How to Do a Content Audit with Google Analytics (Step by Step)

Do you know which of your older posts still bring in readers? Pages can lose visitors and search visibility slowly, and no alert tells you which ones are slipping.

That blind spot has a cost. Older posts can fade while you pour hours into new ones, even when a quick update could win them back.

A content audit closes that gap. It uses real numbers to show which pages are slipping and whether each one should be kept, updated, merged, or removed.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to do a content audit with free Google Analytics and Search Console reports, from your first inventory to a prioritized plan.

In This Article:

What Is a Content Audit?

A content audit is a review of every page on your site, or every page in one section such as your blog. For each page, you check its performance data and read the content itself. When you’re done, every page on your list is marked keep, update, consolidate, or remove, with the reason why.

Typically, a content audit uses two kinds of analysis: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative analysis looks at the numbers that show what’s happening to each page, such as views, engagement rate, and key events in Google Analytics. It might also pull search clicks, impressions, and average position from Google Search Console.

Qualitative analysis is a human read of the page. It checks whether the content is still accurate and current, and whether it matches what searchers want. It can also tell you why the numbers moved.

You need both, because each one catches problems the other misses. Say a setup tutorial gets steady traffic, but its steps point to a menu that has since been renamed. On the numbers alone, that page looks like a keep. Only reading it shows that it needs an update.

Content audits come in several types, grouped by how much of your site they cover (scope) and what they’re for (goal):

• By scope:
  • Full audit: Covers every page on your site and suits a smaller site or a once-a-year review.
  • Partial audit: Covers one section or content type, like your blog, so you can start with the area that needs attention most. Content groups in Google Analytics sort your pages into categories, such as blog posts and service pages. You can then view each category in the Pages and screens report, but only for data collected after you set the groups up.
  • Rolling audit: Works through your site one content type at a time, so the job stays manageable on a large site.
• By goal:
  • SEO-focused audit: Focuses on search traffic, such as winning back pages that are slipping in Google results.
  • Conversion-focused audit: Aims to turn more visitors into leads, sign-ups, or customers, and suits service, product, and landing pages.
  • Content marketing audit: Looks at which topics and formats keep your audience engaged, so you can plan what to publish next.
  • Pre-migration audit: Comes ahead of a site redesign or move, so you can decide what to carry over, merge, or leave behind before any URLs change.

You can also combine types, such as an SEO-focused audit of just your blog. You’ll choose your goal and scope in Step 1.

Why Do a Content Audit?

Your published pages took hours to write, and a content audit shows which of them are still paying off. Here are eight things a content audit can do for you:

• Recover pages that have slipped: A date comparison shows which pages have lost views or search clicks. Catching them early lets you fix them before they fall further.
• Find quick wins: A page that ranks just off the first page of results already has search visibility. An update can move it up faster than a new post could earn the same spot, which makes it a quick way to increase organic traffic.
• Stop your own pages from competing for the same search: When two of your posts target one query, they can split the clicks between them. The audit shows which pairs to merge into one stronger page and which to give separate focuses.
• Keep your content accurate and trustworthy: Outdated steps, old screenshots, and wrong prices can make readers doubt everything else on the page. A read-through catches these mistakes before more readers see them.
• Find orphan pages that need internal links: A page that no other page on your site links to can go unseen by readers. The audit flags these pages so you can link to them from related posts.
• Spend your time where it counts: The audit shows where updating an existing page could do more than writing a new one. It also shows when a new post is the better use of your time, because no existing page covers the topic well.
• Find pages that get traffic but no key events: Key events are the Google Analytics events that track your most important actions, such as purchases, sign-ups, and form submissions. A popular page that rarely leads to one may need a clearer next step for visitors.
• See which topics work: Patterns across your audit list show which topics keep readers engaged and which fade. Those patterns can shape your content strategy, and our guide on how to create a content strategy backed by real data covers that next step.

You won’t get all eight from every audit, because your goal dictates which ones matter most.

An SEO-focused audit leans on recovering slipped pages, quick wins, and fixing pages that compete for the same search. Meanwhile, a conversion-focused audit leans on finding pages that get traffic but no key events.

Content Audit vs. Content Inventory vs. SEO Audit

A content audit is easy to mix up with a content inventory or an SEO audit, but each one answers a different question.

A content inventory lists what exists on your site, with each page’s URL, title, content type, and publish date. A content audit starts from that inventory and adds performance data, a quality read, and a decision for each page.

