Many times, website owners focus on new topics and strategies for better SEO when adding articles.
But did you know your existing pages matter, too?
“SEO Pruning” is a way to enhance your website’s SEO. If your current pages have outdated or low-quality info, they can hurt your site’s SEO and Google ranking.
Just like in life, sometimes things need a refresh. This is where content pruning comes in. In this blog, we’ll discuss SEO Pruning, its benefits, and how to do it.
Content Outline
What Is SEO Pruning?
SEO Pruning is a process of updating or removing content that is no longer important or relevant to your website’s SEO.
It’s like cleaning up your digital space.
For example, if you have an article from 2018 that’s not useful in 2024, you might decide to remove it. This process is also known as the “Content Pruning Process.”
So, what content should you consider removing?
Pages with irrelevant or outdated information, those that don’t get much traffic or engagement, and pages with duplicate content are good candidates for the pruning process. This helps keep your website up-to-date and in good shape for better performance.
What Is The Purpose Of The Content Pruning Process?
One important reason to do content pruning on your website is to tidy up stuff that could hurt how well your site shows up on Google.
It’s like cleaning up to keep your website’s ranking in good shape. On the flip side, SEO pruning is about getting rid of content that doesn’t get many visitors.
This allows for fresh and up-to-date content on your site, keeping your website clean and making space for new and relevant information.
How Often Should You Prune Your Content For SEO?
Regular SEO pruning is a good habit. It’s like cleaning your website’s garden each month. By regularly removing or updating content, you can monitor your site’s performance.
It’s a smart idea to make content pruning a routine while you’re already working on your website.
The cool part is that by doing this regularly, you won’t end up with a huge pile of content to clean up. Your website will only have the latest posts so that users won’t land on pages with old info.
This gives you time to think about other ways to make your website even better for search engines.
What Are The Benefits Of Pruning Your Content Regularly?
To Achieve A Better Overall Quality
Regular SEO pruning has a big advantage—it makes your website a better place for users. When you clean up your content regularly, users won’t come across old or irrelevant content on your site.
Also, think about how your writing style might have improved since you started your site. You wouldn’t want your visitors to see an old post with a not-so-great style.
That’s where content pruning comes in. It helps you keep your site looking polished and something you can be proud of.
To Provide An Improved User Experience
Another good reason to regularly clean up your content is to make the user experience better. As a website owner, your main goal is to give your audience the best experience by offering them up-to-date and easy-to-find information.
By eliminating pages that lack useful content, you can make your website more user-friendly.
You’re cleaning up your digital space to make sure visitors find the information they need without being overwhelmed.
[H3] To Hike Up Your Crawl Budget?
For your website to be seen and ranked well by Google and other search engines, their bots need to explore it. Importantly, content pruning plays a role in making this process smoother.
As mentioned before, having too many old or unnecessary posts and pages can lower your site’s visibility and ranking, affecting how well it shows up in search results.
The simple solution is to clean up your content through pruning regularly. This helps keep your site in good shape, making it more likely to be noticed and ranked higher in search engine results.
To Locate Outdated Content
A big advantage of regularly pruning your content is that it helps find outdated information on your site. As a website owner, you know how crucial it is to keep things current.
Over time, older posts can become less relevant, which we call “Content Decay.” Content pruning removes this outdated content, making sure users get the most accurate and up-to-date information when they visit your site.
It’s like cleaning out the old to make room for the new.
To Track Competing Content
Content pruning is like keeping your website organized and neat. If your website is big, you might end up with similar or duplicate content on different pages. This can confuse search engines and make it harder for your pages to show up in search results.
Content pruning helps find and fix these issues. It’s like cleaning up and organizing your website, making sure each page has its own unique and valuable information.
This way, your website stays in good shape, making it easier for people to find what they’re looking for.
What Is The SEO Pruning Process?
Step 01 – Gathering Data To Create An Overview
The first thing you need to do is collect information about all the stuff on your website.
This includes pictures, videos, and PDF files. Use tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics to gather data on how often people visit your pages, how valuable your pages are, how many people leave your site quickly, and the links both inside and outside your site.
