When you initially develop a content strategy for your business it’s natural for you to want to push out as much new content as possible. It makes sense to cover as much content ground as you can, addressing every hot topic in sight. However, if you continue with this approach for an extended period of time then it can cause you to neglect the content which already exists on your site.
The fact of the matter is, that SEO success isn’t an achievement that can be rushed towards. Rather, it takes quality control, maintenance, and consistency. If a piece of content is to thrive, then it shouldn’t fall out of your purview once it is published. Letting content sit derelict after it has garnered a bit of traffic for you means missing out of lucrative organic traffic opportunities.
Google regularly updates their algorithms and this indicates that content pieces will never perform as well as they once did. The role and function of keywords is always changing and information quite soon becomes outdated and irrelevant. This is what’s known as content decay, when the traffic your content attracts eventually plateaus and declines.
When this occurs it’s possible for you to carry out a revitalisation process so that you can recover the traffic that has experienced a lull. Discerning and updating old content with potential is an aspect of SEO that every solid content strategy incorporates. Throughout this article we’ll cover what exactly content decay is, why it happens, and what you can do to combat it.
What is content decay?
Content decay is a term that refers to when one or more content pieces sustain a decline in performance regarding either organic traffic, rankings, or conversions in Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
The function of the word ‘decay’ is salient here because it properly illustrates the lifecycle that every piece of web page content undergoes. Namely, it is a slow and gradual process, as opposed to an overnight change. Albeit, in some select cases it can be a sudden drop. Performance declines for content pieces are generally measured over the previous year, i.e., the last twelve months of their lifespan. Evidently, the consequence of content decay is substantial losses concerning both visibility and turnover. To extend the analogy of content having a life cycle, let’s take a look at each stage therein. They are as follows:
1.Publication and early traction
When a piece of content is published, whether it be on a website or blog, it may be a while before it starts to generate a considerable amount of organic traffic and rank highly within SERPs. There are multiple variables which influence the length of time this period of initial traction lasts, although it is typically the case that one has to wait a bit until a signal of performance is visible.
The reason behind this lies in how Google sorts and judges content. Namely, after content is published, search engines will then index it by way of having a crawler analyse it for its substance and meaning. Afterwards, the content will then be measured as to its suitability by Google’s algorithms, how search engine optimised it is. That is, how the contents of the piece aligns with search intent alongside other markers in respect of Google’s quality control.
If a given piece has been promoted on social media platforms, then it’s likely that there will be a spike in traffic for the first week, during which the content is being crawled and analysed. Having said this, it’s natural that it takes time for anything on the web to gain consistent visibility. Both upwards and downwards spikes in these early days do not necessarily provide an accurate performance forecast.
2.Growth phase
As with a piece’s initial publication and early traction, the length of the growth phase likewise varies. This phase is a process, comprising when a new content piece starts to gain more backlinks (having an external website reference the piece) and begins to rank higher for the search queries it relates to. At this stage, content will see a steady increase in the volume of organic traffic it generates. For how long this growth continues is down to many factors, such as the relevancy of the topic that the piece covers as well as the aforementioned quality of its make-up.
3.Peak & plateau
When a content piece has been growing in terms of traffic intake for some time, it will eventually reach a state where its performance levels out. After all, it’s terribly unlikely that a piece of content’s popularity will continue to grow and grow unless it is of some extraordinary significance. There are three primary reasons which make this an inevitable consequence.
Specifically, it might be that a content piece has adequately fulfilled its purpose by achieving the top spot for the keywords of a topic that it was targeting. This instance is, of course, the aim of every publication and strongly indicates success; it manifests the natural performance ceiling being attained.
On the other hand, this peak & plateau stage could be initiated by a content piece no longer gaining sufficient backlinks, and so not improving in SERPs. As for the last cause, competitors releasing new content addressing the same subject matter means that, as they gain organic traffic, you lose it. This is especially the case if they include new information which you had initially overlooked or that wasn’t present at the time. The length of the peak & plateau stage is primarily determined by the online activity surrounding the topic. For instance, a piece may stay at a top ranking position for a month if it covers a nuanced matter, or rather, a couple of days if it is a widespread issue in question. It’s important to explicitly note here that these factors are outside of your influence, however, the manner in which you respond to them is evidently not.
4.Decay phase
As a piece of content exits the latter phase, it then begins to decay. This is where it is shifted out of the top spots in SERPs and thus falls out of recognition. As just mentioned, it will either take a while for this stage to come into play, or be expedited depending on the popularity of the theme being covered.
Content decay typifies the fact of a certain piece of content becoming outdated, as distinct from becoming ‘old’. Followingly, that piece is deemed to be irrelevant and not so fresh as that which other competitors have produced, subsequent to its initial publication.
Having outlined what content decay is, and traced the lifecycle of web page content to this eventual state, it is now left to explore the particulars of this specific decay in-depth.
Why does content decay?
Content decay isn’t easy to prevent or rectify. The main reason for this is that decay can occur due to a variety of instances. As such, if you are to fix content decay, then it’s important to understand which reason applies to a content piece’s individual situation. Usually, decay is resultant of a piece of content’s lack of freshness, a change in search intent or topical depth across queries, and both internal & external competition.
Content freshness
In the majority of cases, albeit not all, a content’s freshness refers to its age. That is, how dated it is. As a general rule, search engines are inclined to prioritise content that is fresh. This is quite natural, considering that content which is newer is likely to have more up-to-date information and so be more helpful to users. Of course, it’s possible that a content piece originally from 2010, for example, can amply address a query. However, there’s a good chance that its content isn’t as relevant as more recent publications if it has not been updated for a few years.
