If you're like most growing brands, you're producing content at a steady clip—blogs, newsletters, case studies, maybe even a podcast or two. On paper, you're doing everything right.

But underneath the surface, things aren’t adding up. Traffic has plateaued. Leads are slow. Sales can’t find content that actually helps close deals. And you’re left wondering: Is our content working—or just filling space?

The truth is, most content operations suffer from the same problem: too much output, too little oversight. Content gets created, published, and forgotten—without ever being held accountable to performance.

That’s where a content audit comes in. Not as a tidy exercise in content hygiene, but as a strategic tool to uncover what’s driving real impact—and what’s just digital clutter.

In this post, I’ll walk you through how to run a smart, efficient content audit—and why it should be the starting point for diagnosing broader performance issues across your marketing, sales, and CX operations.

What is a Content Audit?

A content audit is a systematic evaluation of all your website's content to assess its performance, relevance, and alignment with your business objectives. 

It involves:​

  • Inventorying all existing content assets.
  • Analyzing performance metrics like traffic, engagement, and conversions.
  • Evaluating content quality, relevance, and SEO effectiveness.
  • Identifying gaps, redundancies, and opportunities for improvement.
Must Read: Do you know what a marketing audit looks like?

Why Conduct a Content Audit?

1. Optimize Content Performance

Regular audits help identify which pieces are performing well and which aren't. This enables you to focus your efforts on content that drives traffic and conversions.​

2. Enhance User Experience

By removing outdated or irrelevant content, you streamline the user journey, making it easier for visitors to find valuable information.​

3. Improve SEO Rankings

Auditing allows you to update content with relevant keywords, fix broken links, and ensure proper meta descriptions, all of which contribute to better search engine rankings.​

Must Read: Do’s and Don’ts of SEO

4. Align Content with Business Goals

A content audit ensures that your content strategy supports your current business objectives, whether that's lead generation, brand awareness, or customer retention.​

Signs You Need a Content Audit 

You don’t need to wait for a quarterly review or an SEO nosedive to justify a content audit. 

In fact, there are early warning signs—often overlooked—that your content ecosystem is due for a serious checkup. If any of these sound familiar, it’s time to act.

1. Website Traffic Is Flat or Declining

You’re publishing regularly, maybe even ramping up your content output, but the analytics aren’t reflecting that effort. 

If organic traffic is stagnant, chances are your older content is under-optimized, competing against itself, or simply irrelevant in today’s search landscape.

HubSpot found that updating and republishing old blog posts with new content and images can increase traffic by up to 106%.

2. High Bounce Rates, Especially on Key Pages

A bounce rate over 70%—especially on cornerstone blogs, product pages, or lead gen content—indicates that your content might be mismatched with user intent or poorly structured.

Fixable via: better content targeting, stronger introductions, improved internal linking, or content refreshes.

3. Content Cannibalization Is Hurting SEO

Multiple pages on your site target the same keywords or themes, leading to poor rankings for all of them. Google or rather, any other search engine doesn’t know which page to prioritize—and neither does your audience.

This is common in SaaS and B2B brands that scaled content quickly without a proper strategy.

4. Low Conversion Rates on Content Assets

You’ve got the traffic, but the leads? Not so much. 

This signals that the content might be attracting the wrong audience, lacking persuasive CTAs, or failing to guide users further into the funnel.

5. Sales and Customer Support Teams Aren’t Using Your Content

If your sales reps aren’t sharing content during prospecting—or your support team isn’t referring to it during customer queries—it’s a sign your assets aren’t practical, findable, or aligned with real-world conversations.

For Example: One client had 400+ blog posts, but less than 2% were ever used in sales decks or nurture sequences.

6. Your Content Repository Feels Like a Maze

If it takes more than three clicks—or a scavenger hunt—to find relevant content, you’re likely sitting on an unstructured, bloated library. 

This affects SEO crawlability, UX, and internal team productivity.

7. Your Messaging Has Evolved, But Your Content Hasn’t

You’ve rebranded, pivoted, or launched new offerings—but your blog still talks like it’s 2019. Inconsistent messaging confuses prospects and weakens your brand credibility.

How to Conduct a Content Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide

A content audit is not just a box-ticking SEO exercise—it’s a strategic, insight-driven process that should uncover what content is driving results, what’s weighing you down, and where the real opportunities lie. 

Whether you're sitting on a content library of 50 pieces or 5,000, this step-by-step guide will help you get clarity and take control.

Step 1: Define Your Goals

Start by defining what success looks like for your content. A vague objective like “improve SEO” won’t cut it. Your audit must be tailored to a specific business outcome.

Ask yourself:

  • Are you trying to increase organic traffic from high-intent keywords?
  • Do you want to improve lead generation through content upgrades or gated assets?
  • Is your goal to align messaging with a new product launch or rebranding effort?
  • Are you identifying sales enablement gaps in the funnel?

Clarity in this step ensures every content decision that follows has a purpose.

