Content Audit

A content audit catalogues every page of your site's content, identifies content owners, and flags redundancies. At Akendi, we use our Experience Thinking framework to examine content within your broader user journey - understanding how content supports your brand, product, and service experiences across the lifecycle.

Tip: Consider a content audit if you're experiencing user complaints about finding information, increased support requests, or declining engagement metrics.

A content audit assesses what you currently have, while content strategy defines what you need going forward. The audit is diagnostic - revealing content gaps, redundancies, and quality issues. Strategy is prescriptive - planning how content should work to achieve business goals. Most successful projects combine both approaches.

Tip: Start with an audit to understand your current state before investing in strategy development - you need to know what you're working with first.

Content audits focus specifically on information quality, relevance, and organization rather than technical performance or visual design. Choose a content audit when users struggle to find information, when content feels outdated or inconsistent, or when multiple authors have contributed without clear governance over time.

Tip: If users frequently contact support asking 'Where do I find...' questions that should be answerable on your site, a content audit is likely needed.

Organizations with large, complex websites especially benefit - think healthcare systems, educational institutions, government sites, and established companies with years of accumulated content. Through Experience Thinking principles, we see content audits as particularly valuable when content directly impacts user task completion and business outcomes.

Tip: Organizations that have grown through mergers or acquisitions often have duplicate content across different sections that audits can identify and resolve.

Absolutely. Content audits are essential for redesigns because they reveal what content is worth migrating versus what should be archived or removed. This prevents carrying forward outdated or redundant content into your new design and helps scope the migration effort accurately.

Tip: Conduct your content audit early in the redesign process - discovering content issues after design work begins creates expensive changes and delays.

Over time with multiple authors, website content often becomes unwieldy. Our audits identify redundant content, outdated information, and organizational inconsistencies. We catalog every page, assess content ownership, and flag areas needing attention. This creates a clear picture of your content landscape and action priorities.

Tip: Document who has been creating content in each area - understanding authorship patterns often reveals why certain sections have quality or consistency issues.

Quantitative analysis examines content metrics - page views, engagement time, bounce rates, and conversion data. Qualitative analysis evaluates content usefulness, clarity, accuracy, and alignment with user needs. Both perspectives are needed for meaningful content decisions, and we combine them in our audit approach.

Tip: High traffic doesn't always mean high-quality content - some popular pages might be popular because users can't find better information elsewhere on your site.

We combine analytics data, user feedback, stakeholder interviews, and expert content review. Our approach examines content from multiple angles - business value, user utility, technical performance, and brand alignment. Using Experience Thinking principles, we assess how content supports the complete user journey rather than just individual pages.

Tip: Include customer service logs in your content evaluation - frequently asked questions often indicate content gaps or unclear information on your site.

We use a systematic framework evaluating content importance, relevance, and popularity. Content gets categorized as enhance, reposition, or remove based on user needs, business objectives, and performance data. The audit uses findings from web traffic analytics, search analytics, customer service interactions, and user recommendations to make these determinations.

Tip: Don't automatically keep content just because it took effort to create - focus on what actually serves your users and business goals today.

Analytics reveal how users actually interact with content versus how we think they should. We examine bounce rates, time on page, scroll depth, and conversion paths to understand content effectiveness. This behavioral data often contradicts assumptions about what content matters most to users.

Tip: Pay special attention to high-traffic pages with high bounce rates - they often indicate content that attracts users but fails to meet their expectations or needs.

We use both automated tools and manual review to find duplicate content, similar topics covered in multiple places, and redundant information. Large corporate websites often have the same information in different sections created by different teams, confusing users and diluting search engine optimization.

Tip: Create a content mapping exercise showing how the same topics are covered across different site sections - visual mapping often reveals redundancies that aren't obvious in spreadsheets.

We work with subject matter experts to review factual accuracy and identify outdated information. Time-sensitive content like policies, procedures, and product information gets special attention. We also examine whether content reflects current organizational priorities and messaging rather than historical perspectives.

Tip: Establish clear review dates for different content types - some content needs monthly review while other content might be stable for years.

Content audits include reviewing readability levels, document formats, alt text for images, and compliance with accessibility standards. We assess whether content works for users with different abilities and technology constraints. This ensures content serves your complete audience, not just primary user groups.