Changes in search intent/topical depth
This second cause of content decay also relates to the relevancy of a piece, though to a fundamentally different degree. Firstly, search intent is a term that refers to the aim of a user when making a search query, whether that be to purchase a phone or be informed on the latest SEO news; over time this intent and the way users express it changes. Consequently, this means that Google alters the way certain search intents are reacted to by their engine regularly. It’s vital that a piece of content corresponds to the most prevalent search intent within that topic at any given time. On the back of this point, content pieces must adhere to any changes in topical depth, i.e., new developments within subject areas, if they are to stay relevant and maintain top ranking positions.
External & internal competition
External competition is something we previously mentioned. This is a cause of content decay that is most easily comprehended, it refers to when marketing departments of rival B2B companies publish a piece which addresses the same topic area as you had done. This is a very common cause of content decay because of how competitive the SEO landscape is. There are innumerous websites and businesses out there, all vying for organic traffic and top ranking positions on similar subjects. Such occurrences can be hard to overcome if your competitor has a level of brand authority that you cannot yet match. Having said this, the volume of backlinks and search intent alignment are integral elements here that cannot be understated.
In addition to external competition, it may be a surprise that internal competition, often known as cannibalisation, can cause content decay. This is where an array of URLs on your website essentially cover the same topic, and thereby compete with each other for rankings & traffic. Search engines become confused when this happens, leading them to stifle the performance of the pages which are conflicting with each other. It is, therefore, important to keep track of what you have covered and what possible further content pieces might cause complications with current ones.
How does content decay impact SEO?
The most clearly discernible negative impact that content decay has for SEO is a stark drop in the amount of traffic a website will receive overall. But beyond this surface effect, there is a comprehensive impact. Namely, as content begins to decay, so too does the visibility that once resulted from those web pages which excelled in their performance. Moreover, if content pages aren’t so visible anymore due to decay, the rate at which people click through will experience a sharp decline. In turn, this means less revenue alongside less people exploring your website extensively, whether for more information or if they are in search of a service that your business might provide. Finally, if your content has decayed, and so no longer performs adequately, then this will transmit to potential partners that your output is of an outdated and low standard of quality. As a result, you may not be able to gain those key backlinks because your page has lost its appeal to organic traffic. Certain site owners may even choose to remove existing backlinks because of this if your content lacks freshness to a considerable degree.
How to identify content decay
After reading of the consequences that come with content decay, one’s first impulse is to see whether they have content on their site which is in a detrimental state. Before rushing ahead, however, bear in mind that it isn’t always so obvious as seeing which pieces have lost a bit of traffic over time. Even though this can be the case, every piece of content fulfils a different purpose and might only be relevant at certain points in the year. For example, an article on christmas markets will evidently not acquire a lot of traffic in June.
When it comes to actually identifying content decay, there are handy tools out there which can be used for this exact purpose, the most popular being Google Analytics. Free and straightforward, Google Analytics can identify and analyse content decay by showing how well each website page is performing in the context of conversions. Additionally, the tool provides you with the capability to specifically view organic traffic intake on landing pages. The ability to see page performance over a wide-ranging time period allows you to easily discern content decay. In regard to seeing what search queries match particular pages, Google’s Search Console can do this while simultaneously affording performance data for URLs where decay is a problem. These tools in particular make it effortless in respect of pinpointing specific content pieces which are underperforming, comparative to past behaviour. Be certain on what the curve looks like here, i.e., does it appear to be in the growth stage, has it peaked & plateaued, or is it currently in the decay phase?
Aside from Google, other SEO tools such as Ahrefs and SEMrush can prove to be extremely useful for identifying content decay. Both of these can provide you with solid esminations of page performance in the form of statistics, showing traffic changes over defined time periods while presenting active keyword impressions in a perceptible format. When using these two latter tools, remember that they do not produce actual data, only estimations. No one tool is fundamentally better than the other, and they each work best when used alongside one another so as to corroborate the independent reports that are constructed.
How to fix content decay
If you’re concerned at the inevitable prospect of content decay, then it should be reassuring to know that there are as many ways to fix it as there are reasons why you should. Foremostly, if your content is outdated then the direct course of action should be to update it. This is what is known as a content refresh and entails adjusting any stale information that is present. For instance, if certain facts and figures have changed, then the content piece should likewise change that which it includes. It’s likely that if your content piece is more than two years old that there have been developments in any given industry since its initial publication, it would do well to include these in favour of outdated references so that the piece can be said to still be relevant. This might mean slight alterations or vast content expansions and structural overhauls. Whatever changes are necessary in light of competitor content pieces, keeping a page’s content fresh is invaluable to its survival in SERPs.
In a similar vein, one way to check that your content is sufficiently optimised is to ask yourself whether and how user intent behind search queries has changed, what content SERPs favour now, and if your content delivers the same experience for the user as it used to. It may be that you need to review your technical SEO, a content piece’s approach, and the keywords that are being targeted therein. For the latter point, you might need to carry out further keyword research in order to ensure that you are ranking for the most salient keywords. Add to this the fact of updating metadata and headings if necessary. As search intent frequently changes, so too must your content. One option is to actually consolidate content, the act of merging two pieces together so that cannibalisation is negated while a whole new fresh piece is created. This could involve combining two small pieces to form a more comprehensive whole, or taking partitions from one & thereby enabling the select main piece to stay relevant and so collect traffic & secure ranking positions. Sometimes, it may not even be the content itself that’s the problem, it could just be that a given piece requires more backlinks and internal links which point to the page so that it’s afforded a well-needed boost.
Admittedly, there are challenges to fixing content decay, and it’s one of the reasons why we are here to help. We sincerely hope that this article has worked to clue you in on all there is to know about content decay and how it can be fixed. But besides what you can read about it, if you’re interested in seeing such transformative changes be put into place, then be sure to get in touch with us today and we’ll see to it that your old content performs and drives organic traffic like new!
