A content audit shows which pages to keep, fix, merge or remove. It needs a spreadsheet, a few free reports and an honest read of each page.
A website content audit is a page-by-page review of what your site publishes. List every page, add search and enquiry figures, judge each page for accuracy and usefulness, then give it one action: keep, improve, merge, redirect or remove. Audit once a year, and again after any change to what the business offers.
What a website content audit is
A website content audit is a page-by-page review of everything your site publishes. For each page you record what it is for, whether it is accurate, whether anyone uses it and what to do next. The result is a list with one decision for every address on the site.
It differs from a basic SEO audit, which checks whether search engines can reach and index your pages and looks for technical faults. A content audit asks whether the pages deserve to be there. It helps to do the technical pass first. Because an audit often ends in a rewrite or a new page, the website content plan guide is the natural next step.
How to do a website content audit
Follow these seven steps in order. On a small site one person can manage the whole job.
Step 1: Set the goal and the limits
Decide what you want from the audit: fewer outdated pages, more enquiries from search, or a cleaner site before a redesign or a move to a new platform. The goal shapes which numbers matter. Decide the scope too. A small site can be audited whole. A large one is better done section by section, starting with the pages that bring in business.
Step 2: List every page
Build the list of addresses from more than one source, because no single source is complete. Use the page list in your content management system, your XML sitemap, the pages that appear in Search Console and the output of a site crawler. Include pages that are live but not in the menu, since they are often the oldest. Put one address on each row of a spreadsheet.
Step 3: Add the numbers
For each address, add what you can find without paying:
- Search clicks and impressions from Search Console, over a period long enough to cover your busy and quiet seasons.
- Visits, and the enquiries or sales that began on the page, from your analytics.
- Links from other sites, from the Links report in Search Console.
- The date the page was last changed and the person responsible for it.
- How many of your own pages link to it.
Low numbers do not condemn a page. A page about a rarely needed service may serve a few valuable customers. Numbers raise questions. They do not give answers.
Step 4: Read each page as a customer would
Open the page on a phone and read it. A short set of questions keeps the review consistent from one page to the next.
| Question | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Is it accurate today? | Contact details, services, areas served, names, dates and policies |
| Does it answer a real question? | A customer search or enquiry that the page is meant to serve |
| Does another page cover the same ground? | Two pages competing for the same search or saying the same thing |
| Is the next step clear? | A visible way to call, enquire or buy |
| Is it specific? | Details that only your business could give, rather than generic claims |
| Was it written for readers? | Natural wording, not repeated phrases or text made to fill a keyword list |
Step 5: Choose one action for each page
Give every row one action: keep, improve, merge into another page, redirect to a replacement, remove, or keep for visitors but hide from search. The sections below explain how to choose and what each action means in practice.
Step 6: Do the work in a sensible order
Correct anything wrong first. Wrong contact details, outdated services, broken forms and expired policies cost you trust and customers. Then merge and redirect, which removes duplication. Then rewrite the pages that matter most and leave the rest for later. Do each batch as a unit and write down the date.
Step 7: Record the result and check again
Keep the sheet. After a few weeks, look at Search Console for the pages you merged or removed, and confirm that the redirects work and that the old addresses drop out. Judge the effect over months, not days, because search engines take time to recrawl and reassess a site.
What to do with outdated pages
Sort outdated pages into three groups.
- Out of date but still relevant, such as a service page with old details. Update it. The address, the links and the history stay, and the page becomes true again.
- Tied to a moment that has passed, such as an event, an offer or an announcement. If people still visit it, keep it with a clear note that it has ended and a pointer to the current equivalent. If it serves no one, remove it.
- No longer relevant to the business, such as a service you stopped. Remove it, or redirect it if a close replacement exists.
Do not delete older pages by reflex. Google's guidance on helpful content lists adding a lot of new content or removing a lot of older content in the belief that it will make a site seem fresh among the signs of content made for search engines first. Judge each page on whether it is still useful and accurate. Change the date on a page only when you have changed the content in a way a reader would notice.
