Content audit template
A free sheet with one row per page and the 13 columns that decide what to do with it: its Search Console numbers, its main problem, and one action out of keep, update, merge, redirect or remove. It comes with a filled-in example and free steps to fill it in.
Paste into cell A1 of a new Google Sheet and each value lands in its own cell. The CSV opens in Excel and Numbers.
What is a content audit template?
A content audit template is a sheet with one row per page on your site and the columns you need to decide what to do with each page: how it performs in Google, what is wrong with it, and whether to keep, update, merge, redirect or remove it.
It checks the pages themselves. For crawling, indexing, speed and other site-wide problems, use the SEO audit report template.
The 13 columns
What goes in each column and where the value comes from. All of it is free.
- URL
The page's address. One row per page.
Where: Your sitemap or your CMS's list of posts and pages, plus Search Console's Pages tab.
- Title
The page's title, so you know the page without opening it.
Where: Your CMS, or the page itself.
- Page type
Guide, List, Review, Tool, Product or News.
Where: Your judgement.
- Main query
The search that brings the page the most impressions. Blank if the page never shows up in Google.
Where: Search Console, Performance, Search results: click the page in the Pages tab, open the Queries tab and sort by Impressions.
- Last updated
The date the content last changed in a real way, as YYYY-MM-DD.
Where: Your CMS.
- Clicks (3 months)
Clicks from Google Search to the page.
Where: Search Console, Performance, Search results, Pages tab (the default range is the last three months).
- Impressions (3 months)
How often the page showed up in Google Search.
Where: The same Pages tab.
- Position
The page's average position over the same three months, rounded to a whole number. Blank if it never showed up.
Where: The same Pages tab with Average position turned on.
- CTR
Clicks divided by impressions.
Where: The same Pages tab with Average CTR turned on.
- Problem
The main thing wrong: Outdated, Thin, Overlaps another page, Low CTR, No search demand, or None.
Where: Read the page and search its main query.
- Action
Keep, Update, Merge, Redirect or Remove, from the rules below.
Where: Your decision.
- Merge or redirect to
For Merge and Redirect, the page that stays. Blank for the other actions.
Where: Your site.
- Notes
What exactly to change, and anything that blocks it.
Where: Your review.
How to fill it in for free
6 steps, from a list of every page to a sheet you can work through.
List every page
Export the list of posts and pages from your CMS, or copy the URLs from your sitemap. Fill in URL, Title, Page type and Last updated. That part alone is your content inventory.
Add the Search Console numbers
In Search Console, open Performance, then Search results, and turn on Average CTR and Average position. The Pages tab lists clicks, impressions, CTR and position for each page over the last three months by default. Use Export and copy the numbers into each row. Before you write 0 for a page that is not in the export, filter the report by that page: the export has a row limit, and Google can report a page's numbers under another URL it chose as the canonical.
Find each page's main query
Click a page in the Pages tab, then open the Queries tab and sort by Impressions. The top query is the page's main query.
Read each page and search its main query
Write the main problem: out-of-date facts, a thin answer, another page of yours that answers the same query, or few clicks for its position. The keyword cannibalization checker finds the queries two of your pages split, and the CTR calculator shows whether a page gets fewer clicks than is typical at its position.
Pick one action per page
Use the rules below. For Merge and Redirect, write the page that stays.
Work through the sheet
Updates on pages with the most impressions first, then merges and redirects, then removals. Change a page's date only when you changed its content.
Keep, update, merge, redirect or remove
Give every page exactly one action.
- Keep
- The page earns clicks, answers its main query and its facts are still true. Leave it alone.
- Update
- The page shows up but could do better: it sits at about positions 8 to 30, gets few clicks for its position, or has facts, prices or steps that are out of date. Rewrite the parts that are weak; keep the URL.
- Merge
- Two of your pages answer the same query. Move the useful parts of the weaker page into the stronger one, then redirect the weaker URL to it with a permanent (301) redirect.
- Redirect
- The page has nothing worth keeping, but it still gets visits or other sites link to it, and another page of yours covers the same topic. Redirect it there with a 301.
- Remove
- No clicks, no impressions, no links, nothing worth keeping and no close page to send people to. Delete it so the URL returns 404 or 410, and take it out of your sitemap.
Google uses a permanent redirect as a sign that the target page should be the one it shows, and over time removes an indexed URL that returns 404 or 410. Use a permanent redirect only when you won't undo it.
Rewriting a page marked Update? Start from the outline for its kind of search in the blog post templates.
A filled-in example
7 pages of a garden-care blog, November 2026, in the order to work through them. The numbers are made up.
| URL | Title | Page type | Main query | Last updated | Clicks (3 months) | Impressions (3 months) | Position | CTR | Problem | Action | Merge or redirect to | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /tomato-blight | Tomato blight: signs and fixes | Guide | tomato blight | 2023-06-30 | 61 | 5,300 | 14 | 1.2% | Outdated | Update | – | Two of the sprays it names are no longer sold. Replace them and add photos of early signs. |
| /planting-garlic | How to plant garlic | Guide | when to plant garlic | 2024-09-12 | 38 | 4,120 | 12 | 0.9% | Thin | Update | – | Gives one date for every region. Add a planting date table by region. |
| /watering-tomatoes | Watering tomatoes | Guide | how often to water tomatoes | 2025-06-11 | 12 | 3,900 | 5 | 0.3% | Low CTR | Update | – | Position 5 but few clicks. Put the answer (how often) in the title and description. |
| /garlic-planting-guide-2022 | Garlic planting guide 2022 | Guide | garlic planting depth | 2022-10-03 | 4 | 1,380 | 34 | 0.3% | Overlaps another page | Merge | /planting-garlic | Move the depth chart into /planting-garlic, then redirect. |
| /seed-catalog-2021 | Our 2021 seed catalog picks | News | 2021 seed catalog | 2021-01-15 | 0 | 40 | 48 | 0.0% | Outdated | Redirect | /best-seed-catalogs | Out of date, but two other sites link to it. Redirect, don't delete. |
| /garden-update-march | Garden update: March | News | – | 2020-03-30 | 0 | 0 | – | – | No search demand | Remove | – | No links and nothing to keep. Delete it and take it out of the sitemap. |
| /raised-bed-ideas | 25 raised bed ideas | List | raised bed ideas | 2025-04-18 | 212 | 9,800 | 6 | 2.2% | None | Keep | – | Earns the most clicks. Check its links once a year. |
An audit fixes the pages you have. Serpwright finds the ones you are missing: it reads your Search Console every week, finds the searches no page of yours answers yet, suggests them as titles you approve, and writes the articles.
3 days free, no card.
Let Serpwright find the pages you are missing
Serpwright reads your Search Console, finds the searches no page of yours answers yet, and turns them into articles you approve.
- It syncs Search Console once a week, or when you press Sync now.
- It lists the searches your site shows up for without a page, as titles you approve, and writes the articles.
- Drafts wait for your review before publishing unless you turn on the drip or auto-publish. Auto-approve takes only titles above a confidence threshold you set.
3 days free, no card.