The Content Audit For People Who Actually Have Sh*t To Do

Happy Saturday everyone

Spent three hours in a "quick check-in" meeting yesterday that could've been an email, that could have been a Slack message, that should have been a passing comment…

While I was zoning out, I realized something: we overcomplicate everything, especially content audits.

So here's my gift to you – my 5-minute content strategy audit that delivers actual insights.

The 5-Minute Content Strategy Audit Checklist

No fluff, no theory, just practical checks you can do right now with the tools you already have. Set a timer for 5 minutes and go:

✅ 1. Performance Gap Check (60 seconds)

1. Open Search Console (or whatever analytics platform you use)

2. Compare the last 3 months to the previous 3 months

3. Look specifically at:

   • Top 10 most-visited content pieces

   • Bottom 10 content pieces

   • Content with biggest traffic drops

ACTION ITEM: Flag any previously high-performing content that's dropped by 20%+ for immediate refresh.

✅ 2. Conversion Path Inspection (60 seconds)

1. Pull up your 5 most recent lead-generating content pieces

2. Check if each has a relevant, clear call-to-action

3. Verify that each CTA leads to an appropriate next step

ACTION ITEM: Fix any broken conversion paths and add/update CTAs on high-traffic pages with weak conversion.

✅ 3. Keyword-Content Alignment (60 seconds)

1. Use Search Console to identify your top 10 ranking keywords

2. Check if the content ranking for these terms actually targets them intentionally

3. Note any mismatches between intent and content

ACTION ITEM: Create a priority list of content to update where you're ranking for valuable terms accidentally (huge opportunity!).

✅ 4. Content Gap Snapshot (60 seconds)

1. Go to a competitor's site

2. Navigate to their "popular" or "featured" content section

3. Identify 3-5 high-value topics they cover that you don't

ACTION ITEM: Add these topics to your content calendar, prioritizing ones that align with your product/service offerings.

✅ 5. Distribution Channel Check (60 seconds)

1. Look at your last 5 content pieces

2. Count how many distribution channels each was shared on

3. Note which channels drove actual engagement/traffic

ACTION ITEM: Double down on your top-performing channel, and cut or revamp your worst-performing one.

What To Do With Your Results

This will give you a great starting list of the shit you need to do next:

1. Refresh the declining high-performers

2. Put clearer CTA’s on the pages where you’re making money

3. Optimize content that's accidentally ranking.

   1. Add in any keywords that are missing

   2. More internal links from relevant other articles

   3. Better next steps toward the bottom of the blog

4. Fill the content gaps you've identified

5. Figure out who’s fixing the things. Give people their jobs.

This isn't comprehensive, but it's actionable—and that beats a 30-page audit document that nobody reads.

Remember, you’re not fixing these issues. Just pulling all the issues into one place.

Let Me Know How It Goes

Try this 5-minute audit and reply with what you discovered. Was it helpful? Did you uncover any surprising opportunities? I'd love to hear what insights you gained from this quick-hit approach.

I’m trying to work out a little dashboard in Coda where I can run this on a Monday/over the weekend and it just gives me all the shit to do over the week. Lemme know if you’d be interested in any progress I make on this.

Catch you tomorrow, I’m still doing this every day.

✌️ Tim "Audit Speedrunner" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend

P.S. Want me to share the extended 15-minute version that dives deeper into content quality assessment? Let me know and I'll cover it in a future newsletter.