How to perform a content audit

Is your website content working as hard as you are for your business? If you’re like most SME business owners in the UK, you’ve invested countless hours and resources creating content for your website. But do you know whether it’s driving results and adding value?

There’s only one key way to understand this: conducting a content audit, which is like an MOT for your website content.

A content audit essentially evaluates all the content on your website to identify:

• What is working
• What isn’t
• What opportunities you might be missing

For small businesses with limited marketing resource, a content audit can be a cost-effective way to improve your online performance without starting from scratch.

In this guide, we’ll show you exactly how to conduct a thorough and valuable content audit that delivers the results you need.

What Is a Content Audit and Why Do You Need One?

A content audit comprehensively evaluates how well your content serves your business goals and your customers’ needs.

It’s not a case of simply counting how many web pages your site has; it analyses key performance data, user behaviour and business impact.

These audits can be valuable because they solve common problems that can typically drain your marketing budget, which is something that many can ill afford to waste. This includes:

• Outdated information and obsolete descriptions
• Content that doesn’t rank despite its writing quality
• Pages that generate traffic but don’t convert visitors into customers
• Existing content that can be tweaked to perform better, as opposed to swathes of new (potentially lower-value) content

While there is no best time to conduct a content audit, general recommendations suggest a quarterly review of your site to check its KPIs, with a more comprehensive review every year. However, if you’re experiencing a significant website traffic drop, planning a rebrand or redesign, launching new services or products, or simply haven’t reviewed your content in over a year, then set aside time and resources to conduct a professional content audit.

The Content Audit Process

Step 1: Set Clear Objectives

Before diving into the data, establish what you want to achieve. For instance, use the SMART framework adapted for content:

• Specific: “Improve conversion rates on service pages” rather than “make content better”
• Measurable: “Increase organic traffic by 25%” gives you a clear target
• Achievable: Based on your current performance and resources
• Relevant: Aligned with your business goals
• Time-bound: “Within six months” creates urgency

Common SEO goals for local and growing SMEs include improving rankings for key service terms, increasing submissions from contact forms, generating X amount of income via the website, reducing bounce rates, and many others.

Here is a quick snapshot of recommended content audit tools based on your budget:

Free content audit tools: Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Search Console, Screaming Frog (paid version available)

• Moderate content audit tools (£50-200/month): Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz for deeper insights

Step 2: Create an Inventory of Content and Data

Start by creating a comprehensive spreadsheet and database of your content. Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider tool (the free version of which handles up to 500 URLs) is invaluable here. This tool crawls your entire website and exports a detailed spreadsheet with essential information, such as:

URL

• Word count and last modified date
• Meta descriptions and title tags
• Response codes (such as 404 “not found” errors which signal broken pages)
• Internal and external links
• Images without alt text

Next, gather performance data from multiple sources:

• GA4 details metrics like page views, time on page, bounce rates, conversion tracking for key events, and more.
• Google Search Console tracks search performance, impressions, clicks, average position, click-through rates, and the keywords or queries bringing people to your pages.

Step 3: Assess Content Quality 

This is where you evaluate each piece of content against modern standards, particularly Google’s E-E-A-T framework:

• Does your content demonstrate real-world experience with the topics you’re covering?
• Does it contain case studies, examples or testimonials from actual clients?
• Is the content technically accurate, correct, and detailed?
• Does it contain clear, persuasive prose or is it too technical and jargon-heavy?
• Is it covering the topic in enough depth that it reflects genuine knowledge or merely assumptions?
• Does the content establish your brand as a trusted source?
• Is your content honest and transparent?
• Does it make any claims that can be substantiated or not considered misleading?
• Does it load fast? On mobile?
• Does it contain a logical heading structure (H1, H2, H3 etc.), internal links, images, videos, and CTAs?
• Is your content optimised for user search intent (informational, navigational, transactional, commercial)?

Step 4: Conduct an In-Depth Analysis

Now comes the crucial part – deciding what to do with each piece of content. Use this classification system as a guide:

• Keep and optimise: Content that performs well but needs minor improvements. This is ideal for pages with good traffic and rankings but poor conversion rates.
• Update and republish: Outdated content with good value. This is ideal for pages with accurate data and information, but that need newer examples and current data.
• Consolidate and merge: Multiple pages covering similar topics that would be better if combined. This is ideal for FAQ pages, similar product and service descriptions, or blog posts that cover the same themes.
• Remove or redirect: Underperforming pages that serve no purpose or value. This is ideal for pages that list outdated promotions, duplicate content, or pages with no conversion value.

What to Do After a Content Audit

Transform your audit findings into a practical and achievable roadmap for your business. Start by focusing on the quick wins that can make an immediate impact, such as:

• Fix broken links
• Update NAP (name, address, and phone number) information
• Add missing headings, title tags, and meta descriptions
• Improve internal linking between related pages
• Optimise high-traffic pages with simple changes
• Update statistics and examples
• Expand thin content that has value, and delete that which doesn’t
• Add relevant images with proper alt text
• Create and upload infographics that explain complex processes
• Embed videos where appropriate
• Add recent case studies and relevant industry trends

Set up the correct type of tracking to measure the KPIs that matter most to your business, whether that’s improvements in organic traffic, conversion rates, search rankings, or user engagement metrics.

Common Content Audit Mistakes 

• Conducting audits without clear objectives (e.g. focusing on traffic while ignoring conversions)
• Overlooking important factors like mobile user experience and search intent
• Trying to fix everything all at once and getting overwhelmed
• Ensuring tools capture all pages including redirected content

The key is maintaining a focus on changes that directly impact your business goals rather than getting lost in minor technical details.

Looking for a No-Obligation, Thorough Audit?

Consider consulting a digital marketing and SEO agency with access to top-quality tools and resources that can give you granular insights into not just your content, but your entire website architecture, setup and strategy.

Many SMEs are ‌starved for time and energy trying to balance running their business while trying to navigate Google’s continually evolving algorithm changes, especially with AI now set to dominate the entire space.

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly solution that can give you all the technical insights you need but in plain English, along with the in-house resources and expertise to help you get the most out of your website and content (invariably with our own in-house content specialists), then look no further than Artemis. Our audits are designed to provide actionable recommendations that fit your business timelines, schedules and priorities.

If you’re interested in a professional content audit, contact our team to discuss your specific needs and objectives.