{"id":173536,"date":"2024-03-27T05:01:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T10:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=173536"},"modified":"2024-07-17T07:58:37","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T12:58:37","slug":"content-pruning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-pruning\/","title":{"rendered":"Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do&nbsp;It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"intro-txt\">Content pruning is removing low-relevance or low-quality pages to improve website performance.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Content pruning sounds pretty appealing: delete a ton of content and see your organic traffic improve. But pruning has risks (like deleting useful pages and useful backlinks), and benefits are not guaranteed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/timsoulo\/status\/1757341161327342075?s=20\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So how does pruning actually work? And when is the risk worth&nbsp;it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"intro-tok\" id=\"intro_tok\" style=\"display:none;\"><div class=\"intro-title\">Contents<\/div><a href=\"#\" class=\"expand-dots\"><span><\/span><span><\/span><span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How content pruning works (with real examples)\" data-section=\"how-pruning-works\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_lberqv8m2jbf\"><\/a>How content pruning works (with real examples)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a few mechanisms through which content pruning might improve your website performance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_qzdw69ypegh4\"><\/a>Pruning pages can help make better use of your crawl budget<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Google allocates a certain amount of time and resources to crawling a website, known as <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/crawl-budget\/\">crawl budget<\/a>. On really big websites, it\u2019s possible that some pages won\u2019t get crawled (and appear in search) because your crawl budget just isn\u2019t big enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In these cases, content pruning could allow you to make better use of your crawl budget. By pruning content that you don\u2019t want indexed, you\u2019re reducing the total amount of pages that need to be crawled and increasing the likelihood that other, more important pages, end up crawled and indexed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When SEO Consultant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/francescobaldini\/\">Francesco Baldini<\/a> and team audited a vehicle valuation platform, he found that most of the website\u2019s crawl budget was used on low-quality <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/programmatic-seo\/\">programmatic pages<\/a> which resulted in no search visits or conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When they deleted almost 5 <em>million <\/em>pages (going from 4,860,000 pages to just 1,500), organic visits increased by 160% and conversions by 105% in a matter of&nbsp;weeks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1056\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-1.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-173537\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-1.png 1056w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-1-680x243.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-1-768x275.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1056px) 100vw, 1056px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In case the mechanism of action is in doubt (did deleting pages really improve indexing?), it\u2019s worth reading about Victor Pan\u2019s experience<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/remove-outdated-content\"> deleting 3,000 pages<\/a> from the HubSpot sitemap:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<em>As of two weeks ago, we\u2019re able to submit content, get it indexed, and start driving traffic from Google search in just a matter of minutes or an hour. For context, indexation often takes hours and days for the average website.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Victor Pan\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1516344496784.jpeg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Victor Pan,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Principal Marketing Manager, SEO, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/victorpan\/\" target=\"_blank\">HubSpot<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s worth pointing out that both of these examples feature <em>extremely <\/em>big websites\u2014crawl budget is not an issue for most smaller sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/crawl-budget\/\">What Is Crawl Budget &amp; Why Most SEOs Shouldn\u2019t Worry About&nbsp;It<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_z9t2jc22n0bb\"><\/a>Removing low-quality pages might help the remaining content rank better<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of Google\u2019s systems\u2014like Helpful Content\u2014look at your website as a whole to help influence where your content is ranked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/appearance\/helpful-content-system\">Google explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cHaving relatively high amounts of unhelpful content might cause other content on the site to perform less well in Search, to a varying degree. <\/em><strong><em>Removing unhelpful content might contribute to your other pages performing better.<\/em><\/strong><em>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/yevgen-zatiychuk\/\">Eugene Zatiychuk<\/a>, SEO Lead at <a href=\"https:\/\/belkins.io\/\">Belkins<\/a>, started a content pruning exercise, his focus was removing low-quality content: <em>\u201cduplicates (targeting same search intent); low-quality writing, including both cheap writers and AI-generated; and content written for the wrong target audience.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of a pruned page, an <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-content-is-short-term-arbitrage\/\">AI-generated article<\/a> about sales lead job descriptions that didn\u2019t include a job description anywhere on the&nbsp;page:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1069\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-2.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-173538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-2.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-2-680x355.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-2-768x401.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-2-1536x802.