Content Audit: Evaluating and Optimising Your Entire Site

A content audit forces you to look at every page on your site with honest eyes. Instead of assuming old content still works, you measure what each page actually contributes - in traffic, rankings, backlinks, and conversions - and decide its future based on data rather than attachment.

What Is a Content Audit?

A content audit is a systematic evaluation of all content on your website. Every page is assessed against a set of performance metrics, then assigned an action: keep as is, update, merge with another page, redirect, or delete.

The goal is not to find problems with every page. The goal is to make informed decisions about where your content efforts will have the greatest impact on organic traffic and conversions.

When to Conduct a Content Audit

Trigger events for a full audit:

• Organic traffic has plateaued or declined for 3+ months
• You are planning a site redesign or migration
• Your content library has grown past 100 pages without review
• You have inherited a site with unknown content quality
• Annual strategic planning (every site should audit at least yearly)

Trigger events for a spot audit:

• Specific pages showing traffic decline in Analytics
• Google algorithm update affecting your site
• New competitors outranking your established content
• Before a major content investment (new hub page, pillar content)

The Content Audit Process

Step 1: Crawl Your Site

Use Screaming Frog to crawl your entire website and export a complete list of URLs with their metadata.

Key data points to capture:

• URL
• Title tag
• H1
• Word count
• Status code (200, 301, 404)
• Indexability status
• Internal links pointing to the page
• Last modified date

The crawl gives you the full inventory. Every URL that returns a 200 status code is a page that needs evaluation.

Step 2: Pull Traffic and Engagement Data

Export data from Google Analytics for the last 12 months:

• Organic sessions per page
• Total pageviews
• Average time on page
• Bounce rate
• Conversions (if tracked)

Trending data matters more than snapshots. A page with 500 visits last month that had 2000 visits six months ago is decaying. A page with 200 visits that had 50 six months ago is growing. Export month-by-month data to spot these patterns.

Step 3: Pull Search Console Data

Export from Google Search Console for the last 12 months:

• Impressions per page
• Clicks per page
• Average position per page
• Top queries per page

Search Console data reveals opportunities Analytics misses. A page with high impressions but low clicks has a CTR problem - likely fixable with better title tags or meta descriptions. A page ranking positions 8-20 for valuable keywords is close to page one and worth prioritising for updates.

Step 4: Pull Backlink Data

Use Ahrefs or Semrush to export:

• Referring domains per page
• Domain rating of linking sites
• Total backlinks per page

Backlink data is critical for deciding between redirecting and deleting. A page with 15 referring domains from authoritative sites should never be deleted without redirecting - those links have real equity that you would lose permanently.

Step 5: Combine Into a Master Spreadsheet

Merge all data sources into a single spreadsheet with one row per URL. This becomes your content audit document - the single source of truth for every decision.

Columns in your master spreadsheet:

Content Scoring Framework

With all data in one place, score each page to make decisions systematic rather than subjective.

Scoring Criteria

Total possible score: 18

Adapt the scoring to your priorities. An e-commerce site might weight conversion contribution higher. A content publisher might weight traffic and engagement higher.

Score Interpretation

The Five Content Actions

1. Keep (Protect)

High-scoring pages that drive traffic, rank well, and have backlinks. Do not change these unnecessarily - protect what works.

Keep action items:

• Monitor for traffic decline monthly
• Refresh minor details (dates, statistics) annually
• Protect internal links pointing to these pages
• Do not cannibalise their keywords with new content

2. Update (Refresh)

Pages with potential but declining performance. They rank for valuable keywords or have backlinks but need refreshing to compete with newer content.

Common update actions:

• Rewrite outdated sections with current information
• Add new sections covering subtopics competitors now include
• Update statistics, examples, and screenshots
• Improve internal linking to and from the page
• Optimise title tag and meta description based on current SERP patterns
• Republish with a new modified date after substantial updates

Content refresh is often the highest-ROI activity from a content audit. Updating an existing page that already has backlinks and some ranking history is faster than creating new content from scratch.

3. Merge (Consolidate)

When multiple pages cover similar topics but none rank well individually, combining them into a single comprehensive page often produces better results than any individual page achieved alone.

When to merge:

• Two or more pages target the same primary keyword
• Several thin pages (under 500 words) cover aspects of the same topic
• A keyword research review shows cannibalisation between pages

Merge process:

1. Choose the strongest URL as the surviving page (highest traffic, most backlinks)
2. Identify the best content from each page being merged
3. Rewrite the surviving page to incorporate the consolidated content
4. Set up 301 redirects from retired URLs to the surviving page
5. Update internal links to point to the surviving URL

4. Redirect

When a page is outdated or obsolete but has backlinks or external references, redirect it to the most relevant existing page rather than deleting it.

