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December 2018 1
TIP SHEET
How to Conduct a Website
Content Audit Using Analytics
BY DAREN WORCESTER, Blackbaud K–12 Senior Content Marketing Manager
Underperforming web pages are like paddling a canoe with the anchor down—you're trying
to make headway, but you're not getting anywhere. Unnecessary content and pages create
clutter that makes it challenging for visitors to find the information they want. Frustration
ensues, and they quickly leave the page or exit the site altogether without their question
answered. Google
®
picks up on this behavior, and it affects the site's search standings.
Before rewriting any content, conduct an audit to fully understand the pages that are paddling
forward and those that are anchoring the site down. What follows is my (no longer) secret-
sauce methodology for website content audits.
1
Export an All Pages report for the previous 12 months from
Google Analytics
™
to a spreadsheet.
For this exercise, delete all columns except Pageviews, Average Time on Page, Entrances, and
Bounce Rate. It's also a good idea to change the primary dimension from Page to Page Title
before exporting to make it easier to identify pages in the spreadsheet.
2
Establish a baseline for each metric.
You can approach this by calculating the average for each, or set your own performance
benchmark. For example, Internet averages for time on page typically fall anywhere between
30–90 seconds. You might consider 30 seconds unacceptable, so maybe you'll set a minute as
the benchmark for your site.
3
Review the data in each column.
Highlight in red any items that fall below the established benchmark. You may also choose to
highlight in green any items that perform 25 percent or better over the benchmark.