Step 2: Create a Comprehensive Content Inventory

Before you can assess what’s working, you need to see everything you have.

Build a centralized spreadsheet or use audit tools to pull data from:

  • Your website (blogs, landing pages, case studies, etc.)
  • Resource hubs or knowledge bases
  • External content platforms (Medium, YouTube, partner blogs)
  • Email drip campaigns and downloadable assets

Make sure your inventory includes:

  • Title & URL
  • Publish date
  • Content format (blog, whitepaper, landing page, etc.)
  • Word count
  • Primary topic or keyword
  • Stage in buyer journey (awareness, consideration, decision)

Tools like Screaming Frog, SEMrush, and Google Sheets can speed this process up.

Step 3: Pull Performance Metrics

Now, it’s time to bring numbers into the picture. Performance data gives you objective insight into what’s delivering value and what’s falling flat.

Use tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and Ahrefs to extract:

  • Organic traffic (sessions/month)
  • Bounce rate and time on page
  • Conversion metrics (form submissions, demo requests, downloads)
  • Backlinks and domain authority
  • Keyword rankings
  • Internal links and crawl depth

Pro tip: Add a column to your sheet for “Business Value” – does this content support a key campaign, product launch, or sales goal? That context is critical.

Must Read: The Actual SEO Metrics You Need to Track

Step 4: Assess Quality and Relevance

Numbers are powerful, but context matters. This step adds a qualitative lens to your audit—especially important for high-stakes B2B content or thought leadership.

Review each asset and ask:

  • Is the content still factually accurate and up to date?
  • Does it reflect our current voice, tone, and positioning?
  • Is it aligned with user intent for the keywords it targets?
  • Are visuals, calls to action, and UX optimized?
  • Would this content help someone take the next step in their journey?

For Example: A blog from 2021 titled “Top Digital Marketing Trends” may be driving traffic, but is it still helping users convert or learn something current?

Use a simple quality rating (High / Medium / Low) or a traffic light system (Green = Great, Yellow = Needs Work, Red = Retire) to keep it visual.

Step 5: Categorize for Action

Here’s where the audit becomes actionable. Based on the data and evaluation, assign each piece of content a clear next step:

  • Keep – High-quality, well-performing, and aligned with business goals.
  • Update – Has potential, but needs better SEO, updated stats, fresh visuals, or stronger CTAs.
  • Repurpose or Merge – Thin or outdated content that could be combined into a new, stronger piece.
  • Remove or Redirect – Content that’s irrelevant, obsolete, or low-performing with no SEO value.

Each decision here should tie back to the goals you defined in Step 1.

Must Read: Your Guide to Content Repurposing

Step 6: Prioritize and Build an Optimization Plan

You’ve now got a pile of insights—now what?

Turn your audit into a roadmap by prioritizing based on effort vs. impact. For example:

  • Quick wins: Fixing broken links, updating CTAs
  • High-impact: Refreshing high-traffic evergreen blogs with new data
  • Strategic: Creating net-new content based on identified gaps

Build a simple calendar or Kanban board with:

  • Action item
  • Owner
  • Deadline
  • Dependencies

Use tools like Trello, Notion, or Airtable to manage the workflow.

Step 7: Monitor, Iterate, and Integrate Insights

A content audit shouldn’t be a one-off project you file away and forget.

Build it into your quarterly or bi-annual rhythm. Track the performance of updated content over time:

  • Did organic traffic increase?
  • Are bounce rates lower?
  • Are leads or MQLs rising?
  • Is sales using more content in their pitches?

And most importantly, connect the dots. What you learn in a content audit should influence:

  • Your SEO and content calendar
  • Messaging across paid and organic campaigns
  • Sales enablement and customer success materials

This is where my firm often steps in—not just to audit content, but to align it with sales strategy and CX data across the full buyer journey.

Tools to Assist in Your Content Audit

  • Screaming Frog: Crawls websites to identify SEO issues. 
  • Google Analytics: Provides insights into user behavior and content performance. 
  • SEMrush: Offers comprehensive SEO and content analysis.
  • Ahrefs: Analyzes backlinks and keyword rankings.
  • Grammarly: Checks for grammatical errors and readability.​

Beyond Content: The Need for Comprehensive Performance Audits

While a content audit focuses on your website's content, a performance audit encompasses a broader spectrum, including sales processes, marketing strategies, and customer experience.​

For instance, a client once approached us, believing their content was underperforming. However, our comprehensive audit revealed that the real issue lay in their sales funnel, where leads generated by content weren't being effectively nurtured.​

By addressing the broader performance issues, we helped them realign their strategies, resulting in a 30% increase in conversions.​

Conclusion: Take Control of Your Content Strategy

A content audit is more than a housekeeping task; it's a strategic initiative that can significantly impact your business's success.​

By regularly evaluating and optimizing your content, you ensure that your marketing efforts are effective, your audience remains engaged, and your business objectives are met.