Tip: Test your content with screen readers and voice navigation tools to understand how accessible it really is beyond just checking technical compliance boxes.

Yes, we examine how content performs on mobile devices, tablets, and desktops. Content that works well on desktop might be difficult to consume on mobile, requiring different formatting or presentation approaches. This is crucial since user behavior varies significantly across devices.

Tip: Review your mobile analytics separately from desktop - content that seems successful overall might be failing on specific devices where your users need it most.

Timeline depends on site size and complexity. Small sites (under 100 pages) typically take 2-4 weeks, while large enterprise sites might require 8-12 weeks. The process includes content inventory, analysis, stakeholder interviews, and recommendation development. We work efficiently while ensuring thorough evaluation.

Tip: Plan extra time for stakeholder interviews and content owner input - human insights often take longer to gather than technical analysis but are essential for accurate recommendations.

We need site analytics access, content management system access, stakeholder contact information, and any existing content documentation. Understanding your business objectives, user personas, and current content challenges helps us focus the audit effectively. Clear project goals ensure relevant, actionable results.

Tip: Gather examples of content that you know is problematic or successful - these concrete examples help calibrate our analysis approach to your specific concerns.

For large sites, we often recommend phased approaches focusing on high-priority sections first. We might audit customer-facing content before internal resources, or focus on conversion-critical pages before informational content. This allows for early wins while building toward complete site coverage.

Tip: Identify your most important user journeys first, then audit content supporting those journeys as the priority phase - this ensures early audit results impact key business outcomes.

Investment varies based on site complexity, audit depth, and deliverable requirements. We work with organizations across different budget ranges, focusing on delivering maximum insight value. Through our Experience Thinking approach, content audits integrate with broader experience strategy, maximizing return on your investment.

Tip: Consider the cost of poor content - user frustration, support calls, and lost conversions often exceed audit investment, making thorough content evaluation a smart business decision.

Yes, collaborating with your content team enhances audit accuracy and builds internal buy-in for recommendations. Your team knows content history, user feedback, and business context that improves our analysis. We structure collaboration to be efficient while ensuring your team learns from the process.

Tip: Include content creators in audit findings discussions - they often have insights about why certain content developed problems and ideas for realistic solutions.

Multilingual audits require cultural context and language expertise beyond direct translation. We assess whether content is culturally appropriate and locally relevant, not just linguistically accurate. Regional content variations might be necessary for effective user experience across different markets.

Tip: Involve local market representatives in audit planning - they understand cultural nuances that affect content effectiveness in their regions.

We build flexibility into audit projects to accommodate reasonable content changes. Minor updates usually don't affect analysis, but major changes might require scope adjustments. We work with you to balance audit integrity with business needs, ensuring results remain relevant and actionable.

Tip: Communicate planned content changes upfront so we can account for them in our audit timeline and methodology - this prevents delays and ensures consistent results.

Our deliverables include detailed content inventory, quality assessment findings, content gap analysis, and strategic recommendations. Using Experience Thinking principles, we show how content improvements connect to your broader brand, product, and service experiences. Reports include both summary insights for executives and detailed guidance for implementation teams.

Tip: Request both digital spreadsheets for working data and visual summaries for stakeholder communication - different audiences need different formats to understand and act on findings.

We provide visual analysis showing content performance patterns, priority matrices for content decisions, and actionable roadmaps for implementation. Our presentations include statistical findings, qualitative insights, and specific next steps. Content recommendations connect to measurable business outcomes and user experience improvements.

Tip: Ask for priority rankings in your deliverables - knowing which content issues to tackle first helps you achieve early wins and build momentum for larger improvements.

Yes, when audits reveal inconsistency issues, we can develop content templates and style guides to prevent future problems. These tools help maintain quality standards as new content gets created. Templates ensure consistency while style guides provide ongoing governance for content creators.

Tip: Include content approval workflows in your style guides - clear processes prevent future content quality issues better than just providing writing guidelines.

We prioritize based on user impact, business value, and implementation feasibility. High-traffic pages with quality issues get immediate attention, while lower-priority content might be scheduled for later phases. Our recommendations balance quick wins with strategic long-term improvements to maintain momentum.

