Content pruning - does it make sense to remove content?

If you look after your websites, you surely know how important it is to publish quality content on them. Your main focus is on the implementation of content plan and future publications. However, do you sometimes look back at the content that has already been added to the site? Sometimes the reason for not ranking well in Google is precisely their poor quality. Although it may seem contradictory to what you have heard so far, ranking positions can improve, for example, after... removing content! Read on to find out more about content pruning.

What is content pruning?

Let's start with an analogy to help you better understand the essence of content pruning. Imagine that you have your own garden. When the longed-for spring comes, you start planting new flowers, vegetables and so on in it. However, you cannot say that your garden is well cared for until, and unless, you clean it up after the winter! It is therefore necessary to get rid of lingering rubbish, leaves, branches and to remove dried-out plants.

Just as important as spring garden maintenance is content pruning! This process involves removing or updating content on the pagewhich is characterised by:

• low quality

• little traffic

• lack of user interaction

Low-quality content prevents a website from gaining better positions in Google, and puts additional strain on it, so that it cannot perform optimally. This is why it is worth carrying out content pruning.

And what can content pruning be in practice?

• deletion of the entire blog post

• combining several similar entries into one, comprehensively answering readers' questions

• updating an article with outdated information or data 

How do you carry out content pruning on your website? Step-by-step instructions

You already know what content pruning is. Now it's time to learn step-by-step instructions on how to carry out such a process on your website.

Firstly, gather information

Analyse the content on the site in terms of, among other things, publication date, backlinks and average monthly traffic. To carry out this analysis, you can use Google Analytics or Senuto.

Once you have a good idea of the structure of the site and know what still provides value, look out for pages that are performing less well. Generally speaking, if a piece of content has not received any traffic/clicks in a year, it is suitable for pruning.

Secondly, establish what you can do

Now that you know which posts are problematic, it's time to make a decision.

You have two options:

• correct ineffective content

• remove them completely

You have to decide, whether old content is worth "cleaning up" and updating. Perhaps improving it requires too much work and it is better to create new content.

Be careful not to remove content that may be of value and make sure that, where possible, you redirect users to similar pages or present them with a customised and helpful 404 error page.

Thirdly, consider which activities are most important

If you have found a lot of content to be problematic during your content analysis of the site, it is worth creating a document to put your work in order. Prioritise content that clearly needs to be removed from the site. For actions that require more planning (e.g. combining several texts into one), postpone them until later. In such a document, also collect any comments about the content - why it should be changed, what data is outdated or irrelevant to visitors.

Fourth, watch the effects

Remember to act gradually and monitor the effects (e.g. by means of the aforementioned Google Analytics). Why not act hastily? Because in doing so you will not be able to assess whether the chosen strategy is effective. Updating an article, for example, will not always and immediately bring the benefits you might expect. Also, deleting a lot of content too quickly can be counterproductive and contribute to your site's search engine visibility.

Act gradually, monitor the effects and adjust the strategy based on these.

Content pruning and SEO

You already know what content pruning is and how to start your adventure into nurturing an online garden. Now it's time to find out why it's even worth it!

Provide a better experience for site visitors

User experience is the entirety of the experience a user has when visiting a website. Taking care of UXAmong other things, you want visitors to be able to find content that is tailored to their expectations and needs as quickly as possible. Although content pruning will make you have fewer posts, it will be content that you are happy to share. In turn, it will be easier for visitors to find exactly what they are looking for.

It should of course be recalled that user experience/usability is a ranking factor since the introduction of RankBrain in 2015.

Optimum use of the crawl budget

By performing content pruning, you make it easier for Google's robots to index your site. The search engine can index more content, at the same time each indexing will be more meaningful. At this point, remember the concept of a crawl budget, i.e. a site indexing budget. One of the things that goes into increasing the number of pages Google can index on your site is the elimination of low-quality subpages and duplicate content.

Additional ballast on a website in the form of low-quality content drags it down and prevents it from gaining high positions in the SERPs.

With content pruning, you can keep up to date with changes in the search engine algorithm

Copied content or that unnaturally 'stuffed' with keywords that used to work and that you may have used may go unnoticed to you. However, they will not be ignored by Google and can harm your site's visibility. Content pruning allows you to identify the type of content that does not comply with Google's guidelines and algorithms. This allows you to adjust or remove it to improve the overall quality and authority of the site.

More is not always better

The way Google works is still largely a mystery. One thing you can be sure of - the search engine is increasingly focused on the accuracy, relevance and quality of results, as well as the timeliness of information. Carry out a content pruning and get rid of the unnecessary weight that is holding your sites back!