Thread by @darth_na

1/🧵
🚨!!! Do NOT just delete content for SEO !!!🚨

Doing this wrong can harm your (clients) sites!

You should only do this after a proper content performance audit.

And, unlike Brian, I’ll actually explain WHY this can help/harm your rankings!

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#SEO #Backlinko

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How does it help?

Site Quality.
Google uses more than just "page-level" metrics

Link value flow.
Removing pages may mean fewer internal links, thus more PageRank flowing through links.

Improved crawling.
Not wasting crawls on garbage.

But there are RISKS!

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How can that be harmful?

There’s lots of damage you may do - here’s 5 risks.

Inbound links.
You might remove pages that have Inbound links, which give you ranking value.
If the page is deleted, you lose those link values!

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Internal links.
Your pages should interlink. They not only permit value to flow, but provide Relevance via Link Text.
Removing pages may alter (potentially harming) Topicality and PageRank of other pages!

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Non-SE Traffic.
Not all traffic is from Search Engines (or shouldn’t be!).
Some of your pages should receive inter-site and direct traffic (such as from Twitter or Bookmarks).
Deleting these is not going to please some users!

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Seasonal/Trending shifts.
Sometimes, a page’s SE traffic may be low/non-existent due to the time of year etc.
At certain points, it may increase (massively).
Do Not just go by “recent” SE Traffic data, else you may cut a seasonal bloomer.

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Conversion path.
Conversion can be a gradual process - with users visiting many pages (info, trust etc.).
Some of these pages aren’t seen in the same session - spread over several, across different devices and/or accounts.

Removing these pages may harm conversions!

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Okay doomsayer, if you’re so clever…
… how do we get the benefits, without the negatives?

* By doing a (proper!) Content Audit!
* By choosing the right Action (deletion is just one option)

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Content Auditing:
You need to look at metrics/KPIs that aren’t just SE based.
You want things like;
* Ranking position (by term, per page)
* Traffic (by source)
* Conversion Value (by source)
* If contributes to Conversions (by conversion page/by source)

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Content Auditing (cont.(1)):
* Interaction level (time on page, scroll depth etc.)
* Engagements (comments, social shares etc.)
* Inbound Links (quality/type/traffic/conversions)
* If it links to important/ranking pages
* Quality/User value of the content

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Content Auditing (cont.(2)):
* Purpose of page
* Similarity of page (topic/intent/functionality)

And you want to check all of those over a duration (at least 13 months, ideally 25+)

Look at your content from a Business perspective, not an SEO only one!

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Once you’ve got Audit, you can start to make proper, informed (lower risk) decisions.

You can decide on 1 of 4 actions (5 actually):
* Leave
* Revise
* Merge
* Remove (+1)

The right choice can help you improve your SEO,
and avoid hurting the site/business!

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Actions:

Leave.
If the page performs well across the board -
leave it alone!

Revise.
If the page fluctuates in the SERPs and/or has low SE value,
but has strong performance in other areas -
consider improving it .

Make a copy/backup first!

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Actions (cont.(1)):

Merge.
If you have 2+ pages that serve the same purpose, target the same/similar term(s), overlap in topic etc. -
consolidate via 301 Redirect (or canonicalisation) (and update links/sitemap etc.).

Make a backup/extract comments etc. first!

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Actions (cont.(2)):

Remove.
If the page sucks, provides no value or serves no purpose -
Then it’s a candidate for Deletion.
If the page has low/no SE value, but has some value to Users, NoIndex it (the 5th option!)

Preferably, unpublish or make a backup!

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Do the Audit, choose the right Action,
you may not only get the 3 initial benefits:
* Improved site quality
* More internal link value
* Crawl performance

You may also get
* Consolidated ranking values
* Better content
* Unharmed/Improved value/topicality flow

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Then monitor!

Watch GSC, see if SE things improve.
Watch your analytics, check conversion rate/value.

Make sure nothing is wrong.

Because you didn’t delete, (or backed stuff up), you can reverse it if needed!

Note:
Quality may take 6+ months to see G respond!!!

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I know, it sounds like a lot of work.
It can be (esp. on Huge sites!)

But it is far better to sweat a bit and do it right,
than tank a site due to broad, uninformative advice and poor decisions!

Else you may find the site ends up like this...