How to conduct a content audit

Even when organisations have the best intentions of publishing and maintaining their content, they can still find themselves with large volumes of content that nobody really owns and nobody is measuring the performance of. It’s never intentional but larger teams, lots of silos and decentralised publishing models often result in content growing organically over time and becoming unmanageable. What starts as a well-organised website can quickly become a sprawling maze of pages, PDFs, and forgotten microsites.

Creating a content inventory and then conducting a content audit is an opportunity to get a hold on the content, understand what you have, what you need and create a foundation for better content management. Whether you're redesigning a website, implementing a new content strategy, or simply trying to understand what you've got, this guide will walk you through the process step by step.

A content audit is a systematic review of all content within your digital estate. It involves cataloguing what exists in a content inventory, evaluating its quality and performance, and identifying opportunities for improvement.

There are several types of content audit:

• A full audit is a comprehensive review of all content across all channels
• A partial audit focuses on specific sections, content types, or timeframes
• A rolling audit is ongoing reviews of content on a scheduled basis

Content audits reveal gaps, overlaps and redundancies in your content, identify outdated or inaccurate information and highlight high-performing content that might be worth replicating. They also uncover technical issues affecting user experience, provide data to support content decisions and create a baseline for measuring improvements. It can take a lot of time when you first create the inventory and conduct the audit but it is time well spent. After that initial effort it becomes easier and quicker to maintain the inventory and audit on a more regular basis.

Within the broader context of content strategy, audits provide the foundational understanding you need to make informed decisions about content creation, maintenance and governance.

I've seen many content audits fail because they began without clear objectives. The audit must have a purpose beyond being a box ticking exercise. Start by defining what you want to achieve. Are you preparing for a website redesign? Trying to improve search rankings? Looking to reduce content maintenance costs?

Consider these scoping questions:

• Which content types will you include? (Pages, PDFs, videos, images)
• What date range will you cover? (All content, or just the past 2 years)
• Which platforms and channels are in scope? (Website, help centre, product UI)
• What level of detail do you need? (Basic inventory vs deep quality assessment)

If you need stakeholder buy-in to conduct the audit you could start with a small section, gain the data and insights and then use those to get approval for a full audit. Starting small also helps you build and iterate an inventory that works for you and your content.

While small audits can be solo efforts, larger ones benefit from a team approach. Your audit may need a cross-functional team that includes:

• A content strategist to lead the process
• Subject matter experts to assess accuracy
• UX designers to evaluate user experience issues
• SEO specialists to review search performance
• Analytics experts to provide performance data
• Technical resources to identify platform limitations

It will depend on the roles and skills within your team and organisation. Ultimately it is about examining content from multiple perspectives rather than just focusing on elements like grammar and style.

Avoid launching audits during busy periods or major campaigns. For retailers, this means staying away from the festive season. For universities, avoid recruitment periods.

Allow enough time for thorough analysis as rushing an audit defeats its purpose. Factor in time for stakeholder reviews and iteration.

Present the audit as an investment in content effectiveness, not just a housekeeping exercise. Share potential benefits in terms stakeholders care about.

For example at a financial organisation you may want to talk about in the audience in different ways for the different teams and roles such as:

• Compliance risk reduction when speaking with legal teams
• Conversion improvements when talking to marketing
• Support cost reduction when discussing with customer service leaders

For smaller audits, a well-designed spreadsheet for your inventory may also be fine for the audit work too. I typically start with a template that includes columns for URL, title, owner, content type, word count, publish date, last updated date, and key metrics as a minimum.

Larger audits may benefit from specialised tools like ContentWRX Audit or Siteimprove. These platforms automate much of the data collection and provide visualisation capabilities that spreadsheets lack. It’s worth researching these tools and considering their costs before you commit.

Tools like Instyful, Screaming Frog, Lumar, or Sitebulb can automatically inventory your content and gather technical data. For large scale sites, using tools like these can save lots of time.

Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or similar tools provide crucial performance data. Before starting your audit, set up custom reports that show:

• Most and least visited pages
• Pages with highest bounce rates
• Top entry and exit pages
• Conversion paths and drop-offs
• Search terms driving traffic to specific pages

This performance data helps you prioritise which content needs the most attention.

Begin by listing all content assets. For websites, this typically includes:

• Page URLs and titles
• Content type (article, product page, PDF, video)
• Publish and last modified dates
• Author or content owner
• Location in site hierarchy

Your inventory can grow over time. It may feel like it takes a long time when you first create the inventory but it can save you lots of time in the long run and is quicker to maintain if you update it whenever any new content is published, reviewed or archived. The inventory is necessary for your audit but it can also be used as a broader part of your content operations by helping you find relevant and related content, assist with shared ownership of content and help with any reporting responsibilities you may have related to content output and performance.