Tip: Focus first on content that supports your most important user tasks and business goals - improvements in these areas deliver measurable results that justify continued content investment.

Content audits inform migration planning but detailed migration plans are separate services. The audit identifies what content should move, stay, or go, while migration planning determines how to execute these changes. Through Experience Thinking, we ensure migration supports your overall content experience strategy.

Tip: Plan for content migration complexity early - moving content often reveals additional issues with URL structures, internal linking, and cross-references that affect timeline and budget.

We identify current content owners, flag orphaned content without clear ownership, and recommend governance structures for ongoing content management. This prevents future content quality degradation by establishing clear responsibilities and maintenance processes.

Tip: Assign content ownership before implementing audit recommendations - content improvements without clear ongoing responsibility often revert to previous problems within months.

Recommendations depend on your technical environment, team capabilities, and content complexity. We might suggest content management system improvements, workflow tools, or editorial calendar systems. The goal is sustainable content governance that maintains quality over time without excessive overhead.

Tip: Choose content management tools that match your team's technical skills - sophisticated systems that nobody uses effectively are worse than simple systems that get consistent use.

We provide implementation roadmaps, priority sequences, and practical guidance for executing recommendations. Our approach connects audit insights to specific actions your team can take immediately. Through Experience Thinking, we ensure content improvements align with your broader experience goals and business strategy.

Tip: Start with high-impact, low-effort improvements to build momentum and demonstrate value before tackling more complex content restructuring projects.

We help establish governance frameworks preventing future content problems. This includes content creation processes, review cycles, ownership assignments, and quality standards. Governance ensures audit benefits persist rather than slowly degrading back to previous problems over time.

Tip: Build content review dates into your calendar system - scheduled maintenance prevents content from becoming outdated and maintains the quality improvements from your audit.

Content attachment is common, especially when significant effort was invested in creation. We provide data-driven rationale for changes, show how improvements benefit users and business goals, and suggest compromise approaches when appropriate. Stakeholder education often resolves resistance concerns.

Tip: Archive rather than delete controversial content initially - this addresses stakeholder concerns while removing problematic content from user experience, allowing time for acceptance.

Yes, we offer training workshops covering content creation, editing, and maintenance based on audit findings. This builds internal capability for ongoing content quality while ensuring your team understands the reasoning behind audit recommendations. Knowledge transfer is part of our service approach.

Tip: Include content governance training alongside writing skills - knowing when and how to update content is as important as knowing how to write it well initially.

We establish baseline measurements before changes and recommend follow-up metrics after implementation. Success indicators include improved user task completion, reduced support requests, increased engagement metrics, and better search performance. Measurement demonstrates audit ROI and guides future content decisions.

Tip: Set up measurement systems before implementing changes so you can clearly demonstrate improvement rather than trying to establish baselines retroactively.

We offer various support levels from periodic check-ins to ongoing content strategy consultation. Support needs vary based on your internal capabilities and content complexity. Our goal is building your team's content management skills while providing expert guidance when needed.

Tip: Schedule a 6-month follow-up review to assess how well content improvements are holding up and address any governance issues that have emerged during implementation.

Content improvements often significantly benefit search performance through better organization, eliminated duplicate content, and improved relevance. We coordinate with SEO requirements during implementation to maintain search rankings while improving user experience. Quality content naturally supports both goals.

Tip: Document URL changes and redirect strategies before implementing content consolidation to maintain search engine rankings and external link value.

Your team's input is valuable during audit planning, content owner identification, and findings interpretation. We schedule specific touchpoints where your domain knowledge and strategic perspective enhance our analysis. Most audit work happens independently, but your expertise makes results more actionable and relevant.

Tip: Assign a primary internal contact who understands both content strategy and organizational dynamics - this person can facilitate stakeholder access and provide crucial context.

Large organizations often have content spread across different departments and teams. We coordinate with all relevant stakeholders while managing the process efficiently. Our approach includes stakeholder mapping, scheduled interview sessions, and collaborative review processes that respect everyone's time and expertise.

Tip: Create a stakeholder communication plan upfront identifying who needs to be involved in which aspects of the audit - this prevents important people from being overlooked or overwhelmed.

