Whether you want to start a travel blog, publish a new city guide, or update an old company news story, a content audit can help you track your website content to show you what needs to be updated or removed, what content is performing really well, and where you can make changes to increase your traffic. 

For a full breakdown of the benefits of a content audit and what is typically included, check out this guide to boosting your SEO with a content audit. In the meantime, this checklist details every step to run your first content audit, from the tools you need to get organized to which metrics to track and everything in between. Content audits can be a bit time consuming, but with this quick-hit checklist, you can make a big impact on your content marketing strategy.

Updating your website’s content is an important step in both content marketing and SEO strategies, and staying organized is the best approach for success. You can perform content audits as often as you want, especially if you’re just checking up on a few metrics, like keyword ranking and traffic. As a rule of thumb, aiming for one audit a year is a good start.

Remember, if you don’t want to track every metric in this checklist, you can be as thorough as you’d like and define your own focus areas. However, it is a good idea to audit your content from both content marketing and SEO perspectives for a well-rounded approach. For more details on writing high-quality content, view our content marketing guides.