When to redirect:

• The topic is no longer relevant but the page has backlinks
• A better, more comprehensive page already covers the same topic
• The page was part of a campaign or event that has ended
• URL structure changed during a site redesign

Redirect rules:

• Always use 301 (permanent) redirects
• Redirect to the most topically relevant page, not the homepage
• Redirecting to the homepage should be a last resort - it wastes link equity
• Update your internal links to point directly to the new URL rather than relying on the redirect chain

5. Delete (Remove)

The last resort for pages with no traffic, no backlinks, no ranking potential, and no business value.

When to delete:

• Zero organic traffic for 12+ months
• No referring domains
• Not ranking for any keywords
• Topic is completely obsolete
• Page is thin (under 200 words) with no unique value

Before deleting:

• Double-check backlink data across multiple tools
• Verify no internal links point to the page
• Consider whether the topic could be revived with a rewrite
• If the URL has been shared externally, redirect instead

Deleting pages is not inherently bad. Removing genuinely worthless content can improve crawl efficiency and site quality signals. But deletion is irreversible - once a URL returns 404, any link equity flowing to it is lost permanently.

Content Decay and Refresh Strategy

What Is Content Decay?

Content decay is the gradual decline of a page’s organic traffic and rankings over time. Even high-performing pages eventually decay as information becomes outdated, competitors publish better content, and search intent evolves.

Common causes of content decay:

• Statistics and data points becoming outdated
• New competitors publishing more comprehensive content
• Search intent shifting (informational queries becoming commercial)
• Google algorithm updates changing what ranks
• External links to the page being removed over time

Identifying Decaying Content

Set up a quarterly review process:

1. In Google Analytics, compare organic traffic for the last 90 days vs. the previous 90 days for all pages
2. Flag any page with a 20%+ traffic decline
3. In Search Console, check whether impressions and average position have worsened for those pages
4. Prioritise pages targeting your most valuable keywords

Content Refresh Workflow

For each decaying page:

1. Analyse the SERP - Search the target keyword and review what currently ranks. Has the format changed? Are competitors covering subtopics you miss?
2. Check search intent - Has the intent shifted? A query that was informational might now show commercial results
3. Update content - Add missing sections, update data, improve depth
4. Update on-page elements - Refresh title tag and meta description if SERP patterns have changed
5. Rebuild internal links - Ensure the page is well-linked from related content across your site
6. Republish - Update the modified date and resubmit in Search Console

Pages that receive a thorough refresh often recover and exceed their previous traffic levels within 2-4 months.

Tools for Content Auditing

Screaming Frog

The essential crawling tool. The free version handles sites up to 500 URLs. The paid version (GBP 259/year) crawls unlimited URLs and integrates with Analytics, Search Console, and Ahrefs.

Use it for: Complete URL inventory, word counts, title tags, H1 tags, status codes, internal links, indexability.

Google Analytics

Your primary source for traffic and engagement metrics. Export page-level data for the audit period.

Use it for: Organic sessions per page, engagement metrics, conversion data, traffic trends over time.

Google Search Console

Shows how Google sees your pages - impressions, clicks, average position, and the queries driving them.

Use it for: Keyword rankings per page, impression trends, CTR analysis, indexing issues.

Ahrefs / Semrush

Backlink data and competitive keyword analysis. Essential for understanding which pages carry link equity.

Use it for: Referring domains per page, link quality assessment, keyword gap analysis, competitor content comparison.

Content Audit Checklist

Preparation

• Screaming Frog crawl completed and exported
• Google Analytics data exported (12 months, page-level)
• Search Console data exported (12 months, page-level)
• Backlink data exported from Ahrefs or Semrush
• Master spreadsheet created with all data merged

Scoring

• Scoring criteria defined and weighted for your priorities
• Every page scored consistently
• Pages categorised into action buckets (keep, update, merge, redirect, delete)
• Priority assigned to each action item

Execution

• High-performing pages identified and flagged for protection
• Content refresh queue created for decaying pages
• Merge candidates identified and consolidation plan written
• 301 redirects set up for retired pages
• Deleted pages verified to have no backlinks or internal links
• Internal links updated to reflect all changes

Follow-Up

• Refreshed pages resubmitted to Search Console
• Traffic monitored for refreshed pages over 90 days
• Redirect chains tested for proper function
• Next audit date scheduled (6-12 months)

A content audit is not a one-time event. It is a recurring discipline that keeps your content strategy sharp and your site free of accumulated dead weight. The pages you update, merge, and prune today create space for the content that will drive traffic tomorrow. Start with the data, score without sentiment, and let the numbers guide your decisions.