This post by Ellen Harvey on how to do an effective content audit without spending a fortune or taking ages is pretty great.
You can do a content audit without tools. A spreadsheet, your top 50 pages by traffic, and one sharp question will land most of the decisions an audit exists to make.
I have seen content audits and audit templates that have so many columns and data points. And I think a lot of those data points are next to useless.
A content audit can sometimes turn into the work itself. Slowly, perhaps unnoticed, the act of creating a large and delightfully detailed spreadsheet becomes the point. Months fly by and though the audit looks increasingly splendid, the content and all of its issues remain the same.
Most content audits do not require a many-columned spreadsheet. They need good questions, accurate data and clear actions. In fact, in this piece, Harvey lays out a simple method where an audit requires just one good question.
One question, held steady across 50 pages, produces a defensible pattern. Five questions produce five half-finished audits.
I can get behind this notion. Doing this should give you the most important, effective actions to take to improve your content, most likely in half the time. Sure, your spreadsheet might not look as sweet. But your content will get better, faster.
