How to Do a Content Audit to Identify Underperforming Content

If your organic traffic has plateaued or your blog’s turned into a junk drawer of old posts, it’s time for a content audit.

I’ve led dozens of these at Trendline SEO, and I can tell you this: few things drive clearer SEO wins than cleaning up what you already have.

This guide walks you through how to run a full-scale content audit, from setting goals to updating or pruning outdated pages.

You’ll learn what data to pull, how to interpret it, and what to actually do with every piece of content on your site.

Quick Overview of Steps

Here’s a high-level look at what a full content audit involves:

• Define your goals and scope: Be clear on why you’re auditing and what sections of the site are included.
• Build a content inventory: List out every URL you’re auditing with basic info like titles and publish dates.
• Pull performance data: Add SEO metrics like traffic, rankings, backlinks, and engagement stats to your spreadsheet.
• Analyze and categorize: Decide what to keep, improve, merge, or delete based on the data and content quality.
• Make the changes: Rewrite, consolidate, or remove content. Update internal links and SEO elements as needed.
• Track results: Compare before-and-after metrics and adjust your content strategy going forward.

Let’s clean house and reclaim your rankings.

Step 1: Define Your Goals and Scope

Before you open a spreadsheet or touch a single URL, stop and get clear on why you’re doing this audit in the first place.

The entire process hinges on your objective. If you don’t know what success looks like, you won’t know what to measure, what to fix, or even what content matters.

When I run audits for clients at Trendline SEO, this is always the first conversation.

You need to decide: Are you trying to boost SEO traffic? Clean up outdated junk? Improve conversion rates? Prep for a site migration?

Choose one primary goal and let it drive every decision from here.

Here are some common goals to consider:

• Increase organic search traffic (most audits fall here)
• Improve engagement or conversions on content
• Reduce low-quality or outdated content before a redesign
• Identify content gaps for future topic planning
• Align all content with your current brand voice or positioning

Pick one. Not five. If your goal is SEO, then traffic, rankings, and crawlability are your main focus. If it’s user experience or brand alignment, you’ll be looking more at tone, content quality, and outdated messaging.

Set a Clear Scope

Once your goal is set, decide what part of your site you’re actually going to audit. This depends on how big your site is and how much time or help you have.

You could audit:

• The entire site (ideal, but time-consuming)
• Just the blog
• A specific section or content type (like product pages or help center articles)

Also, don't audit new content (less than 60 days old) that hasn’t had time to rank or build traffic. Leave it out of this round. You can loop it into your next audit cycle once it’s got a few months of data.

Don’t go too narrow unless you truly don’t need a full picture. I’ve seen teams regret leaving out key sections when the audit revealed major issues only after the fact. If you can’t do everything, at least include a representative sample.

Define “Success” Before You Start

Get specific. What does a win look like?

• A 20% lift in organic traffic?
• Cutting 100 outdated pages?
• Consolidating 10 pieces into one high-performing guide?

Write it down. This will help you measure results later and prove ROI to your boss or client.

Final Note: Get Buy-In Early

If this audit affects other teams (writers, devs, your boss), loop them in now. Let them know why this matters, what the process looks like, and how it ties to SEO growth or business goals.

I usually explain it like this: a content audit is about cutting the dead weight and doubling down on what’s working. The end result? A leaner, higher-performing site that users and Google actually want to engage with.

Step 2: Create a Content Inventory

Now that you’ve got your goals locked in, it’s time to list out every piece of content you’re auditing. This is your master inventory. Think of it like taking stock of every item in a warehouse before deciding what to restock, repackage, or toss.

At Trendline, I usually build this in Google Sheets. Excel works fine too. The goal is to create one row for every piece of content and start filling in key details that will help you evaluate performance later.

Start With a Complete List of URLs

How you build this list depends on your site size and setup.

• Small site? You can manually copy URLs from your sitemap or CMS.
• Larger site? Use a crawler like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or built-in tools from Ahrefs or Semrush.

These tools can export all indexable URLs, including blog posts, landing pages, and product pages. If you're using WordPress, plugins like WP All Export can quickly pull out blog content.

No matter the method, make sure you capture every URL in the scope you defined in Step 1. Be thorough. Include all relevant folders, subdomains, and site sections.

