How to audit your website content

A content audit is a structured review of what your website publishes and how well it serves its readers. It combines a page inventory with decisions about accuracy, usefulness, organisation and maintenance. The result should be a practical list of what to keep, improve, combine or retire.

Begin with a manageable area, such as the pages supporting one service. This lets the team agree the method and finish useful corrections before expanding the work.

Make an inventory you can act on

Record each page’s address, title, purpose, intended reader and content owner. Add its main next step, important links and the date its factual information was last checked. Include forms, downloads and connected pages that affect the reader’s task.

Keep historical publication dates separate from review dates. An article published years ago can still be useful, while a recent date cannot establish that its claims are correct.

Read the complete page

Ask what someone needs from this page and whether the content answers it. Check examples, figures, product details and research references. A helpful new introduction does not resolve conflicting claims later in the article.

Review the main action as well. A reader should understand what happens after clicking, whether it opens a product, starts an enquiry or takes them to another service. Follow the links and check the destination, including on a phone.

Google’s people-first content guidance provides useful questions about originality, evidence and whether readers leave with enough information to achieve their goal. Use those questions to improve the page itself.

Look at the structure around each page

A large content library needs useful relationships as well as individual articles. Cloudfusion’s Executive Forecast project brought publishing records together with report, region, industry and organisation references. That project illustrates how content structure can support readers and editors.

GoLegal’s rebuilt publication connects articles with topics, related reading, authors and publisher profiles. These are examples of delivered publishing work; they do not establish a particular search-ranking improvement.

Use performance as a clue

Review relevant search queries, impressions, visits and useful actions over a recorded period. Consider the purpose of the page. A support answer, company profile and service enquiry page serve different jobs.

Low traffic or a low click-through rate can prompt investigation, but does not explain the cause. Check whether the query matches the page, the title describes it accurately and the answer remains useful. Account for seasonality, small samples and staff testing before drawing conclusions.

Assign a specific action and an owner

• Keep: the page is accurate, useful and has a clear owner.
• Update: identify the exact information, example or next step that needs changing.
• Combine: agree which page should hold the complete answer and how the others will lead to it.
• Retire: confirm that the information is no longer needed and plan the correct response for its old address.

Protect important existing addresses when changing the structure. Inventory links and plan redirects before combining or moving pages. Keep recovery copies and check that valuable information has a suitable home.

Check the published result

After editing, read the actual page and follow its key links. Confirm titles, dates, bylines, image descriptions and form behaviour. A CMS save, a successful deployment and a correct live page are separate checks.

Our search and AI visibility service can help prioritise the audit around the information your customers need. If the findings require a new content structure, our website work can address that implementation. Start with a clear scope and a set of decisions the team can complete.