How to decide which pages to merge or remove
Two questions settle most cases. Is there another page that does this job better? Does the page have value of its own, such as visitors, links or enquiries? The table lists the usual choices.
| Situation | Action | How |
|---|---|---|
| Two pages answer the same question | Merge | Keep the stronger address, move the useful parts of the other page into it, then permanently redirect the weaker address to it |
| A page has moved or has a close replacement | Redirect | Use a permanent (301) redirect to the specific replacement page |
| A page is useless, has no links or visits and nothing replaces it | Remove | Return a 404 or 410 status so it drops out of search |
| A page must stay for visitors but should not appear in search, such as a thank-you page | Hide | Add a noindex tag and leave the page crawlable so Google can see the tag |
| A page is useful but weak | Improve | Add the missing facts, real examples and a clear next step |
Several points in Google's documentation help here.
- Permanent redirects are a strong signal that the new address should be treated as the main one.
- If a page is gone and nothing replaces it, a 404 or 410 status is fine. Google treats both as meaning the content does not exist, and you do not have to redirect every removed page.
- Redirecting many unrelated old pages to the home page is not helpful. It confuses visitors, and Google may treat it as a soft 404.
- A noindex tag works only if Google can crawl the page, so do not block the same page in robots.txt.
When a page goes, also remove it from menus, internal links and your sitemap. If you are redesigning at the same time, the website redesign SEO checklist covers redirects in more detail.
Thin and near-duplicate pages
Thin pages say little: a heading, a paragraph and a button. Near-duplicate pages repeat the same text with a place name or a product name changed. Both are common on sites that grew by copying a page. For each one, add substance a visitor can use, merge it with a stronger page, or remove it. Swapping a few words for synonyms does not make two pages different. A reader should be able to say what each page offers that the others do not.
How often to audit your content
Once a year is enough for most small sites, with lighter checks in between. Audit sooner in these situations:
- Before a redesign or a move to a new platform, so that you carry across only what is worth keeping.
- After a change in what the business offers or where it works.
- When enquiries from the site fall and the cause is not clear.
- When customers quote information from your site that is no longer true.
Between audits, set a reminder to re-read the pages that bring in work, and check the facts on them after any change in the business.
A starter content audit sheet
Copy these columns into a spreadsheet and fill one row for each address. The examples are invented.
| Address | Purpose | Search clicks | Enquiries started | Links from other sites | Last changed | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /services/example-service/ | Explains the main service | Some | Several | A few | Last year | Improve: add missing facts |
| /old-seasonal-offer/ | An offer that ended | None | None | None | Long ago | Remove with a 404 |
| /service-in-area-a/ and /service-in-area-b/ | Same text, different place name | Low | None | None | Unknown | Merge into one page and redirect |
| /thank-you/ | Confirmation after a form | Not applicable | Not applicable | None | Unknown | Hide from search with noindex |
Add an owner column and a next check date once the first pass is done.
When to ask for help
A small site can be audited with a spreadsheet and free tools. Consider help when the site has a very large number of pages or several languages, when visits fell after a change and you cannot see why, or when merging and redirecting many pages could affect a lot of search traffic. A specialist can check redirects and indexing at scale. The SEO service page describes the search work Liftup does.
Questions and answers
What is a website content audit?
It is a page-by-page review of everything your site publishes. You list each page, add figures such as search clicks and enquiries, judge accuracy and usefulness, and give every page one action: keep, improve, merge, redirect or remove.
How do I do a content audit?
List every address on the site, add search and visit figures for each, read each page as a customer would, then choose one action per page. Make corrections first, then merges and redirects, then rewrites. Keep the sheet so you can check the results later.
What should I do with outdated pages?
Update the ones that are still relevant, keep or redirect pages tied to a past event or offer, and remove pages for things the business no longer does. Change a page's date only when the content really changed.
How often should I audit my content?
Once a year suits most small sites. Do a fuller review before a redesign, after a change in your services or area, or when enquiries drop without a clear reason. Between audits, re-read the pages that bring in work.
How do I decide which pages to merge or remove?
Merge pages that answer the same question and keep the stronger address, with a permanent redirect from the other. Remove pages that are useless, unlinked and unreplaced by returning a 404 or 410. Hide pages that visitors need but search does not, using noindex.
Does deleting old pages help SEO?
Not by itself. Google's helpful content guidance counts removing a lot of older content to make a site seem fresh among the habits of search engine-first publishing. Remove a page when it is useless, wrong or duplicated, and judge each one on its merits.
What tools do I need for a content audit?
A spreadsheet, Search Console, an analytics tool and a list of your pages from your content management system or a site crawler. Check the current terms of each tool, because free allowances can change.