Pro tip: Cross-check your crawl data with your XML sitemap and CMS exports. Orphan pages, meaning pages with no internal links, often get missed. But they still matter for SEO.

Add Core Page Details

Once you have your list of URLs, create columns in your spreadsheet for the basics:

• URL
• Page Title
• Content Type (blog post, landing page, product page, etc.)
• Date Published or Last Updated
• Word Count
• Primary Keyword (if known)
• Topic Category or Tag

You’ll add performance metrics in the next step. For now, this is the foundation.

Don’t Forget Non-Blog Content

Many people only audit blog posts. That’s a mistake. If your goal is SEO or overall content quality, you should also include:

• Product and service pages with written content
• Resource articles or downloadable guides
• Category pages with unique descriptions
• FAQ or help center articles

If a page is indexable and has the potential to rank, it should be in the audit.

Optional: Assign Item IDs

If you're working with a large inventory, it helps to assign an ID number to each row. This makes it easier to reference specific pages during analysis or discussion. You don’t want to pass around giant URLs in every conversation.

By the end of this step, you should have a complete, well-organized spreadsheet of content to evaluate. From here, we’ll layer in performance and SEO metrics so we can start deciding what content is working and what isn’t.

Step 3: Gather Performance and SEO Metrics

This is where your spreadsheet goes from a basic content list to a real decision-making tool. Once you’ve built your inventory, the next step is pulling performance data that helps you figure out what’s working, what’s falling short, and what needs to go.

When I run audits for clients, I always rely on multiple data sources. Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and an SEO platform like Ahrefs or Semrush all bring something to the table. No single tool gives you everything, so expect to pull data from several places and combine it.

Start With Organic Traffic

Start with Google Analytics. In GA4, go to Reports, then Engagement, and look under Landing Pages. Filter by organic traffic and export the data so you can match it to the URLs in your inventory.

Where to look in GA4:

• Reports → Engagement → Landing Pages
• Filter by traffic source: Organic
• Export to match URLs in your content inventory

Key metrics to focus on:

• Sessions or users from search
• Average engagement time
• Bounce rate (if available)

This shows which pages are attracting visitors from search engines and whether those visitors are sticking around. Pages with high rankings but poor engagement often need a stronger intro, clearer structure, or more compelling content.

Add Search Console Data

Next, log into Google Search Console. Open the Performance tab and filter by page. You’ll see what queries each page ranks for, how many impressions it gets, and how often people are clicking through.

Use GSC to uncover:

• Queries generating impressions
• Click-through rate (CTR) by page
• Pages ranking in positions 11–20 (great refresh targets)

Common insights to act on:

• High impressions + low CTR = optimize title/meta
• Mid-page rankings = refresh content or boost with internal links

Example: A post at position 14 was improved with better structure, FAQs, and a clearer title. It moved into the top five within weeks.

Check for Backlinks and Page Authority

Before you remove or merge any content, always check for backlinks. Go to Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz and plug in your URLs.

Look at how many referring domains each page has and whether those links are coming from quality sources.

You’d be surprised how often a post with no traffic is still getting love from other websites.

If a page has links from trusted domains, it might be worth updating rather than deleting. And if you do remove it, make sure you redirect it to a relevant page so you preserve that link equity.

This is a common mistake in rushed audits. I’ve seen people delete pages without checking for backlinks, only to realize later they lost a chunk of their authority because of it.

Review Engagement and Conversion Signals

Traffic and rankings are great, but what happens once someone lands on the page? If you track conversions — things like form fills, signups, or purchases — this is the time to pull that data.

Some of your best-performing pages might not drive the most traffic but could be key conversion points.

Even without conversion tracking, you can still use time on page and scroll depth to gauge engagement. If people are bouncing halfway through or not even seeing your call to action, that’s something you can fix in the next phase.

I once used Hotjar to watch users skip past an entire pricing section because it looked like a banner ad. A simple design tweak brought conversions back up. Data tells the story, but behavior fills in the gaps.

Run an On-Page SEO and Technical Check

This is where a crawler like Screaming Frog becomes a time-saver. It can quickly scan your site and flag missing title tags, duplicate headers, word counts, missing alt text, broken links, and more.

Look for pages with:

• Missing or duplicate title tags
• No H1 or confusing header structure
• Very low word counts
• Broken or outdated internal links
• Redirect chains or non-200 status codes

You don’t need to get overly technical here. You’re just spotting issues that might be hurting the page’s performance or user experience. I usually add a column in the spreadsheet for “SEO issues” and mark anything that needs attention.

