Do you want to rank higher on Google for any given keyword topic? Most of us do! The question is how do we gain traction over the other websites we compete against to improve our rankings? Frankly, there are many ways and methods to help, but one less known or discussed is content pruning. Content pruning is a recommended practice for SEO. Google emphasizes high-quality, relevant content for ranking websites on SERPs, now more than ever thanks to all the extra content being generated by AI for websites. Content pruning helps you achieve that by:
Removing low-performing content: Thin content, outdated information, and duplicate content can all hurt your SEO. Pruning gets rid of these and strengthens your overall content quality.
Improving crawl budget: Search engines have a limited budget for crawling each website. By pruning unnecessary content, you ensure they spend more time on valuable pages.
Consolidating content: You can combine similar, underperforming pages into a more comprehensive and informative piece. This improves user experience and potentially boosts rankings.
Here are some signs you might need content pruning:
- Flatlining or declining organic traffic
- Outdated or incorrect information on your site
- Low engagement metrics on content (low social shares, high bounce rates)
Overall, content pruning is a strategic SEO technique that can improve your website’s ranking and user experience. When combined with other SEO methods, your SERP (Search Engine Result Page) can increase quickly.
What Exactly is Content Pruning for SEO?
Content pruning refers to the process of identifying and removing low-quality or underperforming content from a website. It’s essentially like weeding a garden for your website, except instead of unwanted plants, you’re getting rid of content that’s bringing your site down.
There are several reasons why you might prune content:
Low traffic or engagement: If a page isn’t attracting visitors or they’re leaving quickly (high bounce rate), it might be time to cut it.
Outdated information: Search engines and users prefer fresh, accurate content. Outdated info can hurt your SEO.
Duplicate content: Having the same content on multiple pages confuses search engines and hurts rankings. Pruning helps remove duplicates.
By pruning content, you can:
Improve SEO: Google rewards high-quality content. Pruning gets rid of the bad stuff, making your good content shine.
Enhance user experience: Visitors appreciate a website with clear, relevant information. Pruning removes confusion and frustration.
Free up crawl budget: Search engines have limited resources for crawling websites. Pruning reduces unnecessary pages, letting them focus on important ones.
Content pruning isn’t always about deleting content. Sometimes you can:
Merge similar pages: Combine pages with overlapping content into a single, stronger resource.
Redirect pages: If a page has valuable backlinks but isn’t relevant anymore, redirect it to a more appropriate page.
Update content: Breathe new life into outdated content by revising and refreshing it with new information.
Common Questions Around Content Pruning
- How to identify content for pruning on my website?
Look for low-traffic pages, high bounce rates, low conversion rates, and duplicate content (create super pages instead, called pillar content). You can use free tools or paid tools to assist with this data analysis.
- What are the best practices for content pruning for SEO?
Focus on metrics as your guide, instead of just deleting old content make sure to merge it on pages you are keeping where relevant, and consider in advance what pages will be pruned to help with future content creation strategies
- Should I delete or update low-performing content?
Here’s a good general guideline to follow
- Delete: Content with almost no traffic, engagement, and SEO value.
- Update: Content with some traffic, but has outdated information that can be updated.
- Redirect: Content with backlinks or social shares but not relevant to your current website focus.
- How to redirect a pruned page to another relevant page?
There are plugins that can help you with this, however, a server redirect is what I recommend in most cases. If this is not clear, you should likely have your webmaster do it for you. If you don’t have a webmaster, then you might consider hiring us at Bowman Digital Media to help as we offer affordable website maintenance packages.
- How often should I prune content on my website?
Here is a general guideline to follow:
- Large websites (over 1,000 pages): For bigger websites with a lot of content, it’s recommended to assess content for pruning every 3 months.
- Medium websites (500-1,000 pages): Aim for content audits and potential pruning sessions every 6 months.
- Small websites (under 500 pages): You can get away with pruning content twice a year.
- Does content pruning hurt website traffic?
Content pruning can potentially hurt website traffic in the short term, but it’s usually done to improve traffic and SEO in the long run. Content pruning is about improving the overall quality of your website. By removing low-quality content, you make space for better, more informative content that’s more likely to attract and retain visitors. This can lead to increased website traffic and engagement over time.
- What if we don’t prune content, does it hurt?
Yes, neglecting content pruning on your website can hurt it in several ways over time. Search engines prioritize high-quality, relevant content. If your website isn’t actively pruned and kept fresh, it can be difficult to improve your ranking for relevant keywords. Your SEO efforts might stagnate or even decline.
- Do we still need a robot.txt file if we’re pruning old content?
No, you don’t necessarily need a robots.txt file specifically for pruning old content on your website, or at least you don’t need to add the pruned content to your robots.txt file. The robot.txt file is a way to communicate to the search engine crawlers what information is no longer relevant, but if you remove the page entirely, there’s no need for the robot.txt file.
Content Pruning and Overall SEO Importance
Content pruning is not the most important of the SEO strategies to implement however it falls somewhere in the medium importance range. It’s not the sole driver of traffic, but it helps ensure your website prioritizes high-quality content that search engines and users value. By removing low-quality content, you:
- Improve crawl budget: Search engines can focus on indexing your valuable content.
- Enhance user experience: Visitors find relevant information more easily.
- Potentially improve rankings: Search engines might favor websites with a higher content quality ratio.
If you need help with your SEO strategy, don’t be afraid to reach out to Ira Bowman of Bowman Digital Media for a free consultation. We offer affordable monthly plans that help with a variety of SEO strategies to improve your overall SERP rankings, drive new website visitor traffic and ultimately help increase your sales funnel with people who are actively searching for the things your website discusses.
Overall:
Content pruning is a strategic SEO technique that complements other high-importance methods like content creation and technical SEO. By focusing on high-quality content and user experience, you can create a website that attracts organic traffic and ranks well in SERPs.