How to do a content audit as painlessly as possible - Search Engine Land

Get a clear view of how your content helps (or hinders) your business goals. Here's a step-by-step guide for doing a content audit.

A content audit is the act of taking inventory of your content to understand it on two levels:

• How it’s working together as a whole (the bird’s eye view).
• How each piece is working individually (the view from the weeds).

It’s a task many dread, but one you shouldn’t sweat.

Content audits aren’t a necessary evil, but rather a smart and strategic way to review your past content efforts and get a clear view of how they help (or hinder) your goals.

In short, it’s a much-needed cog in the machinery of a working content strategy – and not difficult to do, once you know how.

There are seven basic steps to do a content audit:

• Set clear goals.
• Narrow your focus: choose a type of content to audit.
• Play content librarian (gather, organize, and categorize).
• Play content detective (audit and analyze).
• Assess your findings and make a plan.
• Take action.
• Tweak your content strategy based on your findings.

Let’s talk through each one.

How to do a content audit in seven steps

Consider this your content audit checklist.

The first thing you need to do before diving into your own content audit?

Figure out your goals – what are you hoping to get out of this whole thing?

1. Set clear goals

Ultimately, a content audit helps you understand how your content is performing and how you can improve it to meet your specific goals. Setting those goals before you get...

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