If I were starting with too much content: how I’d turn volume into value

If your business already has a ton of content — years of blogs, PDFs, landing pages and social posts — but you’re not seeing the traction you expected, here’s how I’d approach it. Step by step, and in a way that gets results faster than starting from scratch.

There’s a certain kind of pain that only content-rich businesses feel. You’ve done all the “right” things: built a library of blogs, published case studies, run campaigns, maybe even launched a resource hub you were proud of at the time. But now it’s hard to tell what’s working, or whether any of it still matters. Traffic’s flat, engagement’s low, and there’s that familiar question in marketing meetings: “Should we just start again?”

If I walked into a business like that, one overflowing with content but underperforming in visibility, this is the process I’d use to turn it around. Not by creating more, but by making what’s already there work harder.

Step 1: Audit what you’ve got — properly this time

Most “content audits” stop at listing URLs in a spreadsheet, but a proper audit is a business exercise, not an admin task. I’d start by pulling every live content asset — blogs, landing pages, gated PDFs, webinars, newsletters — into a single database. Then, for each one, I’d capture a few key data points:

• Performance: traffic, time on page, backlinks, conversions, internal links
• Purpose: what stage of the funnel it serves, which product or audience it supports
• Potential: is it outdated, underperforming or cannibalising another page?

You can do this manually with a crawler, or through your CMS if it supports tagging. But the key is the lens you're looking at through. You’re not just counting what exists; you’re analysing how each piece contributes (or doesn’t) to your current goals.

By the end, you should be able to group content into three buckets:

1. Keep and optimise
2. Refresh or consolidate
3. Archive or redirect

The goal is clarity — to see what’s actually driving visibility and what’s just taking up space.

Step 2: Map it to your business priorities

Even great content loses impact when the business evolves but the content doesn’t. I’d work with leaders and subject-matter experts to understand what’s changed: new markets, new messaging, new products or new focus areas. Then I’d map the existing content library against those priorities.

For example, if a SaaS company has shifted from SMB clients to enterprise, most of its old content will target the wrong pain points. Articles about “saving time for small teams” won’t resonate with enterprise buyers focused on integration or compliance.

By auditing through the lens of current positioning, you can quickly see what needs reworking. Some posts can be retargeted with new language. Others might need to be retired altogether.

The aim is alignment — making sure your content supports today’s strategy, not yesterday’s campaign calendar.

Step 3: Fix the findability problem

Large content libraries almost always suffer from the same issue: people can’t find what they need, and neither can search engines.

I’d start with the basics:

• Simplify menus and category structures
• Fix broken or redundant tags
• Remove competing articles targeting the same keyword
• Review internal linking between related pages

Then, I’d look at answer engine optimisation (AEO) — how well your content serves specific questions or voice queries.

• Are you providing short, clear answers that could surface in snippets, AI overviews or knowledge panels?
• Are your headers structured logically so readers and algorithms can follow the flow?

Finally, I’d test the site experience like a customer would: how many clicks does it take to find an answer? Do articles have obvious next steps? Does the search bar return relevant results?

Improving findability isn’t glamorous work, but it’s the difference between a content archive and a content system.

Step 4: Identify and update your best-performing pieces

Before publishing anything new, I’d find the top 10–20% of content driving the most traffic, backlinks or conversions — your proven performers. Tools like Google Search Console, GA4 or Ahrefs make this simple, but the real insight comes from understanding why those pieces work. Maybe the topic matches high-intent search queries. Maybe it ranks well but has an outdated example that’s hurting credibility.

For each high-performing piece, I’d:

• Refresh statistics, visuals and links
• Tighten the intro so readers hit the value faster
• Add missing internal links to guide them deeper into the funnel
• Optimise for both SEO and AEO (clear structure, concise subheadings, schema where relevant)
• Check whether it aligns with current offers and CTAs

You don’t need to start from scratch to grow traffic. A single refreshed post can often outperform ten new ones.

Step 5: Consolidate and repurpose

When you’ve published content for years, overlap is inevitable — multiple posts explaining the same concept, targeting the same keyword or answering the same question. I’d use the audit to identify duplicates or near-duplicates, then merge them into one comprehensive, high-quality version.

