How to Do a Content Audit in 2022

Most of us are truthful focused connected publishing caller contented that we neglect the contented we already have.

This is simply a mistake due to the fact that not everything you people volition beryllium a location tally retired of the park. Sometimes, it’ll neglect to fertile connected Google, oregon convert, oregon lend to your concern goals successful immoderate meaningful way.

When this happens, you shouldn’t conscionable permission the leafage to dice a slow, achy death. You should revisit it, fig retired what went wrong, and instrumentality enactment to amended its performance.

However, earlier you tin bash that, you request to find your underperforming pages—which is wherever a contented audit comes in.

In this guide, you’ll larn the following:

• What is simply a contented audit?
• Why is simply a contented audit important?
• How to bash an SEO contented audit
• How to bash a afloat contented audit

A contented audit is wherever you analyse the show of your contented to find opportunities for improvement. Many contented audits absorption connected SEO performance, but a afloat audit besides takes into relationship the content’s concern show and utility.

A contented audit is important for knowing what you request to bash to amended your site’s performance. It helps you to place pages that aren’t performing well, wherefore they aren’t, and however to fix that.

If you’re purely looking to amended your site’s integrated hunt performance, travel this elemental SEO contented audit process:

This process is based intimately connected the mode our free SEO WordPress plugin works, which beauteous overmuch automates the full contented audit process and kicks backmost recommendations.

For that reason, if your tract runs connected WordPress and you don’t privation to cognize each past item of however the process works, it’s astir apt quicker to usage the plugin. (We person resources to assistance you larn however to install and use it.) 

But if you’re doing this manually, support speechmaking arsenic we spell done however to reply the questions successful the contented audit process and what actions to instrumentality successful each scenario.

Let’s commencement astatine the top.

1. Is the leafage much than 6 months old?

If the reply to this question is no, past the leafage shouldn’t beryllium audited. This is due to the fact that it takes clip to fertile connected Google, truthful it’s not a large thought to marque changes to precocious published contented until it has had clip to rank.

For example, we won’t fuss auditing this blog station today. This is due to the fact that it was lone published successful January:

That said, the six-month play isn’t acceptable successful stone. If you deliberation 3 months is capable clip for a leafage to fertile oregon simply similar to permission pages for 12 months earlier auditing them, consciousness escaped to set this number.

2. Does it fertile successful the top three?

If the leafage is much than 6 months old, the adjacent question is whether it presently ranks successful the apical 3 for its superior people keyword. You tin find this accusation successful Ahrefs’ Site Explorer (get access for escaped with an Ahrefs Webmaster Tools account).

Here’s how:

1. Paste your webpage URL into Site Explorer
2. Go to the Organic keywords report
3. Check your superior target’s ranking position

For example, if we bash this for our SEO checklist, you tin spot that it ranks successful presumption #3:

If your leafage ranks successful the apical 3 and you’re blessed with that position, there’s nary request to instrumentality immoderate action. However, if you privation to prosecute the apical spot, you’ll privation to analyse the SERP further to spot whether that’s adjacent apt to beryllium possible. And if so, what you’ll request to bash to get there.

Learn however to bash that successful our usher to ranking higher connected Google.

3. Does it fertile successful the top 20?

If your leafage doesn’t presently fertile successful the apical three, usage the Organic keywords report to spot if it’s astatine slightest successful the top 20.

If it is, cheque to spot whether the leafage is targeting a unsocial keyword.

The easiest mode is to tally a site: search for your website and people keyword, past eyeball the results for different pages seemingly targeting the aforesaid keyword.

For example, if we tally a site: hunt for moz.com + keyword cannibalization, Moz appears to person aggregate pages targeting this keyword:

In this case, it astir apt makes the astir consciousness to merge these posts into one—then usage 301 redirects to consolidate the nexus equity.

However, if the leafage is targeting a unsocial keyword, the champion people of enactment is astir apt to update it. After all, the leafage is ranking successful the apical 20, truthful it’s showing immoderate signs of life. You whitethorn beryllium capable to ace the apical 10 by adding updates to guarantee that:

1. It’s a bully lucifer for search intent.
2. Its basal on-page SEO is connected constituent (title tag, H1, etc.).
3. It covers the topic fully.

IMPORTANT

Low rankings aren’t ever a contented problem. You whitethorn simply not person capable backlinks to vie successful the SERP. You tin get a unsmooth consciousness of however your nexus illustration stacks up against the contention by plugging your keyword into Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer and checking the Domains file for the competition.