An SEO audit looks at whether search engines can crawl and understand your site, covering technical issues such as crawl errors, site speed, and broken links. If your site runs on WordPress, we walk through one step by step in our SEO audit guide.

Here’s how the three compare:

In this guide, we treat building the inventory as part of the audit and leave the SEO audit as a separate project.

How to Do a Content Audit with Google Analytics (In 8 Steps)

You can do a content audit with free Google Analytics and Google Search Console reports. The process runs in three phases: plan and gather your data, analyze it, then decide and act on what you find.

Google Analytics can feel like a maze, so we name the exact report and columns to read in each step.

Step 1: Set a Goal, Scope, and Date Range for Your Content Audit

A content audit goes faster with one clear goal, because the goal decides which numbers matter. If you want to recover search traffic to your blog, search clicks and impressions lead.

Alternatively, if you want service pages to bring in more leads, key events and engagement rate count for more.

Next, narrow the scope to one content type, like blog posts, so the first pass stays small enough to finish. Utility pages, such as your privacy policy, terms, thank-you, login, and cart pages, stay out of the review because they exist for a purpose rather than for traffic.

Then pick a date range to compare. The last 3 months against the 3 months before is one reasonable choice, since it smooths out weekly ups and downs.

With a goal, a scope, and a date range in hand, you’re ready to list your pages.

Step 2: Build a Content Inventory for Your Audit

A content inventory is the master list your audit works from, so it needs every page in scope, not only the popular ones. Your website platform already keeps a list of everything you’ve published, such as the Posts and Pages screens in WordPress. Your XML sitemap is a second source for the same pages.

Google Analytics’ Pages and screens report can miss pages that got no views in the date range, and those may be the pages that need a decision most. That’s why we recommend starting from your site’s own list of published pages or your XML sitemap.

On a large site, a crawler can build the list faster, and our list of content audit tools has options.

You can track the audit in a spreadsheet, a database, or a project board, whichever your team already uses. Here are the fields we’d suggest for your content audit template:

• URL and title: The page’s address and title
• Content type: Blog post, service page, landing page, or resource
• Published / last updated: When the page went live and when it last had a real update
• Page goal: What the page is for, such as traffic, sign-ups, or sales
• Views (this period / previous): Google Analytics views for both date ranges
• Engagement rate and key events: How well the page holds visitors and whether they take action
• Search clicks, impressions, and average position: Search performance from Google Search Console
• Internal links in: Yes or no, for whether any other page on your site links here
• Quality notes: What you found when you read the page
• Decision, priority, owner, and due date: What happens next, how urgent it is, who does it, and by when

You won’t fill in every field at once, since the numbers come first and the decision comes last. From here on, we’ll call this record your audit list.

Step 3: Pull Content Audit Data from Google Analytics

The Pages and screens report in Google Analytics shows views, active users, average engagement time, and key events for every page on your site.

To open it, go to Reports » Engagement » Pages and screens, under the Life cycle collection in the left menu. If your menu shows business objectives instead, you’ll find Pages and screens under Examine user behavior.

The table under the chart lists each page by Page path and screen class. Copy each page’s Views, Average engagement time, and Key events into your audit list.

Engagement rate is the share of sessions that were engaged, meaning they lasted longer than 10 seconds, had a key event, or had 2 or more page or screen views. Bounce rate is the opposite, the percentage of sessions that weren’t engaged. For more, see our guides to bounce rate in Google Analytics and user engagement metrics.

Neither metric is in the report by default. To add them, click Customize report in the top right, choose Metrics under REPORT DATA, click Add metric, pick both, and click Apply. Then click Save and choose Save changes to current report. You’ll need the Editor or Administrator role.

Next, open Reports » Engagement » Landing page. Google defines a landing page as the first page viewed in a session, recorded by its page path and query string. So this report shows you which pages start visits. On a business objectives menu, you’ll find it under Generate leads.

The Landing page report lists Sessions, Average engagement time per session, and Key events for each landing page, and you can add Engagement rate the same way. For more, see our guide to the Google Analytics landing pages report.

To export the data, click Share this report in the top right, then Download File, and choose Download CSV or Export to Google Sheets. Save any customization first.

If your site runs on WordPress, MonsterInsights shows a quick version of this inside your dashboard. Its Pages Report lists your most-viewed pages with page views, engaged sessions, and bounce rate.

Landing Page Details shows sessions and engaged sessions for the pages where visits start. Both reports are on MonsterInsights Plus and above.

The two reports make a quick first pass, while Google Analytics holds the full page list and the date comparison.