Example: Instead of three articles about “how to improve employee engagement,” you combine them into one long-form guide that covers strategy, metrics and examples. The others redirect to it, passing authority instead of splitting it.

Then I’d look at repurposing opportunities:

• Turn webinars or whitepapers into article series
• Slice case studies into short LinkedIn posts
• Transform long guides into visual explainers or lead magnets

You’re not creating more content, instead you're increasing the surface area of your best ideas.

Step 6: Rewrite the website for clarity and consistency

You wouldn't believe the amount of big content libraries I see hidden behind outdated websites. The structure might have evolved haphazardly. Messaging might reflect three different rebrands. Tone might swing from formal to chatty depending on who wrote the page.

I’d start by reviewing the top 10–15 core pages — homepage, service pages, about, contact and blog hubs — to make sure they reflect how the business communicates today. Each page should have:

• A clear primary message (what the reader should understand in 10 seconds)
• Consistent tone and hierarchy
• Strong, relevant CTAs linked to live campaigns or offers

A rewritten website becomes the anchor for everything else; it’s where content finally connects to conversion.

Step 7: Build your thought-leadership layer

Once the foundations are repaired, it’s time to shift gears. I’d identify the areas where your brand has unique expertise — insights, data or experience your competitors can’t easily replicate — and turn those into long-form, opinion-led pieces.

That might include:

• Quarterly research reports using your own or aggregated data
• Deep-dive articles that unpack complex industry topics
• Perspective pieces from founders or senior experts

The point isn’t to sound clever; it’s to create content people bookmark, cite and return to — the kind that turns search visibility into authority. These become your flagship pieces, the content that anchors your brand in industry conversations.

Step 8: Create a content lifecycle system

Big content portfolios die when no one owns the upkeep. I’d set up a simple lifecycle system; a six- or twelve-month review cadence that keeps every major content asset fresh.

It might look like this:

• Quarterly: update top-performing pages with new links, stats and CTAs
• Biannually: refresh service pages or resource hubs
• Annually: conduct a full audit and redirect anything outdated

The system lives in a shared dashboard with ownership and due dates clearly defined. If a blog post is older than two years and hasn’t been reviewed, it’s flagged automatically. This turns maintenance from an ad-hoc “we should probably update that” into a structured, predictable rhythm.

Step 9: Reconnect content with distribution

If your business has years of content but minimal visibility, distribution is usually the missing piece. I’d look at how to get more mileage out of what you’ve already created.

• LinkedIn: repurpose insights from long-form pieces into short, scannable posts — ideally shared by subject-matter experts, not just the company page
• Email: surface older but still relevant articles through curated newsletters or “from the archives” sections
• Partnerships: collaborate with industry associations, podcasts or guest newsletters to feature your best work
• Targeted promotion: use small paid boosts for evergreen, conversion-focused content

Great content doesn’t die after one launch. The more consistently it’s redistributed, the stronger your results compound over time.

Step 10: Measure what matters (and act on it)

A large content library creates a lot of noise in analytics. Pageviews and impressions don’t tell you much on their own. I’d narrow focus to a few key metrics that actually connect to business outcomes:

• Which pages or topics drive qualified leads or demo requests
• Which articles consistently attract backlinks or mentions
• How different content types contribute to assisted conversions
• Where visitors drop off or bounce

Then I’d turn those insights into action. If a post attracts traffic but doesn’t convert, I’d add a stronger CTA or internal link. If another drives conversions but low traffic, I’d optimise it for search. The goal isn’t to track everything; it’s to improve something every quarter.

Bringing it all together

Businesses with too much content often face the same problem as those with none: lack of focus. The solution isn’t to publish more — it’s to make what you’ve already created work harder. With a clear audit, aligned priorities and a system that keeps content fresh and visible, you can transform a cluttered archive into a lean, high-performing growth engine.

Want help doing this for your business?

If your content library’s grown faster than your results, I can help. My Fractional Content Management retainers are designed for exactly this: auditing, streamlining and rebuilding your content system so every piece earns its keep.

And if you’re starting from zero, my Visibility Retainers help you skip the guesswork and build the foundations the right way from day one.