Structuring Content Audit Reports
Quick start
Collect or infer:
- •Audit scope (full site, section, content type)
- •Audit criteria used (quality, accuracy, performance, accessibility)
- •Primary audience for report (content team, leadership, product)
- •Key questions stakeholders need answered
- •Action timeline (immediate fixes vs. long-term roadmap)
Then produce output using TEMPLATES.md. Validate with RUBRIC.md.
Workflow
- •Clarify report audience and their decision-making needs.
- •Summarize audit methodology: scope, criteria, sample size.
- •Present quantitative overview first: inventory size, scores, distributions.
- •Group findings by action type: keep, update, merge, remove.
- •Prioritize findings: high-traffic first, then business-critical.
- •Provide specific examples for each finding category.
- •Map findings to effort estimates.
- •Create clear next steps with owners and timelines.
- •Include appendix with full data for those who need it.
- •Run the rubric check. Revise until it passes.
Degrees of freedom
- •Low freedom: Accurate data representation, methodology transparency
- •Medium freedom: Prioritization framework, visualization choices, grouping strategy
- •High freedom: Narrative framing, executive summary emphasis, recommendation scope
Default: Lead with findings that enable decisions. Save detailed inventory for appendix.
References
- •Templates: TEMPLATES.md
- •Rubric: RUBRIC.md
- •Examples: EXAMPLES.md
- •Audit frameworks: reference/audit-frameworks.md