Content Pruning - Did you use it - any results?

[Mercenaru]

I have a very old website with hundreds of articles, but most of them (around 90% actually) - are promotion blog posts, for the websites I promoted 10-12 years ago.. so practically 0 relevance for 2022. (and of course 0 traffic... only impressions but average positions of 40-80).

Just 15-20 articles of evergreen content.

So did you tried pruning your content? Any results?

I fear that pruning content in my case could do things even worse, by removing 90% of all the content...

any opinions?

Thx!

[universal4]

Change the links to go somewhere else.

Sure the link might point to Casino X that is closed but the visit link itself could go Casino Z.

You can also add a statement that you no longer recommend Casino X because they closed, are no longer trusted, or that they are just not good for players on days that end in a y. But instead of going to Casino X they should go to Casino Z with a link. This is usually more effective if you also link to a review of Casino Z.

Rick
Universal4

[chaumi]

I've never done it, but plan to when time allows (sadly, that might be never), and I've heard it can have mixed results. Sometimes good, Sometimes nothing. But never heard of a negative outcome.

My guess is the way it was working (in the past) was:

1. it had a positive impact on crawl budget.
2. it reduced the potential for keyword cannibalization between some pages.
3. there is potential that eliminating 'pointless' pages could positively impact the flow of any link juice around the site.
4. it might increase the topical relevance of the remaining pages, and hence the topical authority of the site in general
5. it's possible that some pruned pages had technical errors or limitations, so removing them benefits the whole remaining


But, although the Helpful Content Update has done nothing that's obviously visible (so far) one of its points was around this very subject, suggesting that 'unhelpful' content should be eliminated.

Now, what 'unhelpful' really means is fairly obvious in many cases. But could it imply that pages that get no visitors are 'unhelpful'. Debatable, and undoubtedly that's true in some cases, but not others.

So, for all those reasons and the fact that the HCU could yet happen (although purely from that aspect, you'd be better off waiting for evidence), you can really only work on this from a 'your site' perspective. There are so many variables involved between sites that trying to second guess what will happen based on others' experiences is nigh impossible.

So......(and obviously without seeing the site it's hard to tell if any of this will be relevant, or it's a clear case of 'none of the 90%' has any value)

Impressions I'd say is a good sign. Might not really mean a lot, but still positive. It means those pages are indexed, at least. Which implies that G hasn't (yet) looked at them, thought 'this is total garbage', and binned them.

Steps...

Make a list of the URLs
Check if any have external backlinks (obviously you're looking for at least one real link, anything that's garbage doesn't count...although whether a link is 'garbage' is sometimes not easy to quantify)
Any that have external links, you put in the save file.
Now, internal links. You want to be sure there are no internal links going from the pages you're checking to other 'evergreen' pages, where there is potential those internal links might be helping those other pages. Tough call on this because you won't be sure of any value, but you should consider it.
During the checking process, note any pages that could be improved and end up being valuable. Either by keeping the original target or rewriting/improving what's there and changing its focus to a new topic
Swipe any content on pages you don't think could do anything with (and that you think could be valuable another time), and save it somewhere.

Now, you probably need a spreadsheet plan...

And the only real way to work it is URL by URL.

Keepers/improvers
Keepers to 301 to a different existing or newly created page
Definite bin

Probably it'll be easier to work on those you intend to prune completely first. If you're confident they really are worthless, you can probably just delete them safely. Depending on the number, maybe a few hours.

The rest you have to go by your plan, because almost certainly some of those you intend to 301 will be 301ing to other pages in the 'improve/enhance' list or to other existing valuable pages where you're going to be moving/assimilating content.

The likely sensible approach will be to work on those with external links first. But you may have highlighted some pages where you think they might have the best chance of seeing a positive movement with enhanced content.

Remember to incorporate internal links as you go. This will partially offset if you're losing any in the whole process and has its own value anyway.

*******
Some of this may be a little disjointed. Not easy to write up (for me, anyway). But hopefully, the overall concept shines through
No question it would all take time, which is where having the plan laid out partly comes in. Aside from giving clarity, and direction, and helping you map out the best structure, it'll help you focus on what's most important and what can be pushed back till time allows.


And if that bit of the HCU ever does bite and become relevant, you'll at least be a partial way into the game.

[xecutable]

I've done it before when I had to move from one particular niche to another, even though similar and all under the gambling umbrella, different type of stuff. Removed around 2400 pages that had been expired.

Did not see any positive results in terms of Google, rankings and all that, but positive in the sense that now the site had a clear new direction, and a specific topic, rather than be all over the place.

Whether you want to remove something you've written over the years, is up to you. I don't get attached to things, so for me was an easy choice, as it didn't serve my purpose anymore.

My take on this is do not be entirely a Google servant and do things the way you see them.

[Mercenaru]

Now, internal links. You want to be sure there are no internal links going from the pages you're checking to other 'evergreen' pages, where there is potential those internal links might be helping those other pages. Tough call on this because you won't be sure of any value, but you should consider it.

Indeed this is a very good insight... I missed that!

Regarding:

I've never done it, but plan to when time allows (sadly, that might be never)

why is that? aff business is not the main job?

