inside my first content audit: a technical writing intern's perspective
Two months into my technical writing internship, I was handed a project and these instructions: "We need you to recategorize all our website content using our new taxonomy." Every piece of content had old classifications that no longer served the organization's needs. My job: review it all and impose order using a new, consolidated category structure.
I've done a content audit once before in my technical communication coursework, but that was a controlled academic exercise with clear parameters and a tidy section of online help content to work with. This was different—years of accumulated enterprise content with no safety net of a rubric or professor to confirm I was on the right track.
Here's how I approached my first real-world content audit—and what I wish I'd known before starting.
What Is a Content Audit, Really?
Before this project, I understood content audits conceptually: you review existing content to assess its effectiveness. But the reality is far more complex. A content audit is part detective work, part data analysis, and part strategic planning. You're not just cataloging pages—you're uncovering patterns, identifying gaps, and building a roadmap for improvement.
Setting Up the Framework
Unlike my classroom audit where the evaluation criteria were provided, here I had to implement an evaluation system—though the new categories themselves were already defined. Working from the initial spreadsheet that contained titles, publication dates, and old categories, plus the company's new consolidated category list, the new tracking to capture included:
Primary category (selected from the new consolidated list provided)
Other relevant categories (when content crossed boundaries)
Content type (article, guide, tool, case study)
Outdated/Hide flag (for content no longer relevant)
Rating scale (from "extremely useful" to "not useful")
Needs review flag (for content requiring SME attention)
My task wasn't to create the categories—those had been strategically developed already. Instead, I had to read through each content asset—every blog post, LinkedIn article, and eBook—to accurately classify it within the new structure and assess its current value. The trick was balancing thoroughness with efficiency—something you don't worry about in a semester-long class project but that becomes crucial when you have hundreds of pages to review within a real deadline.
Unexpected Discoveries
Every content audit brings surprises—patterns and quirks that only emerge once you’ve reviewed a large body of material. Here are a few that stood out to me:
When Titles and Content Diverge
It’s common for a title to suggest one focus, only for the content itself to lean in another direction. For example, a resource framed as a “guide” might actually serve more as a high-level overview. This taught me not to rely on titles alone, but to scan—or even fully read—each asset to understand its true purpose and audience.Overlapping Coverage
Many organizations naturally accumulate content with similar themes over time. Different teams may create their own materials addressing the same topic from slightly different angles. Seeing these patterns reinforced how valuable a consistent taxonomy can be for consolidating related resources and improving findability.Shifting Terminology Over Time
As products, services, and messaging evolve, earlier content may reflect older language. Far from being a problem, it’s actually a fascinating way to see how organizational messaging grows and changes. A taxonomy update provides a great opportunity to align that legacy content with current brand and terminology standards.
Tools and Techniques That Helped
My setup wasn’t fancy, but it worked—just a handful of tools and techniques that kept me on track.
Excel became my command center, using filters to work through content systematically, conditional formatting to visualize patterns, and pivot tables to analyze category distribution
A decision tree document helped me maintain consistency when dealing with edge cases
Speed reading techniques became essential for getting through longer eBooks while still capturing enough detail for accurate categorization
Lessons Learned
Start with a pilot: I wish I'd fully audited a small section first to refine my approach before diving into the entire site. I had to revise my rating criteria multiple times in the early stages.
Document everything: Creating a simple guide for my categorization decisions helped maintain consistency, especially when reviewing content across multiple days.
Think like a user: The most valuable insights came when I stopped thinking like an auditor and started considering how users would look for this content.
Patterns matter more than individual pages: While it's tempting to get caught up in individual pieces of content, the real value comes from identifying systemic issues—like entire content types that consistently rated as "not useful."
What's Next
The audit isn't just an end product—it's a strategic tool. Our findings will inform:
What’s next builds on what I’ve learned.
Navigation restructuring based on the new categories
A content governance plan to maintain consistency
A prioritized list of content to update or retire
SEO optimization opportunities within the new structure
As I wrap up this project, I'm struck by how much strategic thinking goes into content work. This audit taught me that technical writing isn't just about creating new content—it's about stewarding existing content and ensuring every piece serves a purpose.
For Fellow Interns and Career-Changers
If you're asked to do a content audit early in your career, embrace it. Yes, it can feel overwhelming to evaluate content you didn't create for an organization you're still learning about. But it's also an incredible opportunity to understand content strategy at a systemic level and to provide tangible value to your organization.
Plus, there's something satisfying about turning chaos into clarity—one spreadsheet row at a time.
august 20, 2025
