How to Conduct a Content Audit: Step-by-Step Guide

A content audit helps you improve your website by identifying what works, what doesn’t, and what needs fixing. It’s like cleaning out your closet – keeping what’s valuable, updating what’s outdated, and discarding what no longer fits. Here’s how to get started:

• Set Goals: Define clear objectives (e.g., increase traffic by 20% in 6 months).
• Choose Your Scope: Focus on high-impact pages (e.g., homepage, top blogs).
• Gather Tools: Use tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and Screaming Frog.
• Create an Inventory: List all your URLs and organize by type and purpose.
• Measure Performance: Track metrics like traffic, SEO rankings, and conversions.
• Decide Actions: Update, merge, or remove content based on its value and performance.
• Implement Changes: Prioritize updates and fix technical issues first.
• Track Results: Monitor metrics to measure the impact of your changes.

How To Conduct an SEO Content Audit and Content Pruning with Screaming Frog

Getting Ready for Your Content Audit

To make your content audit worthwhile, start by setting clear goals and choosing the right tools. This will help you focus on data that truly matters and avoid wasting time.

Set Your Goals

Begin with specific, measurable goals that align with your marketing strategy. According to a 2023 SEMrush survey, 53% of businesses saw better engagement rates, and 49% improved rankings and traffic after conducting a content audit.

Using the SMART framework can help you structure your objectives. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, you might set a goal like: "Increase average session length by 20% by the end of the fiscal year."[2]. Typical goals for a content audit include boosting site traffic, improving conversion rates, or reducing bounce rates. If SEO is your focus, you could aim to grow organic traffic by 15% within six months. If engagement is more critical, consider targeting a 25% drop in bounce rates for your top 20 blog posts. By aligning your audit goals with your broader marketing strategy, you can uncover content types and formats that truly connect with your audience.

Once your goals are clear, focus on the content that directly impacts your business outcomes.

Choose Your Audit Scope

Avoid overwhelming yourself by trying to audit everything at once. The scope of your audit should depend on your website’s size, your business priorities, and the resources you have available. Focusing on specific content types will make the process more manageable.

Start with high-impact pages like your homepage, landing pages, and core service or product pages. Blog posts or resource pages that drive organic traffic and generate leads should also be a priority. For outdated or underperforming pages, decide whether they need updates, optimization, or removal. Mapping out your site structure and linking it to analytics data can help you better understand user flow and prioritize your efforts. If your website is large, consider breaking the audit into phases. For instance, start with your top 50 pages by traffic, then move on to specific categories like blog posts or product pages in later rounds.

Once you’ve defined your scope, you’ll need the right tools to analyze your content’s performance.

Collect Your Tools

Choose tools that match your needs and budget. Start with free options like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, and then consider upgrading to paid tools like Screaming Frog, SEMrush, or Ahrefs for more advanced insights.

Here are some essential tools to consider:

• Google Analytics: Tracks website traffic and user behavior.
• Google Search Console: Provides insights into how your site performs in Google search.

For more in-depth analysis, paid tools can be a game-changer:

• Screaming Frog ($199/year): Great for technical SEO audits, such as finding broken links or duplicate content.
• SEMrush ($139–$499): Offers features like content audits, on-page SEO checks, and content gap analysis.
• Ahrefs ($129–$14,999): Excellent for detailed SEO analysis and understanding competitor strategies.

"The Screaming Frog SEO Spider is my ‘go to’ tool for initial SEO audits and quick validations: powerful, flexible and low-cost. I couldn’t recommend it more." – Aleyda Solis, Owner, Orainti

If you’re just starting, stick to free tools to get a feel for the process. As you grow, you can invest in paid tools for deeper insights and automation. For example, in February 2025, Zapier highlighted how Semrush’s AI can recommend effective keywords based on historical data and competitive metrics, streamlining much of the analysis process.

You don’t need every tool right away. Start with basics like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, add Screaming Frog for technical insights, and expand to other platforms as your audit process evolves.

Creating Your Content Inventory

Building a detailed inventory of your website’s content is the first step toward a successful audit. This inventory acts as your blueprint, so precision and organization are key.

Export and Organize URLs

Start by gathering all the URLs from your website. For larger sites, automated tools are your best friend.