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After pruning 400 pages of low-quality content (almost two-thirds of the entire site), traffic began to climb steadily from 3,000 organic visits per month to almost 10,000:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1049\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-3.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-173539\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-3.png 1049w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-3-680x276.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-3-768x312.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1049px) 100vw, 1049px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Eugene points out that he started on other improvements alongside the prune (like reducing the site\u2019s reliance on <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/javascript-seo\/\">JavaScript rendering<\/a> about a month after the prune started), but he\u2019s confident that pruning helped improve the performance of the remaining pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_vazu69d949z3\"><\/a>Simpler, smarter navigation makes for a better visitor experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Content pruning can help by simplifying the user journey and making it easier to navigate to important pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was the primary motivation behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bryan-f-casey\/\">Bryan Casey<\/a>\u2019s initiative to prune over 1,000 pages from IBM\u2019s main site navigation. As Bryan explained, <em>\u201cthese pages were a small percentage of our traffic and our site footprint, but responsible for a large percentage of our complexity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cWe were determined to change the structure of the site and flattening it to one menu was a key part of that. Our product footprint was another huge chunk of the site and had consistent page types and so we analyzed all the \u201ctypes\u201d within the product footprint and decided that we could a) eliminate entire page types (details, FAQ) and b) aggressively consolidate across parts of the portfolio (ie go from 5 pages to 1 for a product).\u201d<br><\/em><\/p><\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bryan Casey\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1516797019794.jpeg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Bryan Casey,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Director, Digital Marketing,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bryan-f-casey\/\" target=\"_blank\">IBM<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>By way of example, I used the Wayback Machine to see how many clicks it used to take to find the main landing page for one of IBM\u2019s products, robotic process automation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My journey from the homepage spanned five pages: <em>\/us-en \u2192 \/cloud\/automation \u2192 \/cloud\/automation\/technology \u2192 \/cloud\/learn\/rpa \u2192 \/products\/robotic-process-automation<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"695\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-4.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-173540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-4.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-4-680x231.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-4-768x261.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-4-1536x521.png 1536w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-4-650x220.png 650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After pruning and consolidating, the current journey requires covers just two pages: <em>\/us-en \u2192 \/products\/robotic-process-automation<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-5.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-173541\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-5.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-5-680x213.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-5-768x240.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-5-1536x481.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Traffic growth wasn\u2019t the goal of this pruning exercise\u2014Bryan was happy that the team ensured no change to site traffic. Instead, it was the subjective experience of visitors using the site that Bryan cared about, as measured by <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/marketing-kpis\/\">Net Promoter Score<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNPS of nav on ibm.com improved by 30% immediately. And the really cool thing was that our experience scores around content quality improved by the same amount. It proved our hypothesis that the structure of the site impacts your perception of everything on&nbsp;it.\u201d<em><br><\/em><\/p><\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bryan Casey\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1516797019794.jpeg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Bryan Casey,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Director, Digital Marketing,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bryan-f-casey\/\" target=\"_blank\">IBM<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to prune content\" data-section=\"how-to-prune-content\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_zbagfbtu5t2t\"><\/a>How to prune content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The hard part of content pruning isn\u2019t the pruning itself: it\u2019s the decision-making process that determines what you\u2019ll prune. There are tons of factors to consider, and it\u2019s important to avoid setting arbitrary targets for what you will and won\u2019t delete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Page traffic: <\/strong>how much traffic does the page get from search, and from other sources?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Backlinks<\/strong>: how many websites link to the&nbsp;page?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Non-traffic benefit<\/strong>: is the page important for other reasons? Does it contain important information, or help close sales? Does it serve as a historical record\u2014like a newspaper article?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Age<\/strong>: has the article had long enough to perform?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Relevance: <\/strong>is the page still relevant to the audience you target and the products you&nbsp;sell?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cannibalizing pages<\/strong>: does the page compete with others?