Want a helping hand? Use our free content inventory template to get started.

The numbers tell an important story about your content. Collect measurable data for each piece:

• Page views and unique visitors over a meaningful timeframe (3-6 months)
• Bounce rate and time on page
• Search rankings and organic traffic volume
• Conversion rates or goal completions
• Social shares and backlinks

Some of these metrics in isolation may not reveal much. You need the context about the content and audience and always add qualitative insights if available too. You often have to piece together data from different sources to get the full story of the content’s performance. Again, this can take time but is a worthy task as it helps inform future content decisions, priorities and your broader content strategy.

As well as the numbers, evaluate content against criteria like:

• Accuracy and relevance: Is the information correct and up-to-date?
• Clarity and readability: Is the content easy to understand for the target audience?
• Brand voice compliance: Does it match your organisation's tone?
• Visual design quality: Do images, videos and layout enhance the message?
• Accessibility standards: Does the content meet WCAG requirements?
• Mobile responsiveness: How does it perform on different devices?

Go beyond the content itself to consider how it serves user needs:

• Does it answer the questions users are asking?
• Is it easy to find through navigation and search?
• Does it guide users to logical next steps?
• Are related resources well-connected?

You may want to conduct the audit alongside user testing sessions. This will turn any assumptions into knowledge, backed up by data and examples

Compare content performance against your objectives. Look for patterns across your content library. What characteristics do your best-performing pieces share? What factors correlate with poor performance?

This is where defining the objectives for the audit at the start is important. You may also have to set up data tools and do other groundwork before you reach the actual audit stage so that you have confidence in the content performance findings.

Record everything systematically. Your documentation becomes the foundation for recommendations and future audits. Note specific examples that illustrate broader issues.

The metrics you track should align with your audit objectives, but most audits benefit from examining content through several key lenses. Rather than getting overwhelmed by every possible metric, focus on those that will actually inform your decisions and drive meaningful improvements.

Traffic and engagement metrics form the foundation of most content audits. Page views and unique visitors tell you which content resonates with your audience, while average time on page and bounce rate reveal whether people find value once they arrive. Don't overlook scroll depth and click-through rates, these metrics often uncover content that looks successful on the surface but fails to engage users meaningfully.

SEO performance indicators deserve particular attention if organic search drives significant traffic to your content. Search rankings for target keywords provide obvious value, but dig deeper into organic traffic volume and click-through rates from search results. Internal and external links tell a story about content authority and discoverability.

Conversion and goal completion metrics connect content performance to business outcomes. Conversion rates by content type reveal which formats work best for your audience, while assisted conversions show how different pieces work together in the user journey. Form completions, download rates, and revenue attribution help you understand which content actually drives business results rather than just attracting visitors. These metrics often reveal surprising insights about content that performs quietly but effectively.

Accessibility compliance deserves special attention as both a legal requirement and user experience factor. WCAG compliance levels, alt text coverage, heading structure, colour contrast ratios and keyboard navigation all impact how users interact with your content. Beyond compliance, accessible content generally performs better for all users, not just those with disabilities.

Various frameworks can help structure your analysis and ensure you're examining content from multiple valuable perspectives. Rather than randomly evaluating content, these established approaches provide systematic ways to identify patterns and prioritise improvements.

The content lifecycle model provides a comprehensive framework for evaluating content based on its journey from creation to retirement. When examining the creation stage, ask whether new content meets your established standards and whether your brief and approval processes set content up for success. The publication stage reveals whether workflows are efficient and whether content reaches audiences effectively. Maintenance evaluation shows whether content receives appropriate updates and whether you have systems to flag aging information. The evaluation stage examines whether you're measuring the right things and acting on performance data. Finally, disposal assessment determines whether you're retiring content systematically rather than letting it accumulate indefinitely.

ROT analysis provides a focused framework for identifying content that needs immediate attention. Redundant content duplicates or overlaps with other content, creating confusion for users and diluting your search authority. Outdated content no longer accurately reflects current information, products, or services. Trivial content adds little value for users or business objectives, often existing because it was once timely but has since lost relevance.

The ROT framework works particularly well for large content libraries where you need to quickly identify problem areas.

User journey mapping helps you map content to different stages of the user experience to identify gaps and oversaturation. Content supporting the awareness stage helps users discover and understand problems or opportunities. Consideration stage content helps users evaluate options and build confidence in potential solutions. Decision stage content provides the final information needed to take action. Use and success stage content helps users achieve their goals effectively. Advocacy stage content enables users to share their positive experiences with others.

