How to audit your own content (without hiring anyone)

Publishing content is easy. Knowing if it’s actually working? That’s where most people get stuck.

A content audit is how you figure it out. It’s about taking stock of everything you’ve created, understanding whether it’s doing what you need it to do, and deciding where to fix, refresh, or start over.

Done properly, it gives you the clarity to make every new piece of content intentional.

And you can do it yourself... if you know where to start.

This guide walks you through the exact process I use when auditing content for clients. It’s detailed, it’s practical, and yes… it’s a little bit of work. But that’s how you get results.

Step 1: Define your content goals (and make them real)

If you don’t know what you want your content to achieve, you can’t measure its success.

Ask yourself:

• Why am I publishing this content?
• What role does it play in my sales or marketing process?
• Who do I actually want to reach?

Common goals to choose from:

• Visibility — building brand awareness and staying on people’s radar.
• Lead generation — turning visitors into enquiries or sign‑ups.
• Authority — positioning yourself as the go‑to expert.
• Education — helping your audience solve problems.

Exercise:
Write down your top 3 content goals. Be specific. “Get more leads” becomes “Get 20 qualified enquiries per month from our website.”

This step is the lens for everything you’ll audit.

Step 2: Gather everything (and I mean everything)

You can’t assess what you don’t have in front of you.

Where to look:

• Website: Homepage, service/product pages, blogs, case studies, landing pages, FAQs.
• Social media: Posts, carousels, videos, lives, pinned content.
• Email content: Newsletters, nurture sequences, sales emails, automated responses.
• Lead magnets & assets: Ebooks, guides, templates, calculators.
• Ads & campaigns: If you’re running them, include them.

How to capture it:
Set up a content inventory spreadsheet.

Columns to include:

• Title/Name (e.g., “How to get started with SaaS analytics”)
• Content Type (blog, post, email, landing page, etc.)
• URL/Location
• Date Published (or last updated)
• Purpose (awareness, lead gen, nurture, sales)
• Owner (if you have a team)

Pro tip: If you’ve got hundreds of pieces, don’t panic. Start with your highest‑impact channels (usually your website and your best‑performing social).

Step 3: Assess quality and consistency

Now you’re going to look at how your content feels — does it reflect your brand and speak to your audience?

Questions to ask:

• Voice & tone: Does it sound like you? Would your ideal client actually read this and feel connected?
• Clarity: Are you explaining what you do in simple, clear terms?
• Relevance: Is it answering the questions your audience has right now?
• Structure: Is it easy to read or watch? Are your blogs scannable? Are your videos short and to the point?
• Visual consistency: Do your visuals look like they belong to one brand?

Quick check: Read three random pieces of content out loud. If you feel like three different people wrote them, you’ve got a consistency problem.

Step 4: Evaluate performance

This is where most DIY audits fall apart — people either dive too deep into analytics or skip them altogether.

You don’t need to be a data analyst. Just focus on these key metrics:

• Traffic: Which website pages or blogs are people visiting most? (Google Analytics or simple page view reports work.)
• Engagement: Which posts or emails are getting comments, clicks, or replies?
• Conversions: Which pieces of content lead to sign‑ups, downloads, or enquiries?

Pro tip:

• In Google Analytics, check “Landing Pages” — it shows where people first arrive. Those are often your highest‑value pages.
• On social, sort posts by engagement instead of date to see what actually resonates.

Step 5: Identify gaps, risks, and redundancies

Now that you’ve seen what’s there, it’s time to find what’s missing or outdated.

Look for:

• Content gaps: Are there topics or questions your audience asks that you never cover?
• Outdated info: Old pricing, team members who’ve left, blog posts about “industry trends for 2022.”
• Weak spots: Pages with high traffic but low conversions (a sign they’re not doing their job).
• Redundancies: Multiple blogs saying the same thing in different ways.

This is where the big insights come from. The things you didn’t realise were dragging you down.

Step 6: Prioritise and plan

You don’t need to fix everything at once.

Create three action lists:

1. Quick wins: Easy updates — like refreshing an old blog, rewriting a headline, or adding a clear CTA.
2. Medium fixes: Content that needs deeper work (rewriting service pages, updating visuals).
3. Big projects: Strategy‑level work — like creating a full content plan or overhauling your brand voice.

Start with the quick wins. They give you momentum.

Step 7: Document your findings

An audit is useless if it just lives in your head.

Put your findings into a simple Content Audit Report:

• A summary of what’s working.
• A list of the biggest problems.
• Your prioritised action plan.

Even if you’re the only one looking at it, this will make it real, and make it easier to decide what comes next.

Why this feels like a lot (and what to do next)

If you’ve read this far, you can see why content audits often get pushed to the bottom of the to‑do list. They’re detailed. They take time. And they require some tough calls.

But they’re also the fastest way to stop wasting effort and start making content that actually works.

If you want to DIY it: Set aside 2–3 focused sessions to work through the steps above. Even a simple audit will give you more clarity than creating content blindly.

If you want help: This is exactly what I do in my content consulting packages. I’ll handle the heavy lifting — the inventory, analysis, and action plan — and give you a clear path forward.

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Related reading:

• Why your content strategy isn’t working (and what to do instead)
• Content not performing? Here’s what’s really going wrong
• How much does good SaaS content really cost?