Content Inventory Analysis - Interactive SOP

Create a content inventory interactively using Ahrefs data to classify, rank, and evaluate your website content.

Goal Provide a clear process for conducting a content inventory analysis using Ahrefs data to classify, rank, and evaluate website content.

Ideal Outcome You generate a complete content inventory with quartile rankings, composite scores, and efficiency metrics that highlight star performers, optimization candidates, and underperformers.

Why this is Important This analysis creates a roadmap for content optimization. It helps you decide which pages to amplify, which to improve, and which to remove, ensuring resources are used effectively.

Where this is done Inside Ahrefs Site Explorer and the Content Inventory Analysis tool.

When this is done Whenever you need to assess your or your competitor’s website’s content performance, typically once per quarter or after publishing a significant batch of new content.

Who does this Content strategists, SEO specialists, or marketing team members responsible for content performance.

Prerequisites or Requirements

• Website domain to analyze (own site or competitor)
• Access to Ahrefs Site Explorer
• CSV export from Ahrefs with correct settings

Step 1. Export Data from Ahrefs

1. Open Ahrefs Site Explorer.
2. Navigate to Top Pages.
3. Set date range to “Don’t compare” to prevent errors in the export.
4. Enable “SERP titles” for proper page identification.
5. Export as CSV with UTF-8 encoding.
6. Select all available rows for the most reliable dataset.

Step 2. Upload Data

Step 3. Run Content Inventory Analysis

💡 Tip: Quartiles divide your content into four buckets (Q1–Q4). Instead of obsessing over raw numbers, quartiles show relative performance. If a page lands in Q4, it outperforms 75% of your content. If it lands in Q1, it underperforms compared to 75% of your portfolio. This way you focus on patterns, not isolated datapoints.

Step 4. Interpret

1. Check 2–8 point composite scores:

   • 6–8: High-performing content; amplify and maintain.
   • 4–5: Mid-level performers; prioritize optimization.
   • 2–3: Underperformers; consider overhaul, consolidation, or removal.

2. Identify efficiency champions with high referring domains and low traffic.

   Example: A page with 300+ referring domains but very little traffic signals “earned links” (people linked because of quality or originality, not just rankings).

3. Spot low-efficiency pages where traffic doesn’t translate into authority. These may need targeted outreach or better internal linking.

💡 Context: Referring domains per visit helps separate passive link-building (pages rank high, so they naturally get links) from active link-worthiness (pages get links because they truly resonate). Especially useful when analyzing competitor sites — it highlights which posts genuinely gained traction, not just rankings.