You tin past spot however those numbers comparison to your leafage by plugging it into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer.

In our case, it doesn’t look similar we’re lacking backlinks, arsenic the fig of referring domains pointing to our leafage is astir connected par with our competitors’.

If you’re an Ahrefs user, you tin usage Site Explorer to find important subtopics you whitethorn person missed. Just plug your leafage successful it, spell to the Content Gap report, paste successful the URLs of a fewer top-ranking posts for your keyword, past deed “Show keywords.” You’ll spot each the keywords these pages fertile for that your leafage doesn’t.

For example, if we bash this for our impermanent blogging guide, you’ll spot that immoderate of the top-ranking pages are ranking for “what is impermanent blogging”:

We don’t fertile for this keyword due to the fact that we didn’t see a explanation connected our page, truthful we’ll astir apt privation to adhd this during the update to marque our leafage much comprehensive.

4. Is ranking for this keyword important to you?

If your leafage isn’t ranking successful the apical 20 for its people keyword, it’s astir apt going to instrumentality a batch of clip and effort to ace the archetypal page. After all, it’s usually harder to boost a leafage by 20+ positions than it is by conscionable 1 or two.

For that reason, you request to determine whether the effort is truly worthy the reward—and that means asking yourself however important ranking for this keyword is for your business.

If the keyword is not peculiarly important…

Plug the leafage into Google Search Console to spot if it’s attracting immoderate integrated traffic.

If it is attracting integrated traffic and you privation to support it, permission the leafage arsenic is and exclude it from aboriginal contented audits.

If it isn’t attracting integrated traffic, travel this process:

Note that if you’re redirecting the page, you should redirect it to a akin leafage (e.g., /link-building-tactics/ → /link-building/).

TIP

It’s besides champion signifier to update internal links after you delete a page. Here’s however to find these links utilizing Ahrefs’ Site Audit (you tin usage this for escaped with an Ahrefs Webmaster Tools account):

1. Crawl your site
2. Go to the Link Explorer tool
3. Enter the URL of the leafage you conscionable deleted successful the hunt box
4. Set the dropdown to “Target URL”

You’ll past spot the locations of each interior links to that page:

If the keyword is important…

You request to fig retired wherefore the leafage is not ranking and instrumentality action. Often, this volition travel down to grossly mismatched search intent—at slightest successful part. If that’s the case, you’ll astir apt person to spell backmost to the drafting committee and rewrite the contented from scratch.

However, determination could beryllium different reasons the leafage isn’t ranking, specified arsenic a deficiency of backlinks, a SERP dominated by well-known competitors, oregon thing other entirely. For that reason, if you’re not definite wherefore it isn’t ranking, cheque retired our step-by-step usher to ranking higher connected Google.

If you’re looking for a much robust, SEO-first contented audit that besides takes things similar conversions into account, Patrick Stox has you covered:

You tin spot this is simply a much intensive process that’s beauteous overmuch intolerable to afloat automate, truthful it’s surely much of a workflow for hardcore marketers.

Here are a fewer tools and resources to assistance with answering the questions:

• Does your contented get integrated hunt traffic? Google Search Console/Site Explorer
• Does it get postulation from different source? Google Analytics
• Is the contented crawlable and indexable? Google Search Console/Site Audit (sign up for Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for escaped access)
• Are you blessed with the fig of conversions? Google Analytics
• Is different leafage connected your tract ranking for the aforesaid term? Ahrefs’ SEO Plugin/Site Explorer (Organic Keywords > “Multiple URLs only”)
• Is your leafage amended than the competition/does it screen the taxable well? Ahrefs’ Content Gap tool 
• Is your leafage optimized good for on-page SEO? Site Audit/On-Page SEO Guide
• Is the nonfiction internally linked wherever relevant? Site Audit/Internal Linking Guide 
• Is your nexus illustration amended than competitors’? Site Explorer/Free Backlink Checker/Link Building Guide

Final thoughts

Content audits should beryllium done regularly. They uncover however to amended your website’s show (SEO and otherwise) and assistance you execute your concern objectives.

Just retrieve that though automation tin assistance with the contented audit process, communal consciousness and manual checks are inactive important. Never delete oregon redirect contented unless you’re assured that it’s the champion people of action. And if you’re unsure, prosecute an SEO oregon selling nonrecreational to bash the contented audit for you.

Got questions? Ping maine on Twitter.