Introduction
If you've been blogging for a while, chances are your site contains outdated posts, low-performing articles, or content that no longer aligns with your goals. That’s where a content audit comes in. A content audit helps you review, assess, and improve existing content to enhance SEO, user experience, and overall performance.
In this article, you’ll learn what a content audit is, why it matters, and how to conduct one step by step.
What Is a Content Audit?
A content audit is the process of analyzing all the content on your blog to evaluate its performance and determine what needs to be updated, improved, combined, or removed.
You focus on key factors like:
Traffic and engagement
SEO rankings
Backlinks
Relevance and quality
User experience
Why You Need a Content Audit
Improve SEO Performance
Old or duplicate content can hurt your SEO. Auditing helps you optimize or remove content that’s dragging you down.Boost User Experience
By updating or removing outdated articles, you ensure visitors only see relevant and helpful content.Recover Lost Traffic
Sometimes, fixing a few old blog posts can bring back traffic that was lost due to outdated information or broken links.Organize Your Blog
A content audit gives you a clearer understanding of what content you have, helping you build a more structured blogging strategy.
When to Do a Content Audit
Every 6–12 months for active blogs
After major Google algorithm updates
When you notice a dip in traffic
Before launching a site redesign or SEO campaign
Step-by-Step: How to Conduct a Content Audit
1. Gather All Your Content URLs
Export a list of all blog posts. You can use tools like:
Google Search Console
Screaming Frog
Ahrefs or SEMrush
WordPress Plugins (like Yoast SEO or Rank Math)
Put all the URLs in a spreadsheet.
2. Create Your Audit Spreadsheet
Create columns such as:
URL
Title
Publish Date
Traffic (last 30 or 90 days)
Bounce Rate
Backlinks
Keyword Ranking
Notes
Action (Keep, Update, Merge, Delete)
3. Evaluate Content Performance
Look at each post and ask:
Is it getting traffic?
Does it rank for keywords?
Are there broken links or outdated stats?
Is the writing quality up to current standards?
Does it match your current tone and brand?
4. Decide What to Do With Each Post
Here are your typical options:
✅ Keep: Still relevant and performing well. No action needed.
🔄 Update: Outdated but has potential. Add new information, improve SEO, or enhance formatting.
🔗 Merge: Combine similar posts into one more comprehensive article.
❌ Delete: Low-performing, irrelevant, or duplicate content with no SEO value.
5. Optimize and Refresh Content
For posts you choose to update:
Add new keywords or long-tail variations
Replace old images
Add new internal links
Improve readability (short paragraphs, subheadings, bullet points)
Update meta tags and featured images
6. Submit Updated URLs to Google
Once you’ve updated or republished content, go to Google Search Console and request indexing. This helps Google re-crawl your improved posts faster.
Tools That Can Help
Google Analytics: Track page views, bounce rate, and time on page
Google Search Console: Monitor keyword rankings and indexing
Screaming Frog: Crawl your site and detect broken links or SEO issues
Ahrefs/SEMrush: See backlinks, content performance, and keyword rankings
Final Thoughts
A content audit isn’t just a cleanup task—it’s a powerful strategy that can rejuvenate your blog, increase traffic, and help you deliver more value to your readers. It may take time, especially if you have hundreds of posts, but the results are worth the effort.
By doing regular content audits, you’ll ensure your blog stays fresh, SEO-friendly, and aligned with your blogging goals.