Step 4: Add Google Search Console Data to Your Content Audit

Google Search Console data shows whether a page’s drop comes from search. It does that through four numbers: clicks, impressions (how often the page appeared in Google results), click-through rate (the share of impressions that became clicks), and average position.

If Search Console is linked to Google Analytics, you can read its data there too. The Search Console reports are unpublished by default, so click Library at the bottom of the left menu, find the Search Console collection, and publish it. Only Editors and Administrators can see Library.

Once the collection is published, go to Reports » Search Console » Google organic search traffic. The report lists each page by Landing page + query string, with Organic Google search clicks, impressions, click through rate, and average position.

The same report also carries Engaged sessions, Engagement rate, and Key events, so search performance and engagement for a page sit in one row.

This data has two limits. It covers Google Search only, and it spans the last 16 months, with new data about 48 hours behind.

If Search Console isn’t linked yet, you’ll need the Editor role in Google Analytics and verified owner access in Search Console. If you use WordPress, we show how to add Search Console to your site and to Google Analytics in our setup guide.

You can also export straight from Search Console. Open the Performance report, click the Pages tab, then click Export. For more, see our guide on how to use Google Search Console for SEO.

Step 5: Spot Content Decay by Comparing Date Ranges

Content decay is a steady drop in a page’s traffic or search visibility over time, and a date comparison is the quickest way to find it.

In Google Analytics, open the date picker in the top right of any report, including Pages and screens. Turn on Compare, choose Previous period or Previous year, and click Apply.

A holiday gift guide compared with the month before can look like it’s collapsing when it’s only out of season, which is why Previous year suits seasonal pages.

In Search Console’s Performance report, open the Date filter, choose Compare, pick your two ranges, and click Apply. A Difference column appears in the table, so the Pages tab shows how much each page changed.

Here’s an illustrative example with round numbers. Say a how-to post fell from 1,200 views to 800 between two 3-month periods, a drop of one-third.

In Search Console, its impressions held steady, but its average position slipped from 6 to 11. Steady impressions suggest people still search for the topic, while the lower position suggests the page is losing ground. That post is a candidate for an update.

Clicks can also fall while impressions hold steady. A lower average position could explain that, and so could a change in how the results page looks for that search.

Step 6: Find Orphan Pages and Internal Link Gaps

An orphan page is one that no other page on your site links to. Readers can’t click their way to it, and search engines may have a harder time finding it too.

For a free starting point, open the Links report in Google Search Console and look at the Internal links table, which shows the pages your site links to most. The report shows a sample of your links rather than every one, so a page missing from it isn’t proof that it’s an orphan.

If you use All in One SEO (AIOSEO), its Link Assistant (Pro and above) counts orphaned posts, meaning content with no inbound internal links, and you can filter its Links Report to see them. It also suggests internal links you can add.

Record yes or no for each page in the Internal links in field of your audit list. When you’re ready to fix the gaps on a WordPress site, see our guide on how to add internal links.

Step 7: Check for Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization happens when two or more of your pages target the same search, so they split clicks and Google has to choose between them.

To check for it, open the Search Console Performance report, go to the Queries tab, and click a query you care about. The Pages tab then shows every page of yours that appeared for that query.

If two pages show up for the same query and neither performs well, you can consolidate them into the stronger page with a 301 redirect, or give each page its own focus keyword.

When you consolidate, a redirect is a strong signal to Google that the target page should become canonical, meaning the main version Google shows.

Two URLs that carry the same content are a separate case. On its own, duplicate content isn’t a violation of Google’s spam policies, though it can make for a bad user experience. For two different posts on one topic, think of the cost as split clicks.

Note each pair in your audit list so the decision step treats them together.

Step 8: Review Flagged Pages for Content Quality, Accuracy, and Search Intent

The earlier steps used numbers to flag pages that need attention, such as decaying posts, orphan pages, and overlapping queries. When you read each flagged page, you’ll learn why it slipped and what kind of fix it needs.

Google’s guidance on helpful, people-first content offers questions you can ask of each page, such as whether it provides original information, reporting, research, or analysis.

The same guidance asks about first-hand expertise, part of what Google calls E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness). Google says “E-E-A-T itself isn’t a specific ranking factor,” but the questions in that guidance are still a good test of whether a page helps readers.

Here are five checks to run as you read each page:

• Accuracy: Are the facts, steps, and screenshots still correct?
• Search intent: Does the page still match what searchers want today?
• Experience: Does it show who wrote it and include real examples?
• Readability: Is it written in plain language, with clear headings and short paragraphs?
• Accessibility: Do images have alt text, and does link text describe where each link goes?