Content decisions sometimes create internal conflicts, especially around removal or consolidation. We facilitate data-driven discussions, present user research findings, and help stakeholder groups find solutions that serve both user needs and business requirements. Objective analysis usually resolves most disagreements.

Tip: Include user feedback and analytics data in stakeholder discussions - external data often helps resolve internal disagreements about content value and priority.

Yes, we integrate with your existing team processes and provide findings in formats your teams can use effectively. We're experienced working within various organizational structures and can adapt our deliverables to fit your development cycles and workflow preferences.

Tip: Include developers in content planning discussions - they often have insights about technical constraints or opportunities that affect how content recommendations can be implemented.

Beyond delivering reports, we conduct knowledge transfer sessions explaining methodology, walking through findings, and discussing implementation strategies. We ensure your team understands not just what to do, but why specific approaches were recommended. This builds internal expertise for future content decisions.

Tip: Request working sessions where your team practices applying audit frameworks to new content - hands-on learning builds skills better than just reviewing final recommendations.

We provide detailed methodology documentation, content inventory templates, evaluation frameworks, and governance guidelines. This ensures your team can reference decision rationale in the future and apply audit insights to ongoing content management. Proper documentation supports organizational learning.

Tip: Ask for editable templates and frameworks so you can customize them for ongoing use and adapt them as your content needs evolve over time.

We provide regular progress updates, preliminary findings sharing, and maintain open communication throughout the audit process. You'll receive milestone reports and have direct access to our audit team for questions. Our collaborative approach ensures you understand findings as they emerge rather than waiting for final results.

Tip: Schedule brief weekly check-ins during analysis phases to address questions early and ensure the audit stays aligned with your evolving business priorities.

Through Experience Thinking principles, content audits inform your broader content experience strategy. Better content organization reduces user frustration, increases task completion, and supports conversion goals. We help connect audit findings to measurable business outcomes like improved user engagement, reduced support costs, and stronger competitive positioning.

Tip: Define key business metrics upfront so audit recommendations can directly address your most important organizational goals and demonstrate clear ROI.

Absolutely. Users who can find relevant, accurate information easily report higher satisfaction and complete more tasks successfully. Content audits identify and resolve friction points in information seeking, reducing cognitive load and frustration while increasing confidence in your organization.

Tip: Measure customer satisfaction scores before and after implementing content improvements to demonstrate concrete user experience benefits to stakeholders.

Clear, relevant content directly supports conversion by helping users understand products, services, and next steps. Content audits often reveal gaps in conversion-critical information or confusing messaging that prevents users from taking desired actions. Improvements typically show measurable business impact.

Tip: Track conversion funnels before audit implementation to identify content-related drop-off points, then measure improvement after implementing audit recommendations.

Content audits create lasting understanding of content quality standards and governance needs. The frameworks and processes developed continue providing value as your organization grows and content needs evolve. Investment in content quality pays dividends through improved user experience and reduced maintenance overhead.

Tip: Document content quality standards discovered during the audit as organizational guidelines for future content creation - this extends audit value beyond immediate improvements.

Digital transformation often involves reorganizing information around user needs rather than internal processes. Content audits provide the user-centered foundation for this transformation, ensuring digital experiences serve actual user goals rather than reflecting organizational silos or legacy thinking patterns.

Tip: Use content audit insights to identify where current organization reflects internal structure rather than user mental models - these are priority areas for transformation.

Yes, content audits often identify inefficiencies like duplicate content creation, unclear information causing support requests, and maintenance overhead from outdated content. Addressing these issues reduces operational costs while improving user experience. Quality content serves both efficiency and effectiveness goals.

Tip: Calculate support call volume related to information requests before content improvements - this provides concrete data about operational cost savings from better content.

Through clear objectives, rigorous methodology, actionable insights, and strategic implementation guidance, we ensure content audits create lasting competitive advantage and measurable business impact. Our Experience Thinking approach connects content improvements to broader experience strategy, maximizing return on your audit investment.

Tip: Plan for post-implementation measurement and ongoing content governance to maximize audit value - one-time improvements without sustained maintenance provide limited long-term benefit.