For many, it may seem like a poor choice to go on deleting hundreds of pages on their business website.
But the truth is that getting rid of useless content on your website can actually be one of the best things you can do.
In order to ensure your site does well in SEO rankings and provides a seamless user experience – content pruning is what you need.
Definition of Content Pruning
The process of performing a content audit via removing, updating, bringing together with consolidation, and making low-quality pages on your site live again.
How a Content Audit is Done?
In order to run an audit of your site’s content, you need to map out each page. The pages are mapped out on the basis of subdomains, folders, or websites. Basically, your aim is to make a directory of every page. For any SEO specialist, doing content audits is like regular cleaning of a shop. By doing so, the specialist develops a sense of satisfaction, as there are multifaceted benefits of auditing webpage content.
Ideal Frequency of Content Audits
It essentially depends on the need. In case the website is large, then you may need to audit different sections each month. And if the website is small in size, then auditing the content on a three-month or bi-annual basis is the way to go.
However, before planning to remove your website’s content with Removify, it’s essential to consider the following SEO factors.
Do a Test First
Carry out testing to ascertain that the outdated content is no more useful. You can do this by analyzing things like the bounce rate, conversion rate, and the amount of time site visitors spend.
In case the content is playing a positive role in conversions to some extent, then you may not want to remove it outright.
Analyze Next
You need to assess the next content that you intentionally want to replace the outdated content with. An SEO expert will be able to see if the current content will be better after the changes.
In case you have been putting effort into keyword research to find competitive keywords and phrases. However, it’s equally essential to be prepared for a loss of visibility on the search engine for old keywords.
Check the Traffic
It’s very important that you analyze the amount of traffic generated by the pages you are intending to remove, update or change.
If the outdated content is still generating a good amount of traffic – and turning it into leads, then you may not want to remove it. However, you need to build context around the behavior of visitors when they visit specific content on your website.
Freshen Up
The outdated content which is relatively small in amount can be changed to freshen up any old information. That information can be in the form of updating old references and mentioning new resources.
Other types of effective updates may include making a reference to some relevant infographic. Another type of freshening up is to embed a video.
