content-audit

Content Audit — Phase 4

Executive Summary

Content quality is the primary differentiator between sites that rank and sites that don't in 2025. Google's Helpful Content System (HCS), integrated into the core algorithm in March 2024, actively penalizes template-based, AI-generated-without-expert-review, and thin location pages. The key thresholds: ≥60% unique content per location page (hard floor — below this risks HCS penalty), ≥80% unique (competitive target). FAQPage schema on service pages triggers AIO citations at 3.2× the rate of pages without it (Amsive 2025). Content decay (>20% YoY impressions decline) now affects most sites that haven't refreshed since 2022–2023 — ChatGPT cites pages updated within 30 days at 76.4% vs. 31.2% for 90+ day old content. The fastest wins: add FAQPage schema (30 min/page), refresh decayed content with updated stats, and fix service pages below 800 words.

2025 content benchmarks:

• Service pages: minimum 800 words; competitive 1,200–2,000 words (HCS 2025 standards)
• Location pages: ≥60% unique (hard floor); ≥80% unique (competitive target)
• Content decay threshold: >20% YoY click decline → refresh required (GSC comparison)
• FAQPage schema → 3.2× AIO citation rate (Amsive 2025); HowTo schema = structured step extraction
• Pillar page threshold: 25+ total articles in cluster = topical authority signal (SEMrush 2024)
• AI-generated content: acceptable only with documented human expert review (Google Webmaster guidelines 2025)

Step 1: Read Project Context & Run Crawl

Read {AUDIT_DIR}/intake-data.md — business name, services, location, goals. Read {AUDIT_DIR}/technical-findings.md — indexation data, duplicate content flags.

# Run crawler if not already done (from technical-seo or here)
python3 scripts/site_crawler.py --url [URL] --max-pages 150 --output {DATA_DIR}/crawl/ --csv

Tools for this phase: | Tool | Purpose | Cost | |------|---------|------| | Screaming Frog | Word counts, title/meta duplicates, thin pages (<300 words), canonicals | Paid/Free (≤500 URLs) | | Siteliner | Duplicate content % across site, most-linked pages (free up to 250 pages) | Free | | SEMrush | GSC import — traffic per page, keyword ranking per page, content decay analysis | Paid | | Surfer SEO | Content Score per page vs. competitors — targets 70+ (cluster) / 80+ (pillar) | Paid | | Clearscope | Content grade per page — target A- (pillar) / B+ (cluster) | Paid | | Copyscape | External duplicate content detection — scraped copies | Paid | | Google Search Console | Page-level impressions/clicks — identify content decay (>20% YoY decline) | Free (requires access) | | site_crawler.py | --csv output: word counts, status codes, title/meta data per page | Free (local) |

2025 Content Context: Google's Helpful Content System (HCS) was folded into the core ranking algorithm in March 2024. Since then:

• Template location pages (only city name swapped) are actively penalized — need ≥60% unique content
• Bulk AI-generated content without expert review triggers scaled content abuse signals
• Content with >20% YoY impressions decline requires refresh or consolidation
• FAQPage schema + direct standalone answers = primary AI Overview (AIO) citation trigger

Section 1: Content Inventory

Build a complete inventory of all indexed pages using crawler output:

| URL | Page Type | Title | Word Count | Primary Keyword | Quality (1–10) | Issues | |-----|----------|-------|-----------|----------------|----------------|--------| | /services/[slug] | Service | | | | | | | /locations/[slug] | Location | | | | | | | /blog/[slug] | Blog | | | | | |

Page Types to Catalog:

• Homepage (often thin — should have 600+ words explaining services, location, differentiators)
• Service pages (one per service offered)
• Location/area pages
• Blog posts / articles
• FAQ page (standalone or distributed on service pages)
• About page
• Contact page
• Testimonials/Reviews page
• Gallery/Portfolio page
• Staff/Team pages

Content Quality Score (1–10): | Score | Description | |-------|-------------| | 9–10 | Comprehensive (meets word count threshold), unique, expert-authored, well-structured, current-year data, optimized | | 7–8 | Good — missing some depth, freshness, or schema optimization | | 5–6 | Average — basic information, lacks differentiation or competitor-matching depth | | 3–4 | Thin — <600 words, near-duplicate template, or outdated >2 years | | 1–2 | Very poor — scraped, auto-generated, or near-empty |

Word count thresholds (2025 HCS standards): | Page Type | Minimum | Competitive Target | Red Flag | |-----------|---------|-------------------|---------| | Homepage | 600 words | 800–1,200 | <400 | | Service page | 800 words | 1,200–2,000 | <500 | | Location page | 600 words | 900–1,500 | <400 | | Pillar blog post | 2,500 words | 3,500–5,000 | <1,200 | | Cluster blog post | 1,200 words | 1,500–2,500 | <600 | | FAQ entry | 150 words | 250–400 | <100 |

Section 2: Critical Content Issues

Thin Content (<600 words for service/location pages)

From crawler output: {DATA_DIR}/crawl/crawl-data.csv → filter by word count:

| URL | Page Type | Word Count | Traffic | Action | |-----|----------|-----------|---------|--------| | [URL] | Service | [count] | [visits] | Expand / Merge / Redirect |

Action criteria:

• <600 words + has organic traffic → expand with expert content (priority)
• <600 words + zero traffic + low search volume → 301 redirect to parent service page
• <600 words + zero traffic + has backlinks → expand (preserve link equity)

Duplicate Content (Internal)

From Siteliner or Screaming Frog → filter by duplicate content %:

| Pages | Similarity % | Issue Type | Action | |-------|------------|-----------|--------| | [URL1] vs. [URL2] | [%] | Template location pages | Differentiate or canonical | | [URL1] vs. [URL2] | [%] | Category + post archive | Canonical to canonical URL |

Location page template check:

• Paste 2 location pages in a diff tool → measure unique content %
• Target: ≥80% unique per page pair
• Hard floor: ≥60% (below = HCS penalty risk)

Content Cannibalization

Multiple pages competing for the same primary keyword:

| Keyword | Competing Pages | Current Ranking | Action | |---------|---------------|----------------|--------| | [keyword] | [URL1], [URL2] | P[X], P[Y] | Consolidate / Redirect / Differentiate |

Detection: GSC → Performance → click on keyword → check if multiple URLs rank. Also Ahrefs → Site Explorer → Organic Keywords → filter for duplicate keyword targeting.

Content Decay Detection (Using GSC)

Export GSC Performance → compare last 90 days vs. same period last year (YoY):

| URL | Current Clicks | YoY Clicks | Change % | Action | |-----|--------------|-----------|---------|--------| | [URL] | [X] | [Y] | -[%] | Refresh if >20% decline |

2025 rule: >20% YoY decline → refresh queue. >50% YoY decline → major rewrite or consolidate. ChatGPT cites content updated within 30 days at 76.4% rate — freshness directly affects AIO citation rate.

AI-Generated Low-Quality Content (HCS 2025 Risk)

Google's Helpful Content System specifically targets:

• Bulk AI-generated pages without human expertise review (scaled content abuse signal)
• Content covering all angles superficially rather than any deeply
• Location × service pages with near-identical content (only city name different)
• Content with high bounce rate + zero dwell time + no engagement signals

Detection: Look for pages with uniform template structure across service/location variations. Check bounce rate and engagement time in GA4.

Section 3: Service Pages Assessment

For EACH service offered (from intake-data.md):

| Service | Page Exists? | URL | Word Count | Unique? | FAQPage Schema? | Quality | |---------|------------|-----|-----------|---------|----------------|---------| | [service 1] | Yes/No | [url] | [count] | Yes/No | Yes/