Have you ever noticed how some of your older blog posts, articles, or web pages just don’t seem to get the love they used to? That’s what we call content decay. This is quite a normal occurrence in which previously popular content is not as engaging anymore and, therefore, is demoted by Google. But do not fret—Google has some brilliant cheats that target this, and let us discuss these with you in detail.
Google Search Relations team members John Mueller and Lizzi Sassman have recently discussed ‘content decay‘ in the most recent episode of the Search Off The Record podcast.
What is Content Decay?
First, let’s define what we mean when we say content decay. You need to realize that your content is somewhat like bread – it’s good when it is fresh. Eventually, it becomes rather dull and less attractive. The same applies to the content you present to your audience online.
As new information that better suits the clients appears, the older one can be concealed and deemed irrelevant. In the contemporary world, especially the digital world, it is only a matter of time before what is considered popular and on-trend changes accordingly.
This is a problem that all sites encounter over time, and Google has provided some prominent tactics in addition to removing old pages. Eliminating such content is often essential; however, Google advises on an intentional and format-specific method for managing degenerative content.
Bullzeye Media Marketing lists a few reason of Content Decay:
Outdated Information: They demystify articles and make your content less critical.
Increased Competition: Competent content, which is updated and far more engaging than yours, ranks higher.
Changes in Search Intent: When it comes to using the Web, people have different search habits and preferences at different times.
Technical Issues: Malfunctioning links, longer loading time, or usability on the mobile device.
Archiving vs. Transitional Guides
Google discourages the mass deletion of information that could be helpful in the future, such as documents containing information on a product recalled from the market. This method can erase content, inconveniencing readers and resulting in a poor user experience. Sassman explains:
“So, if I’m trying to find out like what happened, I almost need that first thing to know. Like, “What happened to you?” And, otherwise, it feels almost like an error. Like, “Did I click a wrong link or they redirect to the wrong thing?””
According to Sassman, to avert confusion, transitional “explainer” pages should be produced during the depreciation periods. A transition guide warns readers that some of the website’s content needs to be updated and provides directions to current materials.
Understanding the Distinction
Knowing when to Update Content and When to Write New Content
For reference guides and content that offers general information and can be considered up-to-date, Google advises updating data to stem from a specific period. However, concerning the archival procedure, making major revisions may require creating a new piece while the old piece is archived.
Internal Auditing Processes
Google has recommended that you establish a means of reviewing older web pages and flagging them for updates to ensure that you are always posting fresh content.
Context Is Key
Google’s recommended strategies for dealing with content decay mainly involve appreciating the environment in which these fading contents exist. Ideally, you do not wish your visitors to accidentally land on an outdated page without any idea.
Additional Google-Recommended Tactics
Prominent banners or notices: Stating why a page is outdated is also another way of enhancing the quality of a rewriting task.
Listing original publish dates: Remind the readers of the general time the information was produced.
Providing inline annotations: Describe how it may be outdated to reference an older version of the software or program, and screenshots may be of a previous version.
Following Google’s recommendations for tackling content decay can benefit you in several ways:
Improved user experience: The page’s elements include clear explanations, transitioning guides, and redirects that ensure visitors do not encounter confusing and broken links.
Maintained trust and credibility: Deleting doubtful material and updating your data serve to stress that the provided materials are accurate and safe.
Better SEO: It is like a doctor’s visit; the more you bring your website in for a checkup, the better for its health and rankings.
Archival purposes: This method also avoids rewriting old materials and preserves the history of your site’s development.
Streamlined content management: The internal audit allows one to control the web pages so that it is easy to recognize the pages that have not been updated or contain some issues.
If handled on time, content decay makes your website useful, enhances search engine ranking, and keeps your content well-arranged. This study focused on content decay, which may be defined as the rate at which content loses its initial relevance when it is published on the Internet.
Here are some of Google strategies:
1. Regularly Updating Content
Google loves fresh content. It ensures that fresh content appears on the blog, in the articles, and on the pages, making them relevant. Fresh content does not refer to rewriting a few words; it refers to making new contributions, extra information, and approaches suitable for the targeted audience.
How You Can Do It:
- As for the marketing, determine the frequency of reviewing and updating the best materials.
- Create new topics according to the changes that have taken place in the matters or subjects in discussion.
- Adjust pictures, graphic images, and videos to maintain the excitement.
2. Pruning Old Content
Sometimes, less is more. Yes, eradicating outdated web pages and content that do not yield a high click-through or conversion rate positively impacts the quality of your site. The reason for applying such an approach is to remove duplicate, irrelevant, and low-quality content from the indexing process.
How You Can Do It:
- You want to conduct a content audit to stay on top of the content underperformance issue.
- Determine the action to take regarding these articles, update, merge, or delete them.
- Most importantly, for the deleted pages it is better to use 301 redirects in order to save some SEO features.
3. Using Structured Data
If structured data is included, Google will better understand your content. This is because additional schema markup is beneficial when it helps improve your content’s position in the search results, sometimes getting it to the rich snippets level, which entices more clicks.
How You Can Do It:
- Some possible schema markup uses include association with content correlated to actual articles or frequently asked questions.
- Tools like Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper should be used.
- Always perform error scanning in Google Search Console.
4. Increase page loading speeds and improve mobile optimization
Google rewards websites whose pages are accessible to load and whose sites are friendly to mobile devices. Overcoming these areas can help your content avoid the effects of a low-quality experience.
How You Can Do It:
- Some tools you can use to check and rectify the speed problems include Google PageSpeed Insights.
- Ensure your website is optimized for different devices and is equally functional on a PC, laptop, smartphone, or tablet.
- Reduce the size of images and utilize the browser’s caching mechanism.
5. Engaging with User Intent
Analyzing one that used to take days is much improved as Google better comprehends users’ intent. If the content’s type is in line with what viewers/users are seeking, its relevance can be maintained.
How You Can Do It:
- It needs to be seen what kind of inquiries research keywords can address and how the identified keywords indicate the user’s intent (informational, navigational, or transactional).
- Ensure your content is helpful for the user and contains as much information as the user might look for.
- Please don’t underestimate the power of analytics. Make changes based on the traffic and its interactions with the content.
Ask out of the Box: FAQs
Explicitly defining the term content decay is relatively hard since diverging views may be found in the literature, but in general, it means that some content online may become out of relevance for various reasons, such as changes in the industry, changes in user preferences, or simply over time. This puts off website visitors and search engines, which means that for SEO specialists, such content needs to be upgraded or reused.
Actually, old content does not have to be deleted. Archival data can help to understand the current state of affairs and demonstrate the process of forming a brand/industry. Therefore, it is imperative to evaluate each piece of content before actually deleting, modifying, or retaining any such content.
Include the publish date or any note updates.Dropping the references that are no longer relevant, add comments to explanations. Link other URLs to the current to ensure that users find up-to-date information.
These strategies enable users to consider the relativity of a specific page and search for the appropriate information.
Wrapping Up: Conclusion
It might be seen as a challenge to manage content decay, though it cannot be said that it is an unimportant process for the site’s well-being. This ensures that the content is always fresh, and a guideline on how to keep the content real is as follows: update your content frequently, remove the old content, use structured data, and ensure the content is faster and aligned to the user’s intent.
Being a premier “Company Offering” Bullzeye Media Marketing services, we are all about keeping you on top.
Need help and struggling with your content plan? Contact us, and let us help keep your content glowing! Until next time, keep on painting the picture!
