Content Audits for Web Content Strategy

A content audit is the foundation for a powerful, cohesive, content strategy — creating crucial insights for improvements and helping all stakeholders get on the same page. Because content doesn’t happen in a vacuum – it’s influenced by many people in a company, formally or informally.

Since SEO/Content Strategy plays such a key role in producing leads and bringing value to all other areas of SMB company, it helps stakeholders understand and get buy-in from all parties– including management who need to make sound decisions. Your content audit could be a singular audit, or you may ask to include a content strategy.

It can be a challenge to implement a content strategy unless you’ve conducted a good review of your current content and know what to do. Currently, it’s not a challenge AI technology can resolve. It involves high-level critical thinking and creative strategy development. Some AI tools might come in handy.

Different companies, whether in real estate, travel or software development have unique content topics and styles. However, you should expect an audit that’s customized to your industry with recommendations.  The key deliverable of the many listed below is a strategy that makes your content high-performing.

Why is Your Current Content Now Working?

Most likely, a content audit is to discover why it’s not working. It’s likely:

• not reaching the ideal audience
• not impacting and engaging prospects and influencers
• style and topics not appropriate for your audience
• not presenting your brand well or is blah
• not persuading prospects to become customers
• not supported by your organization — contributions, funding, intent to make it successful
• not competitive nor strategic

If you’re digging in on a thorough content audit, you likely know you need an overhaul of your content strategy. Because, the question pops up about quality.  And content quality is a topic unto itself.  and it could be your weak website, branding, offer, efforts and promotions that are causing the content to underperform.

Hiring Someone Who Takes Content Seriously (and deeply)

Okay, so it’s established that you must get your content performing. And rather than hiring a web design agency or an IT company in India to help you with this, you’re wise to hire a professional SEO/Content Strategist. Because we understand the end goals and why digital marketing efforts are failing.

Rather than jumping on your brand, content quality, tone of voice, or your creative producers, the issue might be a lack of viable, resonating content strategy — meaning topics, treatments, angles, stories, keywords, and visuals. Whatever the cause, an audit is your blueprint to understand your content, what needs to be done, who will be executing it, and how much funding you’ll need to make it a success.

Your 2025 Content Audit Template

To help you get your mind wrapped around what is a big task, take a look at a content audit template.  The simplicity of the list and its sections helps you understand what you need from the content strategist you hire. You’ll understand all the pieces that work together as one, and your decisions will be more confident.

The Content Audit Process Phases

Objective:

The goal of this content audit is to evaluate the current state of a website’s content to ensure it is aligned with your business goals and marketing needs/strategy, appeals to your target audience’s needs, achieves needed branding and persuasion, performs well in search engines, and helps generate leads. An audit will identify gaps, problems, areas for improvement, and actionable insights to power up your content success.

Phase 1: Preparation & Discovery

Initial Consultation and Goal Setting

Purpose: Align with the client on the primary business, digital marketing strategy, and content objectives.

Actions:

• Conduct a kickoff meeting to understand the client’s business goals (e.g., lead generation, brand awareness, customer support, etc.).
• Define key performance indicators (KPIs) for content (e.g., traffic, engagement, conversions, SEO rankings, etc.).
• Understand the target audience, their needs, pain points, buying behaviors and what makes them click.
• Expected Outcome: Clear understanding of business objectives and audience, which will guide the audit process.

Accessing Analytics & Tools

Purpose: Gather data to assess the performance of existing content.

Actions:

• Get access to Google Analytics, Search Console, and any other analytics tools the client uses.
• Discuss and arrange for improved tracking needed to measure content performance (e.g., benchmarks, KPIs, goal tracking, event tracking, etc.).

Expected Outcome: A data-driven starting point for analyzing the content’s current effectiveness.

Phase 2: Content Inventory & Analysis

Content Inventory

Purpose: Create a comprehensive list of all the existing content on the website.

Actions:

• Compile all content assets (e.g., blog posts, product pages, case studies, videos, landing pages).
• Organize content by category/type (html titles, URLs, publish dates, etc.).
• Use content auditing tools (e.g., Screaming Frog, ContentKing, or Google Sheets) to automate the inventory process.
• Use software to assess the content’s topic categories, pillar content themes, and actual on-page keyword focus.
• Expected Outcome: A detailed inventory document serving as the foundation for content visualization and further analysis.

Content Performance Evaluation

Purpose: Assess how well each piece of content is performing.

Actions:

• Analyze key metrics (e.g., page views, bounce rate, time on page, goals, conversion rates) for each piece of content.
• Use tools like Google Analytics or SEMrush to track organic search performance and rankings.
• Evaluate content engagement through ppc ads, social shares, comments, and backlinks.