Tools like Screaming Frog (free for up to 500 URLs), SEMrush Site Audit, and Sitebulb can crawl your site and export the URL data you need. Simply input your domain, let the tool do its thing, and export the results as a CSV file.

"I always use the Semrush Site Audit tool to get the full list. And Site Audit contains a ton of useful metrics that we can use later in the content audit." – Claire Broadley, Freelance Content Editor

This approach not only provides a complete URL list but often includes performance data, which will come in handy later.

Once you have your CSV file, import it into a spreadsheet program like Google Sheets or Excel. Set up columns for key details such as the URL, page title, content type, publication date, and placeholders for performance metrics to be added during the audit. This format keeps your data manageable and easy to analyze.

Don’t forget to manually include any URLs that automated tools might miss, such as pages behind login screens or those blocked by your robots.txt file. These pages may still hold value for your audit.

With your URLs neatly organized, you’re ready to move on to the next step: grouping them for deeper analysis.

Group Content by Type

Categorizing your content is a game-changer. It simplifies your audit and helps uncover patterns you might otherwise overlook. Grouping content also makes it easier to evaluate performance across different content types.

Start by sorting your URLs into broad categories like blog posts, product pages, landing pages, or service pages. This will quickly highlight which types of content are performing well.

Take it a step further by grouping content according to the stages of the buyer’s journey. For instance, awareness-stage content (like educational blog posts) serves a different role than decision-stage content (like product comparison pages). This approach helps identify gaps in your content funnel.

Another effective method is topic-based grouping, especially for blogs or resource sections. For example, if you manage a marketing blog, you could categorize content into topics like SEO, social media, email marketing, and content strategy. This makes it clear which topics are striking a chord with your audience.

"Use a logical layout. This way, your content groupings will follow your website navigation. You are able to set up groupings very quickly using Rule Set to target specific URLs." – Mike Yared, Broadview Digital Marketing

Technical grouping is another useful tactic. For example, separating pages by their template type – like homepage, category pages, or individual posts – can help you spot technical issues affecting entire groups of pages, such as high bounce rates.

To keep things organized, add these groupings as columns in your spreadsheet. Use consistent labels, such as "Content Type" (e.g., Blog Post, Product Page, Landing Page) and "Topic" (e.g., SEO, Email Marketing). This structure allows for easy filtering and sorting.

Choose groupings that align with your goals. If SEO performance is your focus, consider organizing by search intent (informational, navigational, transactional). If you’re aiming to boost conversions, grouping by funnel stage or customer journey phase might be more effective.

Keep in mind that some content might fit into multiple categories. For instance, a product comparison blog post could be classified as both a "Blog Post" and decision-stage content. In such cases, use additional columns to capture these dimensions instead of forcing content into a single category. This flexibility ensures your audit is as thorough as possible.

Measuring Content Performance

Once your content is organized, the next step is to dive into performance data. This analysis helps you see which pieces are thriving and which ones might need a refresh, turning your content audit into a strategy grounded in data.

Track Key Metrics

To get a full picture of how your content is doing, you’ll need to track a mix of engagement, performance, and technical metrics – way beyond just counting page views.

Engagement metrics give you a sense of how your audience interacts with your content. These include page views, bounce rate, time spent on a page, and social shares. For example, a high bounce rate might suggest visitors aren’t finding what they expected, while a longer time on the page usually points to content that keeps them hooked.

Performance metrics focus on whether your content achieves business goals. Keep an eye on SEO rankings, organic traffic, and conversion rates to measure success.

Website health metrics cover the technical side, like page load times, mobile responsiveness, and crawl errors. Did you know that 40% of people won’t wait more than 3 seconds for a page to load? That’s a huge factor in keeping users engaged.

For a deeper dive, combine data from tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, and Screaming Frog. Together, they provide a wealth of insights into how your content performs.

• Google Analytics: Focus on user behavior, including average time on page, bounce rate, and conversions.
• Google Search Console: Tracks clicks, impressions, and click-through rates (CTR).
• PageSpeed Insights: Offers technical performance details, including Core Web Vitals, which impact user experience and search rankings.

Pay close attention to CTR from search results. If your CTR is low, it might mean that your page’s preview isn’t enticing enough for users to click through.

