SEO · 6 min
A content audit sorts every page into keep, improve, consolidate or remove, judged on whether the page earns visibility, serves a distinct intent, and is still accurate. Most sites finish an honest audit with fewer pages and better performance.
How it works
Every indexable URL, with its impressions, clicks, conversions, last update and internal links pointing to it. The pages nobody remembers publishing are exactly the ones an audit exists to find.
Does it earn anything: visibility, enquiries, citations, links? Does it serve an intent no other page serves? Is it still true? A page failing all three is a candidate for removal; a page failing only the third needs updating rather than deleting.
Several thin pages competing for the same intent split their signals and none ranks well. Merging them into one substantial page, then redirecting the others to it, concentrates what was divided. Expect internal resistance from whoever commissioned the originals.
Pages that are inaccurate, duplicated or serve no intent cost crawl effort and dilute the site's apparent focus. Redirect them where a genuine equivalent exists; return a clean 410 where nothing does. Redirecting everything to the homepage is the common mistake.
Many pages underperform because they are stale rather than weak: an outdated example, a changed process, a missing answer people now expect. Refreshing a page that already has some visibility usually returns more than writing a new one from nothing.
An audit that consolidates and removes pages without repointing the links that referenced them leaves broken paths and orphaned survivors, which undoes much of the benefit.
Removing pages that earn nothing and serve no intent generally helps, provided links are repointed and genuine equivalents are redirected. Harm comes from deleting pages that were quietly performing, which is what the inventory step prevents.
Annually for most sites, or after a migration or major strategy change. More frequent full audits usually consume effort that would be better spent acting on the last one.
A content audit sorts every page into keep, improve, consolidate or remove, judged on whether the page earns visibility, serves a distinct intent, and is still accurate. Most sites finish an honest audit with fewer pages and better performance.
You have read what we think. If you want to know what it means for your case specifically, describe it and we will tell you which parts of how to run a content audit actually apply — and which do not.