Expected Outcome: A performance report showing which content is high-performing, and which is underperforming.

SEO Performance Analysis

Purpose: Ensure content is optimized for search engines and driving organic traffic.

Actions:

• Analyze on-page SEO factors (e.g., keyword optimization, meta descriptions, header tags, image alt texts).
• Use SEO tools (e.g., Ahrefs, Moz, SEMrush) to review keyword rankings, backlinks, and content quality.
• Check for technical SEO issues that may affect content discoverability (e.g., broken links, missing tags, duplicate content using PageSpeed Insights, ahrefs).

Expected Outcome: SEO audit report with specific recommendations for improving content visibility in search engines.

Phase 3: Content Quality & User Experience (UX) Review

Content Relevance & Value

Purpose: Ensure content is helpful, valuable, significant to users and aligned with user intent(s) and keyword selections.

Actions:

• Review content for quality, accuracy, and relevance to the target audience.
• Assess whether the content addresses user pain points and provides solutions.
• Identify content that is outdated, irrelevant, or no longer aligned with current business goals.

Expected Outcome: A list of content that needs to be updated, repurposed, or removed.

User Experience (UX) & Readability Assessment

Purpose: Ensure content is user-friendly, engaging, and easy to navigate.

Actions:

• Assess content layout (e.g., use of headings, scannability, paragraph length, pull quotes, bullet points, white space) for readability.
• Check for content formatting issues that could hinder user experience (e.g., broken links, slow load times).
• Analyze content flow and accessibility (e.g., mobile responsiveness, alt text for images).

Expected Outcome: A report with recommendations to improve content usability and design.

Content Gaps & Opportunities

Purpose: Identify missing content or topics that should be addressed to meet audience needs.

Actions:

• Perform a topic gap analysis by comparing existing content against competitor websites and industry trends.
• Identify new topics, keywords, or content formats that could drive traffic and engagement.
• Suggest opportunities for content expansion (e.g., turning a blog post into a guide or an ebook).

Expected Outcome: A content gap report with prioritized opportunities for new or updated content.

Phase 4: Reporting & Recommendations

Content Audit Report

Purpose: Deliver a comprehensive, actionable audit report to the client.

Actions:

• Prepare a detailed content audit document that summarizes findings from the inventory, performance analysis, SEO review, and UX assessment.
• Provide specific recommendations for each piece of content, including:* Content optimization suggestions (SEO, structure, readability).
  * Ideas for updating, removing, or repurposing outdated content.
  * New content opportunities based on gaps and audience needs.
  * Highlight quick wins and long-term strategies for content improvement.

Expected Outcome: A clear and comprehensive content audit report with actionable insights and recommendations.

Presentation & Review

Purpose: Present the audit findings and collaborate on the next steps.

Actions:

• Schedule a meeting with the client to present the audit results.
• Walk the client through the audit report, highlighting key findings and actionable next steps.
• Address any questions and discuss a prioritized content strategy based on audit recommendations.

Expected Outcome: Client understanding and buy-in for next steps in the content strategy.

Phase 5: Implementation (Optional)

Content Strategy Implementation

Purpose: Help the client implement the recommendations from the audit.

Actions:

• Assist with content creation, optimization, and publishing based on audit recommendations.
• Develop a content calendar and editorial plan for ongoing content production.
• Provide guidance on measuring content performance and adjusting strategies over time.

Expected Outcome: A clear content strategy and execution plan for sustained content success.

Ongoing Monitoring & Optimization (Optional)

Purpose: Continuously improve content performance over time.

Actions:

• Set up regular content audits (quarterly, semi-annual) to keep content fresh and aligned with evolving business goals.
• Monitor content performance and make adjustments as necessary.

Expected Outcome: Ongoing content improvements that drive sustainable growth in traffic, conversions, and user engagement.

Content Audit Deliverables

• Content Inventory Spreadsheet with all existing content listed.
• Content Performance Report with key metrics for each piece of content.
• Content Quality Report with explanation of content success and failure.
• SEO Audit Report with keyword recommendations and optimization suggestions.
• UX & Readability Report with actionable improvements.
• Content Gap Analysis Report highlighting new opportunities.
• Final Content Audit Report with prioritized recommendations for content improvement.
• Guidance: Content Strategy and Editorial Calendar for implementation.

A content audit is a great tool to bring clarity to your web marketing efforts, avoid repeating the same mistakes, and give you the confidence to bring in the right talent, resources and funding to make content your top business asset.

Contact me for more about a content audit (it’s free if you hire me) at 416 998 6246.