Here’s a quick summary of key metrics to track:

Metric Category	Metrics to Track	Description
Engagement	Page views, Bounce rate, Time on page, Social shares	Measures how well your audience interacts with your content.
Performance	SEO rankings, Organic traffic, Conversion rates	Evaluates whether your content supports business objectives.
Website Health	Page load times, Mobile responsiveness, Crawl errors	Assesses technical factors affecting visibility and user experience.

Don’t forget to include retention metrics (like returning visitors or subscriber growth) and revenue metrics (leads, sales, ROI) in your evaluation.

Break Down Content by Performance

Once you’ve gathered your data, it’s time to categorize your content by performance levels. This step helps you identify patterns and optimize content more effectively.

Start by sorting your content into performance tiers. Tools like Screaming Frog make this easy by letting you filter pages based on metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and exit rate. This helps you quickly spot which pages need attention.

Next, dig into patterns within your content categories. Compare metrics like page views to see which topics and formats resonate most with your audience. For instance, you might find that certain themes consistently drive higher engagement, offering valuable insights for future content planning.

It’s also helpful to analyze performance by content type. Blog posts, landing pages, and product descriptions often show different engagement trends. Consider where each piece fits into the buyer’s journey: content for the awareness stage should attract new visitors and encourage social shares, while decision-stage content should focus on driving conversions and generating leads.

A 2023 SEMrush survey revealed that 53% of respondents saw better engagement rates and 49% reported improved rankings and traffic after conducting a content audit. This highlights how impactful a detailed performance breakdown can be.

When sharing insights with stakeholders, focus on the bigger picture. Highlight metrics that tie directly to business outcomes, like revenue generated, leads captured, or costs saved, rather than just page views or social media likes.

Regularly monitoring your content ensures you can identify underperforming pieces and update or remove them as needed.

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Deciding What to Update, Merge, or Remove

Review your content data carefully to decide whether to update, merge, or remove specific pieces. These steps transform the insights from your audit into actionable strategies that improve your SEO and overall content quality.

Find Content to Update

Start by identifying content that still has potential but has lost momentum over time. Look for pieces that performed well in the past but now show declining traffic or engagement – these are prime candidates for updates.

Pay attention to content with outdated information. Check for old publication dates, expired statistics, or references to past events and practices that no longer apply. Content that feels shallow or less detailed compared to today’s standards also needs refreshing.

Use tools to find pages with high impressions but low clicks. This often means the content appears in search results but fails to attract visitors. Updating meta descriptions and titles to better match search intent can help. Similarly, if pages get clicks but lack further engagement – like time spent on the page or conversions – it could signal issues with the content itself. Focus on updating pages that still draw significant views or have strong backlinks, as these already have SEO value. A refresh can build on their existing strengths without starting from scratch.

Also, consider keyword trends when evaluating content for updates. Pages targeting keywords that have grown in popularity since publication can benefit from optimization. This approach not only improves individual pieces but also boosts your website’s overall performance.

Identify Content to Merge

Consolidating content works best when you have multiple pieces targeting similar keywords or covering overlapping topics. Rather than letting these pages compete, combine them into a single, more comprehensive resource.

Look for "thin" content that doesn’t offer much value on its own. Instead of deleting these pieces, merge them with related content to retain any SEO value while creating a richer resource. Keyword cannibalization – where multiple pages compete for the same search terms – can dilute your traffic. Merging these pages helps concentrate your SEO efforts on one stronger page.

During your audit, take note of pages with high bounce rates and low dwell times that address similar subjects. These metrics suggest visitors aren’t finding the depth of information they need. A well-merged piece can provide a more complete answer, improving user satisfaction.

When consolidating, create a clear content brief outlining the goal of the combined piece. Focus on keeping the best parts of each page, removing redundancies, and ensuring the final resource delivers a seamless user experience.

Choose Content to Remove

If neither updating nor merging is practical, it may be time to remove certain content. Outdated pieces tied to past events or discontinued offerings that no longer serve your audience should be removed. Similarly, content that would require too much effort to update often falls into this category.

Consistently underperforming content with no clear path to improvement is another candidate for removal. If a piece has had enough time to gain traction but remains irrelevant or misaligned with your audience, deleting it might be the best option.

Also, consider removing content that no longer aligns with your current business goals. This could include topics related to discontinued products, outdated services, or subjects no longer relevant to your target audience.