[Mercenaru]

Change the links to go somewhere else.

Sure the link might point to Casino X that is closed but the visit link itself could go Casino Z.

You can also add a statement that you no longer recommend Casino X because they closed, are no longer trusted, or that they are just not good for players on days that end in a y. But instead of going to Casino X they should go to Casino Z with a link. This is usually more effective if you also link to a review of Casino Z.

Rick
Universal4

In the Casino LPs is the way to go. but the main problem are the articles with 0 value

[Mercenaru]

I've done it before when I had to move from one particular niche to another, even though similar and all under the gambling umbrella, different type of stuff.

What you said here has a lot of value for me, because I am practically in the same spot. I have an old Poker Website which I want to resurrect (80% content is poker , 20% casino).

Now the same website I would like to resurrect it: 80% Casino, 20% Poker. So... indeed at least to change the idea of the website in a new direction.

Thanks!

[chaumi]

why is that? aff business is not the main job?

Thanks for asking.

I juggle many things! And my own site is lowest on the list, unfortunately.

Re that site. I would say I'm in a similar position, though not exactly the same.

I have a list in my head and spreadsheets of 100s if not 1000s of topics/subjects to write up. Not enough hours in a lifetime, let alone a day, week, month, year. The way I see it, there is little real point in publishing anything nowadays that is not the highest quality you can possibly get it, and then 50% more. Indeed, that's been the case for some time (unless you are one of the chosen, we all know who they are. right! At least, for now!).

Many already published, indexed, and aged pages need improvement (not necessarily hard pruning, because they all stand on their own as valid subjects that form part of a topical plan)...and there is little doubt that improvement would elevate rankings (of the pages and the site overall) but going back and improving will take time and effort away from other responsibilities, and also prevent anything new being introduced.

It's just not feasible (on any suitable scale).

It's all a balance of time, effort, and what you believe is most important.

Really I should go hard, prune the weak pages, save what's on them for when there is time, and gradually reintroduce/rebuild. The problem for me in that approach might well be internal links, alongside whatever part they (the links and the pages) are playing in the overall structure (which is why I mentioned it Again, a balance, but a tough call in some instances and often hard to be sure unless there is some concrete evidence.

[Mercenaru]

Thanks for asking.

I juggle many things! And my own site is lowest on the list, unfortunately.

Re that site. I would say I'm in a similar position, though not exactly the same.

I have a list in my head and spreadsheets of 100s if not 1000s of topics/subjects to write up. Not enough hours in a lifetime, let alone a day, week, month, year. The way I see it, there is little real point in publishing anything nowadays that is not the highest quality you can possibly get it, and then 50% more. Indeed, that's been the case for some time (unless you are one of the chosen, we all know who they are. right! At least, for now!).

I feel you... same situation here...

But...a little different.. I juggle with Youtube ( Channel), I juggle with another mainstream website, I juggle with websites / other in the online adult world, and most unfortunately I juggle with my main job... but the last... is the reason of why I want to re-open after 9 years my Gambling site... because I am getting too old to be sticked with a main job... so that's why I want to re-enter in the gambling world again...

Of course... who is involved in many things in the end, the quality fades... But I hope for the best like a young man with high hopes..

@Chaumi for you, also the main job is your highest time consumer?

[chaumi]

Mercenaru, from what you said there we could be nearly twins


"But I hope for the best like a young man with high hopes.. "

Great words. If my interpretation of the sentiment behind them is accurate. Chin up, move forward, fight for it.


******

I will answer your question on a pm as soon as I get some other stuff out the way. I don't think anyone will want to read it here.

[Mercenaru]

I will answer your question on a pm as soon as I get some other stuff out the way. I don't think anyone will want to read it here.

sure!

[baldidiot]

Did not see any positive results in terms of Google, rankings and all that, but positive in the sense that now the site had a clear new direction, and a specific topic, rather than be all over the place.

Out of curiosity did you happen to look at your crawl rates before / after the prune? Or notice any difference in the refresh or discover rate?

[xecutable]

Out of curiosity did you happen to look at your crawl rates before / after the prune? Or notice any difference in the refresh or discover rate?

Yeah I did, they went up by a lot, but also has to do with the daily postings. There was a visible spike however in the discover section it was around 4% and slowly climbed up to 20% and went back to average 17-18%.

In terms of flat numbers, of course the pages crawled went down but once that initial drop appeared, it consistently started discovering and refreshing everything else and everything new on daily bases. Before that it was every week or 10 days. Again could be because I started posting daily which probably affected the crawl rate as well.

[6takarakuji]

What I would do is to look at your competitors and do a site:domain.com in Google to see how many pages they've got indexed. Then you try to reach the same amount of pages as them (while keeping your old pages). Once you reach the same amount, then you can start removing some of these old content pages that don't provide any value to your site.

But one big ranking factor these days is authority, and part of authority is having enough pages on your site, and covering all the relevant topics and sub topics in your niche.

[baldidiot]

Yeah that's what I found as well, stripping out redundant content helped with the crawl rate of the remaining content which in turn let to faster discovery rates.

[Randy Ray]

Any time that I've pruned content, I've been really pleased with the results.