Why Content Pruning Matters for SEO? 

Content Pruning is important for SEO as it can help reduce the amount of data that needs to be loaded, which can help your website load faster. 

Why Content Pruning Matters

 

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Why Content Pruning Matters on SEO? 

People typically only think about creating new content when considering SEO and keywords. But they need to pay more attention to the fact that their old content can still impact their website’s SEO ranking. 

Though it may sound counterintuitive, removing some content from your website could improve your rankings. In this article, you’ll better understand why content pruning matters for SEO and how you can do it. 

 

What is Content Pruning? 

Content pruning involves the removal of old, outdated, or irrelevant content from your website. It can be done for several reasons, including improving your website’s overall quality, making it easier to navigate, and increasing your SEO ranking. High-quality content writing is essential if you want to increase your SEO ranking. 

For example, a post written in 2012 about the Vine app would be irrelevant in 2022. Or a post from 2014 on link-building tips would likely be outdated today. Consider this content to be extra baggage. 

If you want to position your website better on Google, you need to remove anything that could be holding you back from getting higher rankings or creating SEO-friendly content. Content pruning ensures that your library only contains high-quality and relevant information. 

 

 

Why Should SEO Care About Content Pruning? 

Your website’s content should always contribute to its quality and usefulness. Why is this important? Here are a couple of reasons: 

 

1. It can improve your website’s overall quality 

By pruning the content that is taking up space on your website, you can focus on the content that is more relevant and useful to users. It will give them a better experience on your website, which can lead to more conversions and organic traffic

 

2. It can help you rank higher in SERPS. 

You can improve your position in search engine results pages through content pruning. It is because Google’s algorithms are constantly changing, and what was once a ranking factor may no longer be one. For example, Google used to consider the number of backlinks when determining a website’s rank. 

But now, it’s more focused on the quality of those backlinks. So, if you have a lot of low-quality backlinks, it will hurt your ranking. Google may even penalize you for it. But if you have a few high-quality backlinks, it will help your website rank higher.   

 

3.Increase your crawl budget 

Crawling and indexing are resource-intensive processes. By pruning your content, you’re telling Google your website is worth its time and effort. It can lead to Google crawling and indexing your website more often, resulting in better rankings. 

 

4. It can make your website easier to navigate 

If you have a lot of low-quality or irrelevant content on your website, it can be challenging for users to find what they’re looking for. It can lead to frustration and even cause them to leave your website entirely. 

By pruning your content, you can make it easier for users to find the information they’re looking for. It will improve their experience on your website and keep them coming back for more. 

 

5. It can improve your website’s load time 

The faster your website loads, the better. It is because people have short attention spans (8 seconds) and are likely to leave a website that takes too long to load. In addition, Google considers website speed when determining its ranking. 

So, if your website is fast, it will help your ranking. By pruning your content, you can reduce the volume of data that must be loaded, which can help your website load faster.

 

 

How to avoid having your content pruned by thinking ahead 

The process of content pruning can be time-consuming and daunting. After all, you don’t want to delete something only to realize later that it was necessary. Fortunately, you can do a few things to avoid having your content pruned in the first place. 

 

1. Write evergreen content 

Evergreen content is always relevant and valuable content. For example, a post on how to start a blog would be evergreen content. 

 

2. Don’t publish duplicate content 

Duplicate content is when you have two or more pieces of content that are the same. It can happen if you accidentally copy and paste from another source or have multiple pages on your website that serve the same purpose. 

 

3. Publish high-quality content 

It should go without saying, but it’s crucial only to publish well-written and informative content. If your content is low-quality, it’s more likely to be pruned. 

 

 

How to Prune Your Content 

If you’ve decided that content pruning is suitable for your website, there are key things you need to do to get started. 

 

1. Audit your content 

The first step is to take an inventory of all the content on your website. It includes blog posts, articles, landing pages, and anything else that contains the text. 

 

2. Evaluate your content 

Once you’ve listed all your content, you need to evaluate it. Ask yourself if each piece of content is high-quality, relevant, and valuable. If it’s not, then it’s a candidate for pruning. 

 

3. Delete low-quality content 

Once you’ve evaluated your content, it’s time to start deleting the low-quality stuff. It can be duplicative, irrelevant, or just plain old bad. 

 

4. Redirect deleted content 

When you delete content, setting up a redirect is essential. People may still try to access the old page, and you don’t want them to land on a 404 error page. 

 

5. Monitor your results 

After you’ve pruned your content, monitoring your results is essential. It includes things like your website traffic, your search engine ranking, and your bounce rate. 

If you see a positive impact, then content pruning is the right decision for your website. Consider restoring some of the deleted content. 

 

Final thoughts 

Keeping your website content up-to-date and relevant is crucial for maintaining a successful website. Regularly deleting low-quality content can improve your search engine ranking, website load time, and user experience. Plus, managing a website with less content is much easier. 

Before you start pruning your content, you must ensure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Make sure you audit your content, evaluate it, and only delete the low-quality or irrelevant stuff. And finally, remember to monitor your results after you’ve made the changes.