ContentPublished02.05.2026

Content Audit

A systematic analysis of all site content to identify problems and opportunities. How to conduct an audit, classify pages, and create an improvement plan.

On this page
What Is a Content AuditGoals of a Content AuditSteps to Perform an AuditMetrics to CollectClassification & ActionsToolsHow Often to Audit
In brief

A content audit is an inventory and evaluation of every page on a site (articles, categories, landing pages) by key metrics: traffic, rankings, conversions, backlinks, content quality. The goal is to identify outdated, thin, or duplicate content and decide to keep, improve, merge, or delete each page.

What Is a Content Audit

A content audit is a complete review of all textual materials on a site. It is conducted to understand which content supports business goals and which is outdated, poorly ranking, or even harmful. The output is typically a spreadsheet with URLs, metrics, and a decision: keep as is, optimise, update, merge with another page, or delete (with a 301 redirect).

Goals of a Content Audit

  • Performance assessment — which pages bring traffic, conversions, revenue.
  • Problem identification — thin content, duplicates, stale data, errors.
  • Opportunity discovery — what can be optimised for new keywords.
  • Content strategy planning — what to create next, what to remove to avoid diluting crawl budget.

Steps to Perform an Audit

  1. Inventory — collect a list of all significant URLs (via Screaming Frog or CMS export).
  2. Data collection — connect Google Analytics, GSC, Ahrefs, conversion data (CRM).
  3. Qualitative assessment — skim content, evaluate uniqueness, depth, intent match.
  4. Classification — assign each page to a category (Keep, Improve, Update, Merge, Delete).
  5. Prioritisation — decide which pages to start with.
  6. Implementation — update text, set redirects, delete, update internal links.

Metrics to Collect

  • Traffic — organic and total over the last 6–12 months (Google Analytics).
  • Rankings — average position for main queries (GSC, Ahrefs).
  • Conversions — goal actions: leads, calls, add‑to‑cart.
  • Backlinks — number and quality of referring domains (Ahrefs).
  • Engagement — time on page, scroll depth, bounce rate.
  • Text quality — uniqueness, grammar, length, structure.
TXT
Example audit table columns:
URL | Title | Page type | Organic traffic | Avg position | Conversions | Referring domains | Quality (1-5) | Action

/guide/seo | Complete SEO guide | article | 1200 | 4 | 23 | 45 | 5 | Keep
/old-page | ... | article | 10 | - | 0 | 0 | 2 | Delete

Classification & Actions

  • Keep — high traffic, good rankings, conversions. Just monitor.
  • Improve — medium traffic, growth potential. Add SEO text, improve headings, add tables.
  • Update — outdated information but still relevant topic. Refresh figures, dates, links.
  • Merge — several thin pages on one topic. Combine into one detailed page and set 301 redirects.
  • Delete — no traffic, irrelevant content, no value. Delete (410) or redirect to a more relevant page.
When deleting a page, always try to set a 301 redirect to the most similar page to preserve link equity and avoid broken links.

Tools

  • Screaming Frog — export all URLs, headings, meta tags.
  • Google Analytics / GA4 — traffic and behaviour.
  • Google Search Console — rankings and clicks.
  • Ahrefs Site Audit — technical errors and link profile.
  • ContentKing — continuous audit.
  • Excel or Google Sheets — for the master table.

How Often to Audit

  • Small sites (<100 pages) — once a year.
  • Medium sites (100–1000) — every 6 months.
  • Large sites (1000+) — quarterly; dynamic sections (news, products) may need selective audits monthly.
FAQ

Common questions

First check the quality of the links. If they are good, rather update the content. If the links are spammy and traffic is zero, you can delete (with 410) and disavow the toxic ones.
Use proxy metrics: time on page, bounce rate, backlinks, rankings. Also automate uniqueness checks (Copyscape) and spam checks.
Audit by category and bestsellers. Underperforming products with zero sales can be deleted, first with a redirect to the category, later to 410.
If you set proper 301 redirects to relevant pages, the loss of equity is minimal. Deleting low‑quality content might even improve Google’s perception of the site.
Yes, if the site already has content and you are migrating from an old domain. Also for checking key landing pages. For a brand new site, do the first content audit after 6 months of operation.
Direct contacts

Discuss your project?

Share your goals and website context — I will suggest a practical next step.

pavlo.seo@proton.me@pavelbarushkaLinkedIn
Content Audit — What is it?