Merge It All Into Your Spreadsheet

At this point, your audit sheet should be filling out nicely. You’ve got a mix of performance, SEO, and engagement data for every URL. This is where the real picture starts to emerge.

Use a tool like VLOOKUP or an index match formula to combine exports from GA, GSC, and your crawler. Matching everything by URL keeps the data aligned and saves a lot of manual work.

Once everything is in place, you’ll start noticing clear patterns. Pages that look strong across the board. Others that are dragging you down. And a few that are sitting right on the edge of greatness with just a little help.

That’s exactly what we’ll tackle next in Step 4: Analyze the Data and Identify Actions.

Step 4: Analyze the Data and Identify Actions

This is the part of the audit where the spreadsheet stops being a data dump and starts becoming a plan. Now that you’ve collected all the performance metrics, SEO signals, and engagement data, it’s time to figure out what to do with each piece of content.

I usually tell clients: think of your content like a garden. Some pages are thriving, others are growing weeds, and a few are totally dried up. Your job is to decide which ones to water, which ones to repot, and which ones to pull entirely.

Categorize Every Page

You’ll want to go row by row and assign an action to each piece of content. The typical choices are:

• Keep it as is
• Improve it with updates, SEO fixes, or added depth
• Consolidate it with another piece
• Remove it if it’s beyond saving

These categories might seem simple, but they require careful thought. And a lot depends on your goals. If your main objective is improving SEO, you’ll weigh rankings and backlinks more heavily. If the goal is better UX, you might prioritize clarity, formatting, or conversion signals.

Start With the Low Performers

Sort your sheet by organic traffic from low to high. Pages with near-zero traffic, no backlinks, outdated content, and poor user signals are easy to flag. These are your dead weight. They either need to be rewritten from the ground up or removed.

Sometimes I’ll scan for anything that hasn’t gotten a single organic visit in the last 90 days. Then I check to see if the page has value beyond traffic — maybe it ranks for something important, or it’s used in email campaigns. If not, it usually goes on the cut list.

Pages that used to perform but have dropped off can also be worth saving. Look at the publish date, last update, and keyword position. If the content is old or the topic has evolved, there’s a chance to bring it back to life with a strong refresh.

Look for Quick Wins

Not every underperforming page needs a major overhaul. Some just need a nudge.

If a page ranks at position 11 or 12 for a keyword with decent volume, that’s a strong candidate for improvement. Add some internal links, refresh the content, or rewrite the title to better match search intent. These types of small updates often move the needle faster than expected.

You can also sort by impressions in Google Search Console. When a page gets high impressions but few clicks, that usually points to a weak title tag or meta description. Rewriting that snippet alone can lift your click-through rate without changing the content at all.

Don’t Skip the Top Performers

It’s tempting to leave your best content alone, but even your winners deserve a second look. Are they still accurate? Could you add a call-to-action? Is the internal linking strong?

I once worked on a site where their top traffic-driving post had no lead magnet, no related links, and a broken image halfway through. A few tweaks later, it was not only ranking, it was converting. Your audit should surface small opportunities like this that deliver outsized impact.

Watch for Overlap and Redundancy

Use your “topic” or “keyword” columns to group content by subject. You might notice that you have two or three posts targeting the same basic query. In some cases, that’s fine. But often it just splits your ranking potential and confuses Google.

If you find overlapping content, ask:

• Are both pieces ranking, or is one dominating?
• Could they be combined into something stronger?
• Is one clearly outdated or weaker than the other?

If the answer leans toward consolidation, choose the stronger piece as your primary. Then merge the best parts of the others into it. Once that’s done, set up a 301 redirect so the old URLs point to the new, improved version.

Be Cautious When Deleting

Deleting content can help with SEO, but it’s not something to do casually. Always check for backlinks first. And ask yourself whether the content could be repurposed or noindexed instead of wiped out.

There are situations where deletion makes sense. A page about an event from five years ago. A short, throwaway post that never ranked or got links. A redundant tag page with no search value. These can usually go without harm.

But if you’re unsure, hold off. It’s better to leave a page in place and revisit later than to delete something and realize later it was still doing work behind the scenes.

