Spring Cleaning Your Website

Last week, Nebraska, where The EO Report is headquartered, had some spring-like temperatures that had us jumping into spring cleaning mode. Admittedly, it was a little premature given the next day brought six inches of snow.

But that temporary sunshine did get us thinking about one spring cleaning area communicators often neglect until it becomes unwieldy and feels impossible to catch up with.

Your website.

We get it. Logging into the backend isn’t always fun. Some content management systems seem determined to make simple updates feel ridiculously hard. Some require a vendor’s help to make updates. And when your to-do list is already long, website housekeeping tends to slide to the bottom, letting those digital cobwebs build.

But here’s the reality: your website works harder than any other channel you own. It’s open 24/7. You control the message. It’s often the first stop for media, policymakers, funders, and potential partners. It’s your organization’s central information hub for the world. It has to be up to date, always.

So in the spirit of spring cleaning, here’s a short checklist you can tackle in the cracks of your day. The beauty of these tasks? They’re incremental. Spend 15–30 minutes a day and you’ll make meaningful progress without blocking off an entire afternoon.

1. Review Your Navigation

Start with your main and sub-navigation menus.

Are there links to events long past? Campaigns that have ended? Pages that no longer reflect your priorities? If it’s outdated or redundant, remove it. Clean navigation makes your site easier to use and leads your audience to what you most want them to know.

2. Audit Your Employee Directory

If you have a staff page, walk through it carefully. Are titles current? Is contact information accurate? Are former employees still listed? (Yikes on that last one.)

An outdated directory creates confusion and can become a reputational risk. If people can’t get ahold of your teammates because information is incorrect, that’s a problem. An even bigger risk is a former employee who can still credibly pose as though they still work at your organization. This is a critical update that makes an immediate difference.

3. Start a Running Website List

Maybe this isn’t the week you can overhaul everything. That’s fine. Instead, start a running list of pages that need updates, pages that need to be creative, and pages that should be archived or removed.

Once you can see the landscape, you can prioritize and make a plan.

4. Hunt Down Broken Links and Images

Broken links are frustrating for users and harmful to SEO. Missing images make your site look neglected.

Use free tools like Google Search Console to identify issues, or simply click through your top pages and test links manually. Fixing this issue will improve both user experience and search performance.

5. Update Your Social Media Icons

Have you added or dropped a social channel since your last website update? Make sure your website reflects that.

And yes, it’s time to retire the Twitter bird and update it to the X icon if that platform is still relevant to your organization. (We know, we were wondering if it would stick, too. It has.)

6. Review Data and Statistics

Statistics have expiration dates.

If your site includes data points from five years ago, verify they’re still accurate. If you don’t have updated numbers, consider whether they should be removed. Outdated statistics can signal that your organization doesn’t update the website, or worse, that it doesn’t follow up on measurement.

7. Review the News and Blog Content

If you have a news release section or a blog make sure the content is continually updated. You have more leeway on the news release section, a good rule of thumb is quarterly action. If not, should you have it?

Same for a blog. How often are putting up content? If it isn’t at least once a month, should you have a blog? Maybe it was just a good idea you don’t have bandwidth to support?

8. Start Adding Alt Text

If you’re not consistently adding alt text to images, now’s the time to start.

Alt text improves accessibility for users with screen readers and can also support your SEO performance. You don’t have to fix everything at once. Add one or two descriptions each day. Again, incremental progress counts.

The challenge (and fun) of managing a website is that the work is never truly done. There are always opportunities to optimize, clarify, and improve.

This isn’t a comprehensive list (we didn’t even get into analytics), but it’s a practical starting point. A little intentional maintenance now prevents a major overhaul later.

And though it may still be February, it’s never too early to start a little spring cleaning.