To check intent, search for the page’s main topic and look at what ranks there now.

Add a short note for each page to its Quality notes field, such as “steps out of date” or “intent changed.” Those notes become the reason behind each decision.

Some page problems, such as heading issues and canonical or noindex settings, belong to an SEO audit rather than a content audit.

If your site runs on WordPress, AIOSEO’s Site Audit (Basic and above) flags issues on each post and page, such as an SEO title that’s too long, a missing meta description, or images without alt text.

Add anything it finds to that page’s Quality notes. By now, every page in scope has its numbers, notes, and link and cannibalization flags in your audit list, ready for a decision.

How to Decide What to Do with Each Page in a Content Audit

Every page in a content audit gets one of four decisions: keep it as is, update it, consolidate it with a similar page, or remove it.

To pick the right one, match the signals in your audit list to this decision table:

Two kinds of pages skip the table. Brand-new pages haven’t collected enough data to judge yet, so give them a few months first. Pages that serve a purpose, such as conversion pages or resources other sites link to, stay regardless of traffic.

Content Audit Example

Here’s a content audit example with four made-up pages, one for each decision:

• An evergreen beginner’s guide (keep): It drew about 2,000 views a quarter in both periods, and its key events rose. A read found nothing out of date, so it stays as it is.
• A how-to post on an older setup method (update): Its views fell by one-third while its impressions held steady, and the read turned up screenshots of a settings screen that has since changed. People still search for the topic, so the post gets current steps and screenshots.
• Two posts on the same newsletter-ideas query (consolidate): Both appear for the query in Search Console, and each gets about half the clicks. The newer post covers more ideas, so you fold the best parts of the older one into it, then point the older URL there with a 301 redirect.
• A page for a past webinar (remove): It had no views in 6 months and no internal links in, and the event is over. No other page covers the same thing, so you remove it without a redirect.

A real audit list can be messier than this. When the signals disagree, the quality notes from your read of the page can break the tie.

How to Turn Your Content Audit into an Action Plan

A content audit only pays off once its changes are live. An action plan ranks the pages marked for work, gives each fix an owner and a date, and tracks whether the fix worked.

Prioritize Content Audit Fixes by Impact and Effort

When you rank content audit fixes by impact and effort, you avoid spending a week on a page with little to gain.

Here’s how the four combinations line up:

• High impact, low effort: These go first.
• High impact, high effort: These come next, on a schedule.
• Low impact, low effort: These fit in when you have spare time.
• Low impact, high effort: These go last, or not at all.

To judge impact, look at what each page already has going for it. A page with existing search visibility, key events, or rankings just off the first page of results can have more to gain than one starting from zero. Your cornerstone content belongs near the top of the list too.

To judge effort, estimate how long each fix will take. A quick edit and a full rewrite sit at opposite ends of the scale.

Assign Owners and Dates to Content Audit Fixes

Owners and due dates turn a prioritized audit list into work that gets done. On a small site, one person may own every page, and that’s fine.

Even then, it helps to name two roles for each page. One person updates it, and someone who knows the subject checks it for accuracy. Then fill in the owner and due date for every page marked for work.

You can also group similar fixes, such as replacing all your outdated screenshots in one sitting.

Track Content Audit Changes and Measure Results

When you track each content audit change, you can see whether a fix worked instead of guessing.

Start by recording the date of every change. In Google Analytics, you can right-click a data point on a line graph and choose Add annotation to mark it. You’ll need the Analyst role or higher. Each annotation shows on every report with a line graph, so you can see when a fix went live.

Search engines need time to reprocess updated pages, so we recommend rechecking each one after several weeks. Compare the period after the change with a matching period before it, and look at the same numbers that put the page on your list.

If a page still hasn’t moved, it can go back on the list for your next audit.

How Often to Do a Content Audit

There’s no single right schedule for a content audit. How often you need one depends on how much you publish and how fast your topic changes.

One option is a full audit once a year, with smaller quarterly or rolling check-ins in between. Treat that as a starting point, not a rule.

A site redesign or migration, a lasting traffic drop, or a change in what you sell can each justify an audit of its own.

FAQs About Content Audits

That’s it! I hope this article helped you do a content audit with Google Analytics. If you liked this article, check out the following beginner-friendly guides:

• Best Content Audit Tools for Higher Rankings
• How to Create a Content Strategy (Backed by Real Data)
• Must-Have Content Marketing Analytics Reports
• How to Use Google Search Console for SEO
• How to Add WordPress Internal Links to Improve Your SEO

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