Once you have all this information, you can create a big picture of your website’s content. It’s like getting a clear view of everything your website has so you can decide what to keep or change.
Step 02 – Auditing For Underperformed Pages
After you’ve looked at everything on your website, your next step is to find the pages that aren’t doing so well.
These could be pages with old or unnecessary information or pages that discuss the same topics using the same words.
When you’re checking for underperforming pages, you might also find ones that make your website get fewer visitors, lose its authority, and rank lower in search results. It’s like finding the weak spots so you can make your website stronger.
Step 03 – The Content Pruning Stage Begins!
Now, it’s time to decide what to do with the pages that aren’t performing well. You can do three things. First, you can improve them by improving the content.
Second, you can eliminate outdated content. Third, you can hide useless content so it doesn’t show up in search results.
Not every underperforming page needs to be removed. Some can be saved and improved. In those cases, you can work on them by fixing titles, meta descriptions, and headings, adding new sections, and getting rid of old parts.
If you have old posts or unnecessary information, you can remove them. But before you do, check if there’s anything important that should be saved or if you can merge it with another post.
If you remove a post, always make sure to redirect the URL to another page so users don’t end up on a page that doesn’t exist.
In some cases, you might want to hide a page from being found by search engines. This is useful when the content is not important for search engines but is still useful for your audience. So, you have different options for dealing with pages that need some attention.
My approach towards SEO Pruning
SEO pruning is a crucial aspect of maintaining and improving a website’s search engine results performance.
As an SEO expert, here’s how I approach SEO Pruning in my blogs:
Regular Audits:
I conduct regular audits of my website’s content. This involves analyzing data from tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics to understand how each page is performing.
Identifying Underperforming Pages:
I look for pages that are underperforming. This includes content that might be outdated, irrelevant, or not contributing positively to the overall SEO strategy. I pay attention to metrics like page views, bounce rate, and keyword rankings.
Decision-Making:
Once underperforming pages are identified, I decide on the appropriate action for each. It could involve improving the content, removing outdated information, or hiding content that is valuable to users but not necessarily for search engines.
Content Improvement:
I work on improving pages with potential. This may include updating titles, meta descriptions, and headings, adding new sections, and removing obsolete content.
Content Removal:
I remove old or irrelevant posts and information. Before removal, I check for any valuable information that needs to be preserved, and if possible, I merge it with another existing post.
Proper Redirects:
When removing a post, I ensure that the URL is properly redirected to an equivalent page. This prevents users from landing on non-existing pages, ensuring a seamless and positive user experience.
Considerate Hiding:
In cases where certain content is valuable for users but not for search engines, I choose to hide those pages from being indexed and ranked. This ensures that users can still access the content, but it doesn’t impact search engine results.
FAQs
❓What is Pruning in SEO?
Pruning in SEO is like giving your website a good clean-up. It means getting rid of old and not-so-good content that's slowing it down. Imagine clearing out your closet to make room for new and better things. This helps your website work better and be in top shape!
🤔How do you go about pruning content?
To prune content effectively, start by listing all your website's content. Then, analyze each piece, and for those offering little value, either update, remove, or non-index them. This process ensures your website only showcases relevant and current content, keeping it in top shape.
👀What are the fundamental pruning techniques?
There are two primary pruning techniques: heading and thinning. Thinning cuts are less impactful and work best for preserving the natural shape of woody plants. On the other hand, pruning, especially heading cuts, encourages new growth very near the pruning cut.
Quick Links
- What is Backlinking And Why Is It Important For SEO
- Ultimate Guide to Parasite SEO
- How to Use SEO Proxies for Keyword Research?
- Best Keyword Clustering Tool
Conclusion
To sum it up, regularly cleaning up and improving your website (SEO pruning) is super important. It helps make sure people using your site have a great experience and that search engines like Google see your site as valuable.
As an SEO expert, I strongly suggest doing this because it keeps your site up-to-date, helps it show up better in search results, and maintains its overall credibility. In a nutshell, it makes your website more user-friendly, trustworthy, and successful.
