Content audit of a complex website

The problem

8,000 pages. Five very different user personas, from people with no knowledge of the subject through to experts. A small team and a short deadline.

There was no content ownership or governance in place. Some pages dated back to when the website launched seven years earlier, while other content had been migrated from the previous website and had not been reviewed since.

Challenges and how I addressed them

The number of pages

I decided early in the process that some pages would be out of scope because the content design team had no influence over them. This significantly reduced the number of pages to audit, but still left thousands to tackle.

A small team and short deadline

I clearly defined the workload across the team, grouping similar types of pages where possible to help people work more efficiently. We also explored where parts of the process could be automated.

I ran audit team meetings twice a week to discuss problems, questions and blockers. This meant we could make decisions quickly and escalate issues as soon as they arose.

The outcome

The audit produced a comprehensive content inventory, capturing information such as content ownership, tone and the action needed for each page. Actions included whether content should be kept, restructured or archived.

This provided a clear overview of the website and went on to inform planning for a larger website project.

We re-engaged content owners throughout the audit, meaning they were already aware of upcoming work ahead of the next website projects.

The team archived hundreds of pages that were out of date or no longer relevant. Hundreds more pages had structural, accessibility and tone issues fixed during the audit. This meant improvements to user experience were made immediately rather than waiting for the larger website project.