Once you’ve gone through every row, your spreadsheet should now have an “Action” column filled out. You might even want to add one more column for priority — high, medium, or low — based on effort and potential impact. This will make the next phase smoother when it’s time to implement.

Next up, we’ll take all those decisions and put them into action — rewriting, redirecting, or removing content so your site gets stronger with every update.

Step 5: Take Action – Implement Changes and Optimizations

The audit decisions are in. You’ve marked pages to keep. Others need updates. Some may need to be merged or removed entirely. Now comes the part that separates planners from executors.

I’ve worked on audits where the spreadsheet sat untouched for months. Everyone was excited about the insights, but no one owned the implementation. Traffic stayed flat. Leads didn’t improve. The audit sat in a folder, collecting digital dust.

Execution matters. Here’s how to turn those decisions into real, measurable results.

Start with Updates — That’s Where the Wins Are

Think of your “improve” list like a renovation project. These pages have good bones, but they’re underperforming. They’re the ones stuck at the top of page two in Google, or pulling in a few clicks but no real engagement.

One client I worked with had a great article on CRM onboarding. It ranked at position 11 and hadn’t been touched in two years. We updated the intro to match current search intent. Added internal links. Replaced screenshots. Within a month, it cracked the top five. Traffic doubled. Conversions followed.

If you’re updating content, focus on these areas:

• Fix outdated stats or examples.
• Expand on thin sections.
• Improve formatting and readability.
• Optimize title tags, headers, and meta descriptions.
• Add visuals, FAQs, or new sections if they help.

You don’t always need to rewrite from scratch. Sometimes, a 15-minute cleanup gets you most of the way there.

Merging Content Should Be a Creative Process

I once audited a tech blog that had five posts targeting the same general keyword. One was a listicle, another was a tutorial, and the rest were overlapping summaries of the same concept. None were doing great on their own.

We picked the most detailed version, rewrote it into a definitive guide, and redirected the rest. Traffic didn’t just consolidate — it multiplied.

The key is not to think of merging as deletion. You’re preserving value by combining the best parts of each page. Just make sure you:

• Choose a primary URL to keep.
• Pull over any unique, high-quality content from the others.
• Combine everything into one stronger, more helpful resource.
• Set up 301 redirects from the old URLs.
• Update internal links that pointed to the removed pages.

This takes some editorial judgment, but it’s one of the highest ROI tasks in a content audit.

Deleting Content: Clean Cuts, Not Careless Ones

Deleting pages can feel risky. But when a page is irrelevant, outdated, and no longer useful, removing it can improve the overall trust and quality of your site.

Here’s how I decide what to cut. If a page:

• Gets zero traffic.
• Has no backlinks.
• Doesn’t serve user intent.
• Cannot be updated or merged in a meaningful way.

Then it’s probably safe to remove.

Use a 410 status if you want to signal permanent removal. Or a 301 redirect if there’s a related destination on your site. If you’re unsure, consider applying a noindex tag instead and see how performance changes over time. That way you’re testing before making a final decision.

And always log what you delete. Keep a record of old URLs, redirect targets, and the rationale behind each removal. It will save you a headache later if someone questions the change or if rankings shift unexpectedly.

Roll Out the Changes in Batches

Trying to implement every fix in one sprint will burn you out fast. Break the work into batches based on priority. Focus first on pages that have the highest potential upside with the least effort.

For example, start with:

• Posts ranking just off page one.
• Articles with high impressions but low click-through rate.
• Pages with strong backlinks but poor engagement.

You don’t need fancy software to track this. A Google Sheet with columns for action type, priority, status, and notes is enough. Or plug the tasks into your project management tool of choice.

At Trendline, we often tackle 10 to 15 content updates per month. That cadence keeps things manageable while still driving results.

Do a Final Quality Check Before Publishing

Before any updated page goes live, run through a simple QA checklist:

• Test the page on desktop and mobile.
• Click through all links.
• Check that new images load quickly and include alt text.
• Make sure title and meta descriptions are filled out.
• Confirm that redirects, if applicable, work properly.

Also, update the “last modified” date if your site displays it. That signals freshness to both users and search engines.

This is the phase where your audit starts to pay off. Every page you fix, combine, or remove is one more step toward a leaner, higher-performing site. You’re not just improving SEO — you’re improving the entire experience for your visitors.

