Your Marketing Adviser
Template · 12 checks · 15 minutes · printable

Article Refresh Scorecard

A simple scorecard for deciding whether an older article needs a quick update, a focused refresh, a full rewrite, or no action at all.

Read the refresh guide
How to score

Open one article. For each statement, mark 1 if it is true and 0 if it is not. Add the points at the end. Do not average across your archive. This tool works best when one real article is open in front of you.

01 Reader fit
  1. The article still answers a question our audience asks. 0 / 1
  2. The title names the reader's problem clearly. 0 / 1
  3. The first 100 words give a direct answer. 0 / 1
02 Usefulness
  1. The article includes a concrete example, checklist, table, or next step. 0 / 1
  2. The advice is current enough to use this month. 0 / 1
  3. The article removes confusion instead of adding more theory. 0 / 1
03 Visibility
  1. The article links to newer related pages. 0 / 1
  2. At least one useful existing page links back to this article. 0 / 1
  3. The article has a clear reason to be shared or reused again. 0 / 1
04 Maintenance
  1. Old screenshots, dates, tool mentions, and stale claims have been checked. 0 / 1
  2. The article does not overlap heavily with a stronger page. 0 / 1
  3. The next action at the end is still relevant. 0 / 1
Total score

Write your total here: ____ / 12

What the score means

0-4

Leave it alone or retire it

The article is not an obvious refresh candidate. If it no longer serves the audience, merge it, redirect it, or leave it out of the next refresh cycle.

5-7

Focused refresh

Fix the answer, add one example, repair links, and remove stale material. Do not rewrite from scratch yet.

8-10

Quick update

The article is mostly sound. Tighten the intro, update details, add missing links, and reshare once.

11-12

Reuse candidate

This article is strong enough to repurpose. Turn it into a checklist, newsletter, social post, or sales follow-up resource.

If the score points toward a focused refresh, use the article refresh workflow to fix the page without turning the update into a full rewrite. If the score is high, the next step may be repurposing the article into useful marketing assets.