Skip to content
ContentGecko

How to do an SEO content audit

A content audit is a critical process for evaluating and optimizing your website’s content to improve SEO performance, user experience, and conversion rates. This systematic analysis helps identify opportunities for enhancement, consolidation, or removal of content, ensuring your site remains competitive and aligned with your business goals.

What you’ll need

To conduct a thorough SEO content audit, you’ll need the following tools and resources:

Having these tools at your disposal will streamline the audit process and provide valuable insights into your content’s performance and areas for improvement.

Step 1: Set clear audit goals

Before diving into the audit, it’s crucial to define specific objectives that align with your overall SEO and content marketing strategy. Consider the following goals:

  • Identify underperforming content
  • Find content gaps and opportunities
  • Clean up outdated or redundant pages
  • Improve internal linking structure
  • Optimize for target keywords
  • Fix technical SEO issues
  • Enhance overall user experience
  • Boost organic traffic and engagement metrics
  • Align content with Google’s E-E-A-T criteria (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)

By establishing clear goals, you’ll be able to focus your efforts and measure the success of your audit more effectively.

Step 2: Create your content inventory

Creating a comprehensive content inventory is the foundation of a successful audit. Follow these steps:

  1. Export all URLs using a crawler tool like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs

  2. Create a spreadsheet with these essential columns:

    • URL
    • Page title
    • Content type (blog post, product page, landing page, etc.)
    • Publication date
    • Last updated date
    • Word count
    • Primary keyword
    • Performance metrics
    • Action required

  3. Use SE Ranking’s Website Audit Tool to gather additional technical data and insights

This inventory will serve as your central hub for analyzing and categorizing your content throughout the audit process.

Step 3: Gather key metrics

Collecting relevant performance data for each page is crucial for making informed decisions. For each piece of content, gather the following metrics:

  • Organic traffic (last 6-12 months)
  • Bounce rate
  • Average time on page
  • Conversion rate (if applicable)
  • Backlinks (quantity and quality)
  • Keyword rankings
  • Social shares and engagement
  • Page load speed
  • Mobile-friendliness score

Use Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and your chosen SEO tools to collect this data. Integrate these metrics into your content inventory spreadsheet for a comprehensive overview of each page’s performance.

Step 4: Analyze and categorize

With your data collected, it’s time to analyze and categorize your content. Tag each piece of content as:

  1. Keep (performing well)
  2. Update (needs improvement)
  3. Merge (combine with similar content)
  4. Delete (poor performance/outdated)
  5. Create (identified content gaps)

During this step, pay close attention to:

  • Content relevance and quality
  • Alignment with user intent
  • Adherence to Google’s E-E-A-T criteria
  • Opportunities for keyword optimization
  • Internal linking structure
  • Technical SEO issues (e.g., duplicate content, broken links)

Use the Ahrefs Site Audit Tool to identify internal linking opportunities and on-page optimization suggestions for each piece of content.

Step 5: Create an action plan

Based on your analysis, prioritize your findings and create a detailed action plan. Consider the following factors when prioritizing:

  1. Impact on organic traffic
  2. Resource requirements
  3. Implementation difficulty
  4. Strategic importance
  5. Potential for quick wins

Create a timeline for implementing changes, using our free keyword clustering tool to optimize content structure and identify topical clusters for improved SEO performance.

Step 6: Implementation

Start with quick wins to build momentum and demonstrate early results:

  • Update meta descriptions and title tags
  • Improve internal linking structure
  • Refresh outdated statistics and information
  • Fix broken links and redirect issues
  • Optimize images (compression, alt text, file names)
  • Implement schema markup where applicable

Then move on to larger projects:

  • Content rewrites and updates
  • Page consolidations and mergers
  • New content creation to fill identified gaps
  • Technical SEO fixes (e.g., improving site speed, mobile optimization)
  • Implementing a content pillar strategy for improved topical authority

Use tools like ContentGecko to automate optimization processes and implement findings efficiently, saving time and resources.

Common pitfalls to avoid

To ensure a successful content audit, be aware of these common mistakes:

  • Analyzing too many metrics, leading to analysis paralysis
  • Not setting clear priorities or actionable goals
  • Forgetting mobile optimization in your analysis
  • Ignoring user intent and focusing solely on keywords
  • Skipping technical SEO aspects (e.g., site speed, crawlability)
  • Not documenting the audit process for future reference
  • Failing to consider competitor analysis in your content strategy

By avoiding these pitfalls, you’ll be better positioned to conduct a comprehensive and effective SEO content audit.

TL;DR

A successful SEO content audit requires clear goals, comprehensive data collection, and systematic analysis. Focus on actionable insights and prioritize changes based on potential impact and resource requirements. Utilize tools like ContentGecko to automate optimization processes and implement findings efficiently. Regular audits (every 6-12 months) help maintain content quality, improve SEO performance, and ensure your website remains competitive in search engine rankings. By following this guide and leveraging the right tools, you’ll be well-equipped to enhance your content strategy and drive organic growth for your business.