Once the changes are live, the last thing you need to do is track the outcome. In Step 6, we’ll cover how to monitor results and fine-tune your content strategy based on what you learn.

Step 6: Monitor Results and Iterate

You’ve put in the work. The updates are live, redirects are in place, and your audit spreadsheet finally looks complete. But don’t close the file just yet. A content audit isn’t finished when the changes go live — it’s finished when you’ve measured the impact and learned from the results.

Give It Time to Settle

After implementing changes, give things a few months before diving into performance analysis. Google needs time to re-crawl updated pages, reassign value to redirected URLs, and reflect those changes in rankings. For SEO, I usually wait 8 to 12 weeks before drawing conclusions. For user engagement or conversion metrics, you can often see changes a bit sooner.

During this window, don’t panic if rankings fluctuate. That’s normal. In fact, sometimes a page will dip before it rises, especially if it’s been significantly restructured or redirected.

Compare Performance Before and After

Once enough time has passed, revisit the key metrics you tracked earlier. Focus on the same KPIs you defined back in Step 1. That way, you’re measuring success on your terms.

Here are a few comparisons I always look at:

• Organic traffic: total visits before vs. after
• Keyword rankings: are updated pages climbing?
• Click-through rates: any boosts from better titles or meta descriptions?
• Conversions: did improved pages lead to more form fills, purchases, or signups?
• Crawl stats: did pages you deleted disappear from the index as expected?

One client saw a 40% drop in indexed pages after a major pruning effort — and a 15% lift in overall search traffic. Fewer, better pages made their site easier to crawl and improved their average ranking across the board.

Learn from What Worked — and What Didn’t

Not every change will deliver a win. That’s fine. What matters is what you learn.

Some updated pages will take off. Others might stall. In either case, look for patterns. Maybe long-form content outperformed shorter posts. Maybe your product pages improved with better internal links, while blog updates saw less movement.

Make a short list of key takeaways. Three to five is plenty. This list can shape your future content strategy.

Here’s an example I wrote down after a recent audit:

• Pages with comparison tables had the highest engagement time.
• Content refreshed with new statistics outperformed basic rewrites.
• Posts with FAQ schema showed measurable improvements in impressions.

These little observations stack up. They help you create better content going forward — and make your next audit easier.

Keep the Cycle Going

A content audit is not a one-time fix. It’s maintenance. Like cleaning out your garage, the clutter comes back if you ignore it.

Some companies do audits twice a year. Others work in rolling audits, reviewing a batch of content each month. What matters is consistency. You’ll always have new content aging out, performance shifts to monitor, or opportunities to improve.

Here’s what I recommend:

• Revisit updated content every 6 to 12 months
• Spot-check for new low-performing pages each quarter
• Run a lightweight audit during any major site change (like a redesign or CMS migration)

The more you build content maintenance into your routine, the less work it becomes. Instead of fixing hundreds of pages in one go, you’re updating five or ten at a time. That rhythm keeps your site healthy, competitive, and aligned with Google’s quality standards.

You’ve made it through the full audit process. You’ve not only cleaned up your site, you’ve gained insight into what your audience wants, how your content performs, and where your biggest opportunities lie.

This is the part where you take a breath, track the wins, and start thinking ahead.

Conclusion: What Happens When You Audit Content the Right Way

When you run a proper content audit, you stop guessing and start leading with clarity. You know exactly what’s pulling its weight and what’s holding your site back. You know which pages to double down on and which ones to walk away from.

I’ve seen sites go from flatlined traffic to double-digit growth in just a few months — not because they published dozens of new posts, but because they finally cleaned up the mess they had been ignoring for years.

If you followed the steps in this guide, here’s what you should have now:

• A trimmed and organized content inventory
• Higher-performing pages, thanks to focused updates
• Fewer low-quality URLs competing for crawl budget
• A stronger internal link structure and clearer site architecture
• A framework you can use again and again to stay ahead

But maybe most importantly, you’ve sent a clear signal to Google and your users that your site is worth their time.

So what’s next?

Set a reminder to revisit your content every six to twelve months. Keep a rolling list of content to revisit, refresh, or expand. And if you’re part of a team, share the results. Make content audits a habit, not a one-off project.

SEO doesn’t reward those who publish the most. It rewards those who maintain the highest quality over time.

You’ve done the hard part. Now go enjoy the results — and keep building from here.