The most effective audits often combine multiple frameworks rather than relying on a single approach. Start with the framework that best aligns with your audit objectives, then layer in additional perspectives as needed to build a comprehensive understanding of your content

Analysing and presenting findings

Once you've gathered data and applied your chosen frameworks, the real work begins: transforming raw information into actionable insights that drive meaningful improvements. This analysis phase separates successful audits from mere data collection exercises.

Identifying patterns and trends requires looking beyond individual pages to spot broader issues affecting your content ecosystem. Content types that consistently underperform might indicate format problems, audience misalignment, or technical issues. Common quality issues across sections often reveal systemic problems with creation workflows, approval processes, or content standards.

Creating actionable recommendations transforms findings into specific actions that teams can implement. Rather than vague suggestions like "improve product descriptions," recommend specific changes such as "add specification tables and usage scenarios to all product descriptions in the outdoor furniture category." Include examples of successful implementations from elsewhere in your content library or from competitor analysis.

Building compelling reports requires structuring information for maximum impact across different audiences. Your executive summary should focus on business impact, highlighting key findings that affect revenue, efficiency, or risk. The methodology overview provides credibility and helps stakeholders understand your approach. Detailed findings by category give implementation teams the specifics they need to take action. Prioritised recommendations with proposed timelines and resource requirements help organisations plan their response effectively.

For leadership teams, I often create a separate executive summary focusing on business impact, while providing the full report for implementation teams.

Visualising data effectively helps stakeholders understand complex findings quickly. Performance distributions across your content library reveal whether most content performs adequately or whether you have significant quality issues. Content volume by type and section shows resource allocation and potential imbalances. Quality scores across different areas help prioritise improvement efforts. Trend lines over time indicate whether content performance is improving or declining. Before and after comparisons demonstrate the impact of previous improvements.

Prioritising improvements requires balancing multiple factors to identify the most valuable next steps. Rate recommendations by their impact on users and business goals, resource requirements and technical complexity. Distinguish between quick wins that can be implemented immediately and strategic initiatives that require longer-term planning and investment.

The gap between audit completion and meaningful improvement often determines whether your analysis investment pays off. Many organisations produce excellent reports that gather dust while content problems persist. Success requires systematic planning, realistic resource allocation and an ongoing commitment to change.

Creating an implementation roadmap begins with a phased approach that acknowledges your capacity and constraints. Start with immediate fixes like broken links and critical errors that can be resolved quickly. Follow with quick wins such as minor updates and redirects that provide visible progress. Then tackle medium-term projects like content rewrites and workflow improvements, before addressing long-term initiatives involving structural changes and platform improvements.

Resource planning and allocation requires matching recommendations to available capabilities. Assess in-house skills versus external support needs, considering budget constraints and timeline requirements. Be realistic about what your organisation can achieve—it's better to successfully implement 70% of recommendations than attempt 100% and fail.

Establishing ongoing governance transforms audit findings into systematic improvements. Update style guides based on quality issues discovered, revise workflows to prevent recurring problems, and implement regular review cycles. Most importantly, assign content ownership clearly.

Remember that sustainable improvement requires embedding content quality into regular operations. The audit provides the foundation, but lasting change comes from making content excellence a shared responsibility rather than a periodic project.

Even well-planned content audits encounter predictable obstacles that can derail progress or compromise results. Understanding these challenges in advance allows you to prepare effective responses and maintain momentum throughout the audit process.

Dealing with large content volumes represents the most common challenge organisations face. When confronting massive content libraries, start with high-traffic or high-value sections that provide the greatest return on investment. Use automated tools to gather basic information and consider sampling strategies for quality assessments when manual review becomes impractical. Break the audit into manageable phases that allow your team to develop expertise before tackling the entire library.

Managing stakeholder expectations requires ongoing communication and realistic planning. Stakeholders often underestimate the time and resources required, expecting quick fixes to complex problems. Share early findings to build interest, be realistic about timeframes from the beginning, and focus communications on business value rather than process details. Regular updates demonstrating progress help maintain enthusiasm and support.

Handling political sensitivities around content ownership requires careful navigation of organisational dynamics. Present data objectively without assigning blame, focusing discussions on user needs rather than departmental preferences. Involve content owners early to build buy-in and frame findings in terms of opportunity rather than criticism.

Technical limitations can prevent access to important data or constrain implementation options. Work with technical teams early to understand what data is available and what tools can be implemented. Sometimes the audit reveals that technical limitations are the root cause of content problems, providing valuable justification for platform improvements.

The most successful organisations I've worked with don't treat audits as one-off projects but as regular maintenance. They conduct comprehensive reviews annually, run quarterly checks on high-priority sections and maintain ongoing monitoring systems that flag issues as they arise.

By making content audits a regular practice, you'll maintain a healthier, more effective content ecosystem that better serves both your users and your organisation.