Before deleting anything, review its backlink profile and traffic history. Even underperforming pages with valuable inbound links might be worth updating instead of removing, to preserve their SEO value. If you do proceed with removal, set up proper redirects to maintain site quality and avoid broken links.

Decision-Making Comparison Table

Action	Best For	Pros	Cons	Key Indicators
Update	Declining performance, outdated info, missed opportunities	Builds on existing SEO value; cost-effective	Requires time and effort; may not fix deeper issues	High impressions with low clicks; strong past performance; consistent traffic
Merge	Overlapping topics, thin content, keyword cannibalization	Combines link equity; creates richer resources	Complex process; risks diluting specific targeting	Multiple pages with similar keywords; high bounce rates on related topics
Remove	Irrelevant, outdated, or poor-performing content	Reduces site clutter; lowers maintenance demands	Permanent loss of SEO value; broken links if not redirected	Misaligned with business goals; tied to past events; costly to update

This framework helps guide your decisions during a content audit. Focus on maintaining content that aligns with your audience’s needs, stays relevant, and performs well.

The goal is to weigh the effort required against the potential benefits. Content with strong foundations can often thrive with updates, while pieces with deeper issues may be better suited for merging or removal.

Making Changes and Tracking Results

Once you’ve decided on updates, merges, or removals, the next step is to implement these changes and monitor their impact. This completes the content audit process.

Prioritize and Make Changes

Use the PIE method to evaluate each page based on three factors: traffic potential, business impact, and ease of making changes. Assign each page a priority level of high, medium, or low, and tackle the most critical ones first.

Start with high-impact pages – those that already perform well but could do even better with some adjustments. Simple updates, like fixing broken links, refreshing outdated stats, or updating publication dates, can yield quick wins while you focus on more time-intensive projects.

Address technical issues before diving into content updates. Problems such as slow page speeds, indexing errors, or crawling issues can affect your entire site. Fixing these foundational issues ensures your content improvements have the best chance to succeed.

To stay organized, create a content calendar that includes deadlines and assigns responsibilities. This keeps your team on track and ensures changes are rolled out steadily instead of in overwhelming bursts.

A great example of prioritizing content improvements comes from Oakland Community College. They reorganized page content to make it easier to navigate, replaced inline links with buttons for better user experience, and clarified next steps for visitors. These targeted efforts led to a 250% increase in conversions in just five weeks.

Once you’ve implemented your changes, the next step is to monitor their performance closely.

Track Performance After Changes

To measure the impact of your updates, compare new results to the benchmarks you set during your audit. Make sure tracking systems are in place before rolling out changes to ensure accurate data.

Tools like Google Analytics can help you monitor key metrics such as page views, bounce rates, average time on page, and conversion rates.

"I will always look at sessions, traffic sources, and conversion rates before anything else. When working to improve any of these metrics, many more engagement metrics become relevant and interesting, as they reveal where and how I can improve the customer experience." – Phil Vallender, Director at Blend Marketing and HubSpot Elite Partner

Keep an eye on keyword rankings, organic traffic, and click-through rates to assess your content’s performance in search results. Remember, it may take several weeks for updates to show their full impact, so patience and regular comparisons (week-over-week or month-over-month) are essential.

For a complete picture, combine synthetic monitoring (data from analytics tools) with real-user feedback. Analytics can tell you what happened, but user behavior and feedback often explain why your changes worked – or didn’t.

"Historical data can be of great use to you. It will enable you to benchmark internal performance over time, and at least get some indication of whether you need to react to drops in performance." – Sean Potter, Content and SEO Strategist at Hotjar

Set up automated alerts for significant performance shifts. This allows you to respond quickly to both positive and negative trends, ensuring you can make adjustments as needed.

Once you’ve identified clear performance trends, document your findings to guide future audits.

Keep Audit Records

Detailed records of your content audit and changes are invaluable for future optimization. Tracking what you did, when you did it, and the results provides a roadmap for future strategies.

Create a master spreadsheet to track each piece of content throughout the process. Include columns for original performance metrics, planned changes, implementation dates, and post-change results. This makes it easy to compare "before and after" data.

