Content Audits
Finding out which pages are still helping
Most business websites do not fail because they have too little content. They fail because no one knows which pages are still helping.
Website content audits help you work out what your existing content is doing, what is worth attention, and what should happen next. I review your website, blog or content library using the evidence available. That may include Google Search Console data, analytics, crawl data, keyword information, page structure and the content itself.
The aim is simple: clear, practical decisions about where to focus your time and budget.
What a content audit is
A content audit is a practical review of a defined body of content. That might mean your main website pages, your service pages, your sector pages, your blog, your resource library, or a group of articles around an important subject.
The work sits between data analysis and editorial judgement.
Search data can show which pages are being found. Analytics can show what people do next. A crawl can reveal structural problems. A spreadsheet can make patterns easier to see.
But the final questions are human ones:
- Is this content useful?
- Is it accurate?
- Does it explain the business clearly?
- Does it support the right service?
- Does it help the reader make a decision?
- Does it deserve to stay?
When content audits are useful
Content audits are useful when your website has grown over time and no longer feels easy to judge. They can help when:
- Your blog attracts traffic, but not the right kind of enquiry.
- Old articles may no longer be accurate.
- Service pages feel thin, dated or unclear.
- Several pages cover similar ground.
- Important topics or services are missing.
- Your website no longer reflects how the business sells.
- You are planning a rebuild, rewrite or new content programme.
For specialist B2B businesses, this matters because weak content does not always look obviously weak. It may contain good information. It may even rank. But it may still fail to explain the service properly, build trust, or move the right reader closer to enquiry.
What I look at
The exact work depends on the site, the available data and the size of the audit.
Where possible, I use evidence from sources such as:
- Google Search Console
- Analytics data
- Site crawls
- Keyword research
- Page exports
- Internal linking patterns
- The pages themselves
David Ogilvy put it sharply: ‘Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.’
I feel much the same about content decisions. Tools and research matter. AI and data tools can help process numbers, group pages, spot patterns and make a large content set easier to understand. But tools do not make the important decisions.
They cannot tell you what is commercially important. They cannot judge whether a page explains a specialist service properly. And they cannot always tell whether an article is accurate, convincing or worth saving.
That is why editorial judgement matters.
What you get from a content audit
A good content audit should leave you with practical decisions, not just observations. Depending on the project, I can provide a written summary, a working content inventory, page-by-page notes, or a prioritised action plan.
I work from a simple principle: content should earn its place. If a page is not helping the reader, supporting the business or doing some other clear job, it should be questioned.
That does not always mean deleting it. It may mean rewriting it, combining it with something stronger, redirecting it, or changing its role. But it should not sit there indefinitely just because it already exists.
Who I work with
I work directly with specialist B2B firms that need a clearer view of their existing website, blog or content library.
I also work with agencies and in-house marketing teams that want senior editorial support before they recommend, rewrite or restructure a client’s website content. In both cases, the aim is the same: use the evidence properly, make better decisions, and avoid spending time and money on content that does not help.
Practical questions
A few things people ask
A place for the questions that often come up before a content audit.
How long do content audits take?
It depends on the size of the site and how detailed the review needs to be.
A focused audit of one section, such as a group of service pages or a blog category, may be relatively quick. A larger website or content library will take longer, especially if the work includes search data, crawl data, analytics and page-by-page recommendations.
Do you need access to our website admin area?
Usually, no.
For many content audits, I can work from the live website, exported data, crawl reports, Google Search Console data, analytics summaries and shared documents. Admin access may be useful in some cases, but it is not normally the first thing I need.
Can you prioritise the recommendations?
Yes. A content audit should not leave you with a long list of equal problems.
I can help separate the urgent fixes from the slower-burn improvements, so you can see what needs attention first, what can wait, and what is unlikely to be worth the effort.
Will a content audit disrupt our search rankings?
No. The audit itself does not change anything on your website. It is a review.
However, some recommendations may affect search performance if they are implemented carelessly. That is why decisions about rewriting, merging, redirecting or removing pages need to be made with the available evidence in front of us.
Can you work with our SEO agency or web developer?
Yes. A content audit often works best when editorial, SEO and technical decisions are joined up.
I can provide recommendations that your agency, developer or internal team can act on. I can also help explain why certain pages should be kept, improved, merged or removed, so the work does not become a purely technical exercise.
Can you turn the audit into a content plan afterwards?
Yes, where that is useful.
The audit shows what is already helping, what is weak, and what is missing. From there, I can help turn the findings into a practical plan for rewrites, new pages, article updates, internal linking and future content priorities.
Find out what deserves attention first
If your website has grown messy, your blog is hard to assess, or you are not sure which content is still useful, I can help you make sense of it.
Before you add another page, rewrite another article or commission another campaign, it is worth knowing whether the content you already have is helping or getting in the way.
Let’s start with a short, no-pressure conversation about your website, the data you have available, and the decisions you need the audit to support.