Web content audit template

How to give your web content a reality check using the R.E.A.L. method

Use this easy web content audit template to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities with your website content.

I recently completed a website audit project for a nonprofit organization through CatchAFire.org. As part of the website audit, I audited every key page’s content, looking for areas of opportunity.

To make the process go more quickly and smoothly, I came up with a system for evaluating the content based on four key indicators. These indicators make up the most important factors of good content, from my perspective, and together they create the acronym, R.E.A.L.

1. Relevance
2. Effectiveness
3. Action
4. Links

In my audit, each of these areas is rated High, Moderate, Low or None. Ideally, all areas would be highly relevant, effective, actionable, and linked.

If you’re looking just for the template itself, go straight to the bottom of this article. Otherwise, read on for how to use the R.E.A.L. method.

Using the R.E.A.L. method to audit web content

Content on the web should be audited in a specific way. You’re not just looking at how updated or on-brand content on the web is. You’re also looking for whether the content itself works on the web and is useful for its intended audience.

Considering Relevance and Effectiveness

Most audits already look for relevance and effectiveness, but they don’t all consider actions or links, so I’ll delve into those areas in more detail in the next section.

To quickly summarize the first two letters, R and E:

1. Relevant content is content that matters to the intended audience. The underlying assumption is that there is an intended audience. Generally, everyone is not a sufficient audience group. So if you haven’t already identified the intended audience for a piece of content on your site, go back and do that. Do not be afraid to exclude…