Knowledge base audit checklist: 25 checks, in order

A 25-point knowledge base audit checklist: links, freshness, duplicates, translations, screenshots, AI readiness and ownership. Download it as CSV.

Updated 19 September 2026

A knowledge base audit is a pass over every article that checks links, freshness, duplicates, translations, screenshots, AI readiness and ownership. The 25 checks below are in the order that finds the most customer-visible problems first, with where to look in Freshdesk for each one.

How to run a knowledge base audit in an afternoon

You don't need to read every article in one sitting. Work from the problems customers hit first (dead links, wrong prices) towards the ones only your team notices (owners, cadence). For a help center of a few hundred articles, one person can do a first pass in an afternoon by time-boxing each group.

01
Export the article list
In Freshdesk, export the knowledge base list (titles, folders, modified dates) to a spreadsheet, or use the knowledge base export tool to get the content too.
02
Sort by views, then by age
Start with the 20 most viewed articles and the 20 oldest. They carry most of the risk.
03
Work through the groups in order
Links first, ownership last. Tick each check below as you go; the list remembers your ticks in this browser.
04
Log each problem once
One row per article and problem, with who fixes it and by when. Fix during the audit only if it takes under two minutes.
05
Set the next review date
Put the next audit in the calendar before you close the sheet. An audit without a next date becomes a one-off.

The checklist

Tick checks off as you go. "Free audit" means TidyKB's free audit covers it from your public pages; "Private scan" needs a read-only API key; "Planned" is on the roadmap and not built yet. We'd rather under-promise here.

0 of 25 checks done

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Freshness

06Articles not updated in 12+ months have been reviewed and either confirmed or fixed.
Where: Knowledge base list view, sorted by modified date.
Private scan
07No article mentions last year’s prices, dates or “new in 20XX” as if current.
Where: Portal search for each past year.
Free audit
08Old product, plan and feature names are gone from titles, bodies and SEO fields.
Where: Portal search for each old name; SEO fields are only visible in the editor.
Private scan
09Drafts older than 30 days are published or deleted.
Where: Knowledge base list view, filtered to drafts.
Private scan
10No empty folders or categories are visible on the portal.
Where: Knowledge base tree in the agent portal.
Private scan

Duplicates

11No two articles have near-identical titles (“Reset password” / “Resetting your password”).
Where: Portal search for the key phrase of each popular article.
Free audit
12No two articles give different answers to the same question.
Where: Read the search results for your top 20 questions side by side.
Planned
13After merging duplicates, links to the removed article point to the kept one.
Where: Search the source of other articles for the removed article’s URL.
Private scan

Translations

14Every published article exists in every language you support, or has a deliberate reason not to.
Where: Language switcher on each article; multilingual KB is a Pro/Enterprise feature.
Free audit
15Translations are not older than their primary article.
Where: Compare modified dates per language; the “outdated” flag is set by hand.
Private scan
16Product names and key terms are translated the same way everywhere (or kept in English on purpose).
Where: A glossary document, if one exists. No native glossary.
Planned
17Translated articles have their own translated titles and SEO descriptions.
Where: Article editor, per language, SEO section.
Private scan

Screenshots

18Screenshots show the current UI (menus, labels, colours).
Where: Open each article with screenshots next to the live product.
Planned
19Every image has alt text that says what it shows.
Where: Article source code: the alt attribute of each image.
Planned
20Steps are written out in text, not only shown in a screenshot.
Where: Read the article with images hidden.
No, by hand

AI readiness

21Each article answers one question, with one H1 and clear H2/H3 headings.
Where: Article editor. Freshdesk’s own guide for Freddy AI recommends this.
Planned
22Answers stand alone: no “see the screenshot above” or “as explained earlier”.
Where: Read the article as a single quoted paragraph would be read.
Planned
23Your top 20 customer questions each get a correct answer from the AI agent.
Where: Freddy AI Agent test/preview in the admin, if you use it.
No, by hand

Ownership

24Every category has a named owner who reviews it on a schedule.
Where: Not stored in Freshdesk; keep it in this sheet.
No, by hand
25There is a review date for the next audit, and someone gets a report of what changed.
Where: Not in Freshdesk. A calendar reminder or a weekly report.
Private scan

Ticks are saved in this browser only. “Free audit” = public pages, no signup. “Private scan” = needs a read-only API key. “Planned” = on the roadmap, not built yet.

Download the checklist

Use Download CSV above for Excel, Numbers or any spreadsheet. For Google Sheets, click Copy for Google Sheets, open a new sheet and paste into cell A1. Your ticks travel with the file in the "Done" column. There is no email gate.

How often to audit

Not every article needs the same cadence. A useful default:

Article type	Review	Why
Pricing, plans, billing	After every pricing change, and quarterly	Wrong prices cost money and trust
Setup and how-to for the core product	After every release that touches the UI	Steps and screenshots drift first
Troubleshooting	Every 6 months	Fixes get obsolete when bugs are fixed
Policies (refunds, security, data)	Yearly, or when the policy changes	Rarely changes, high stakes when it does
Translations	Whenever the primary article changes	Freshdesk marks them outdated only by hand

Links break between audits, so the link checks are worth running weekly rather than yearly. That is what the weekly knowledge base health report is for.

In TidyKB

Today, the free audit covers the public-page checks: broken links and images, articles not updated in 12 months (from the date the portal shows), old years, near-duplicate titles and missing translations. The private scan with a read-only API key adds links to deleted or draft articles, drafts, empty folders and outdated translations, and runs weekly. The checks marked "Planned" are not built yet.

Where Freshdesk helps, and where it doesn't

Freshdesk's knowledge base has article lists with modified dates, bulk actions for moving and publishing, and (on Pro and Enterprise) versions and multilingual articles. Its feature list has no link checker, no duplicate detection and no stale-article report, so most of this checklist is manual inside Freshdesk.

Checked 2026-09-19 · What's new with the Freshdesk knowledge base · Write Freddy AI-optimised knowledge content

Freshdesk and Freddy are trademarks of Freshworks Inc. TidyKB is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by any company named on this page.

FAQ

Questions, answered

How often should you audit a knowledge base?

A full audit once or twice a year, plus reviews triggered by change: pricing articles after every pricing change, how-to articles after UI releases, translations whenever the primary article changes. Link checks are worth running weekly.

Who should own knowledge base reviews?

One person owns the audit and the schedule, usually the support lead or knowledge manager. Each category gets a named owner who reviews its articles, because the people who know the product area spot outdated steps fastest.

What’s the difference between an audit and a review?

An audit is a pass over the whole knowledge base against a fixed checklist. A review is a check of one article or category, usually triggered by a change. Audits find what reviews missed.

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