Content audit

A content audit is a structured review of every page on a website, used to decide which pages to keep, update, merge or remove. Each page is assessed against its traffic, rankings, conversions, accuracy and fit with search intent.

It matters because most sites accumulate outdated, thin or overlapping pages over time. These pages dilute authority, waste crawl budget and make it harder for the strongest content to rank. An audit turns that clutter into a prioritised action plan.

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How a content audit works

The process follows four steps:

1. Inventory: crawl the site and export every URL with its title, word count, status code and indexability.
2. Enrich: add data from analytics and search tools, such as organic traffic, impressions, clicks, backlinks and conversions.
3. Assess: review each page for relevance, accuracy, depth and match with search intent.
4. Decide: assign one action to each URL and schedule the work by expected impact.

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The four possible decisions

• Keep: the page performs well and is accurate. Leave it as it is.
• Update: the topic is right but the content is dated, thin or poorly structured. Refresh it.
• Merge: several pages target the same query. Combine them into one stronger page and redirect the others with a 301.
• Remove: the page has no value for users or search. Delete it, or use noindex when it must stay accessible.

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What to measure

Useful metrics depend on the goal, but most audits include:

• Organic clicks and impressions over the last 12 months.
• Average position and the queries each page ranks for.
• Backlinks and referring domains pointing to the page.
• Conversions or assisted conversions.
• Word count, publication date and last update date.
• Indexability status and internal links received.

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Content audit vs content inventory vs SEO audit

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Common mistakes

Frequent errors include deleting pages that still earn backlinks, merging without redirects, judging pages by traffic alone and ignoring search intent. Always check links and rankings before removing anything, and record every decision so the next audit can build on it.

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Content audit at BeBranded

We run content audits as part of our SEO and GEO service. Our team crawls the site, cross-checks performance data and delivers a prioritised plan covering updates, merges and redirects, so your best pages gain visibility in search engines and AI answers.