Document the reasoning behind each decision. Whether you updated, merged, or removed content, noting why you made those choices helps future team members understand your approach and builds a knowledge base about what resonates with your audience.

Track how long different types of updates take to implement. This helps with planning future audits and setting realistic timelines for stakeholders.

Finally, create monthly summaries to highlight key improvements, challenges, and lessons learned. Use metrics like traffic growth, conversion increases, or time saved by removing outdated content to showcase your progress.

Well-maintained records don’t just document your current efforts – they serve as a learning tool, making every future content review and optimization project more effective.

Conclusion: Summary and Next Steps

A content audit isn’t just a one-and-done task – it’s an ongoing process to keep your website running smoothly and performing at its peak. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you’ve learned how to catalog your content, evaluate its performance, and make informed decisions about what to update, combine, or remove. This process sets the stage for steady improvements and ensures you’re ready for future audits.

Regular audits bring a range of benefits: they boost SEO, enhance user experience, and refine your content strategy. They also help you spot content gaps and ensure your messaging stays in line with your brand’s voice and goals. Remember, new blog posts can take 3–6 months to rank, so patience and consistency are key.

How Often Should You Audit?

The frequency of your audits depends on your content volume and business needs. Here’s a general guideline:

• Comprehensive audit: Once a year
• Awareness content (blog posts): Every 6 months
• Consideration content (how-to guides): Every 3–6 months
• Conversion content: Quarterly or monthly
• Retention content: Annually

To make this process manageable, focus on building sustainable habits. Routinely check key metrics in tools like Google Search Console and other analytics platforms. Use your audit insights to create an editorial calendar, categorizing updates as high, medium, or low priority. And don’t forget to schedule your next audit while planning these updates.

"After conducting a content audit, prioritize updates based on performance metrics. Revise and optimize content for relevance, SEO, and user experience. Develop a content strategy aligned with business goals, and regularly monitor and reassess for ongoing improvement." – Muhammad Sajid, SEO Expert

Staying on top of your content with regular monitoring and updates ensures your site evolves with trends and user behavior. Keeping your content inventory up to date and relevant helps your website maintain its value for both your audience and your business.

No matter where you’re starting, take the first step today. Each audit offers valuable insights that lead to smarter content decisions and stronger digital performance in the long run.

FAQs

What are the best tools for conducting a content audit, and how do they work together?

When it comes to carrying out a content audit, some standout tools include Google Analytics, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Google Search Console. Each of these brings something unique to the table, and using them together can give you a well-rounded view of how your website’s content is performing.

Here’s how they help: Google Analytics is perfect for digging into user behavior and spotting traffic trends. Screaming Frog shines when it comes to uncovering technical issues like broken links and missing metadata. If you’re focusing on SEO, Ahrefs and SEMrush are fantastic for identifying performance metrics and pinpointing content gaps. Finally, Google Search Console is your go-to for tracking search visibility and resolving indexing problems.

By combining the insights from these tools, you can thoroughly assess your content strategy, figure out what’s effective, and decide what needs tweaking, removing, or improving.

How do I set a clear and manageable scope for my content audit?

To effectively plan your content audit, start by pinpointing your main objectives. Are you aiming to drive more traffic, enhance SEO, or improve user experience? Once you’ve nailed down your goals, direct your efforts toward areas that will have the most impact – like your best-performing pages or specific types of content that align with those objectives.

Take stock of your resources, including your team’s capacity and the tools you have available, to keep the process realistic. You can streamline the audit by focusing on certain sections of your site, specific time periods, or particular content categories. This way, you strike a balance between being thorough and efficient, ensuring the audit provides actionable results without feeling like an endless task.

How can I decide which content to update, combine, or remove during a content audit?

To effectively prioritize content during an audit, begin by diving into key performance metrics – think traffic, user engagement, and conversion rates. Pinpoint pages that aren’t performing well and could benefit from updates, optimization, or even removal. If you find content that’s similar or overlapping, consider combining it into one stronger, more detailed piece to streamline your site and cut down on redundancy.

Start with high-priority updates that can deliver noticeable results quickly. For example, focus on pages that have the potential to climb in SEO rankings or significantly boost user engagement with just a few tweaks. Taking a data-driven approach ensures your efforts are focused and aligned with your goals, ultimately improving your site’s overall performance and SEO impact.