a year. Tidy up outdated facts, add new stats, and refresh links. If a post brings steady traffic, keep it up to date so people trust your advice.
Yes. Start with small edits, such as updating titles, checking links, and removing filler words. Add new info where it helps. Sometimes a few tweaks lift a post’s value and search ranking.
Stick with everyday language. Picture your ideal reader and write to them. Use a style guide or a “cheat sheet” for common phrases and brand terms. Reading your drafts aloud helps spot anything off-key.
Explore more content tips and marketing advice at Inspire To Thrive. Have a specific question? Reach out for a personalized answer.
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 14 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
Lisa helps her clients with social media, email marketing and some SEO.
- How To Stop Instagram Spam Comments Fast: Quick Fixes - February 12, 2026
- Facebook Page Posts in 2026– Who Sees Them Anymore? - February 12, 2026
- Fedica for LinkedIn: Schedule, Recycle, and Track Posts in One Place - February 11, 2026
Wow Lisa,
Thanks for all these links you have posted here. I always forget to check my Google Analytics. But as I was reading through I had checked it, remembering its important to do.
I especially liked “Screaming Frog” and I will go to it after this comment. It looks so interesting because I can organize my blog itself by finding similar posts.
Content is key and we have to make it the very best we can. These cool tools you have given us with surely help.
Thanks so much,
-Donna
Hi Donna, You are most welcome. I’m sure you could update some old content Donna and I’d be willing to update my old posts over at your place as well. Just let me know. It really does make a difference over time. I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather these days here Donna.
Hello Lisa,
I always love reading articles about ‘content refreshing.’ While the tactic helps your audience gain updated and relevant information, Google will surely reward blogs that add new information to the discussion. Two wins!
Understanding the searcher’s intent is also vital to delivering top-notch content.
Thanks for this post. Have a good day!
Hi Mudassir. Yes, it helps both the reader and the search engines. I think being able to understand how the searcher’s intent changes in time is valuable as well. Thanks, Mudassir for coming by and taking the time to comment today. Make it a great day!
Hi Lisa! This is a sensational article, so detailed. The difference with you, Lisa, is you’re a professional and you want to help people.
When you say “poorly written” would that include over-wordiness, jargon, etc? Anything else, I’d love to learn what you mean by that.
I really love your use of graphics as well, that is something I have shunned but will certainly do in future blog posts. I have been approaching my blogging from a social media visual viewpoint (emojis, boldening text etc.) but haven’t included graphics or images. This is a very inspiring article. Thank you, have a wonderful day.
Hi Martin, thank you. I do like to help people. Yes, over-wordiness is my pet peeve. It could also mean content that is not relevant or very outdated. I use Canva to make the graphics here. Sometimes I will use a photo I’ve taken too. I appreciate your taking the time to comment on this one Martin. Make it a great day and new week!
Hey Lisa, great advice! I’m a huge fan of adding video to give underperforming content a boost. Podcasts episodes are helpful as well! Thanks!
Hi Ileane, Thank you. Yes, I like adding videos and podcasts as well to some posts. They can really make your content sizzle and some people prefer watching rather than reading as they are learning something new. You are most welcome. Have a fabulous day Ileane.
LOL on that image of Frank Kern and the 2012 date. Goodness I recall those days and the even more Wild West type days of blogging back in 2008 to 2011 or so. Madness. Both the guerilla style of blogging based on hype as well as not updating old content. Few will trust a 10 year old post unless the content is purely evergreen.
Excellent advice Lisa.
Ryan
Hi Ryan, Yes, wasn’t it crazy back then for bloggers? I’m still updating old content here but trimming away at the same time. Thanks for your input Ryan and make it a great day there.