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This decision-making process is called a content audit, and we walk you through the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-audit\/\">whole process here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-audit\/\">Follow Our Content Audit Process for 2023 (Template Included)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"1. Get buy-in\" data-section=\"buy-in\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_o0np3eykhzbe\"><\/a>1. Get buy-in<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Content pruning is most useful for big websites, and big websites generally mean lots of people who care about the different pages: the SEO\/content team, the product team, the sales team, separate business units, you name&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re planning a prune, it\u2019s worth sharing your plans (and justification) with everyone involved, and hearing out their concerns. At IBM, Bryan went to the trouble of scheduling a week of meetings with every impacted team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur mental model was to go into every meeting and get 80% of what we wanted in terms of simplification. We never wanted to get all of it because it was important our stakeholders felt like all their priorities were protected. Even if you personally do not agree with something, you have to be ok \u2018losing\u2019 on some percentage of things to keep everyone at the table. If the room turns on you, game&nbsp;over.\u201d<em><br><\/em><\/p><\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bryan Casey\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1516797019794.jpeg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Bryan Casey,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Director, Digital Marketing,  <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bryanfcasey\/status\/1659942013658169344?s=20\" target=\"_blank\">IBM<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-buy-in\/\">How to Get SEO Buy-In: 7 Actionable Tips<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"2. Delete in batches\" data-section=\"delete-in-batches\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_py5r69k3urtb\"><\/a>2. Delete in batches<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>As with any risky change, it\u2019s a good idea to prune pages in batches and monitor their impact before making a sweeping change. If anything goes wrong\u2014organic traffic plummets unexpectedly, or <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/orphan-pages\/\">key pages become orphaned<\/a>\u2014it\u2019s relatively easy to contain the impact and roll back your changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From January to March of 2023, Eugene at Belkins deleted one subfolder per week, monitoring the impact as he went (more on that&nbsp;below):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1053\" height=\"433\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-6.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-173542\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-6.png 1053w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-6-680x280.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-6-768x316.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1053px) 100vw, 1053px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"3. 301 redirect to the closest matching page\" data-section=\"301-redirect\"><a id=\"post-173536-_l82z8gbfiw5o\"><\/a>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. 301 redirect to the closest matching page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If a pruned page has backlinks or traffic, it\u2019s a good idea to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/301-redirects\/\">redirect the old URL<\/a> to a close-matching page somewhere else on the site. Close-matching usually means a page on a similar topic\u2014something that wouldn\u2019t feel out of place to visitors who clicked the old&nbsp;URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example from Belkins: an article about the number of leads required to make a sale is 301 redirected to another about lead generation conversion rates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"722\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/content-pruning-301-redirect.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-173738\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/content-pruning-301-redirect.png 722w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/content-pruning-301-redirect-597x425.png 597w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 722px) 100vw, 722px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/301-redirects\/\">301 Redirects Explained: How They Impact SEO<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"4. Consolidate or repurpose deleted content\" data-section=\"consolidate-or-repurpose\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_4s642olhfaix\"><\/a>4. Consolidate or repurpose deleted content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Even bad pages can contain <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-write-great-content\/\">good content<\/a>, so it can be worth keeping it around in some format. That can&nbsp;mean:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Consolidating<\/strong>: taking related information from multiple pruned pages and combining them on another page. (This has the benefit of making it much easier to 301 redirect deleted pages to close matches\u2014your new consolidated content).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Repurposing<\/strong>: finding a new, more useful format for the information, whether that\u2019s turning it into an email sequence, social media content, or a downloadable ebook.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/repurposing-content\/\">13 Smart Ways to Repurpose Content<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"5. Measure the impact\" data-section=\"measure\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_3mne9idrph6k\"><\/a>5. Measure the impact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Depending on your motivation for the prune, you\u2019ll want to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-performance-results\/\">measure before\/after values<\/a> for metrics like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Indexing: <\/strong>what percentage of important pages are indexed? Does indexing happen faster?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Search traffic<\/strong>: has search traffic to your remaining pages improved?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Visitor experience<\/strong>: is your website easier to navigate? Is high-quality content easier to&nbsp;find?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Importantly, it can be hard to categorically show the impact of a prune: pruning usually happens as part of a batch of search improvements. (And nobody is going to suggest pausing content production for a quarter just to isolate the impact.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But you don\u2019t need perfect data: you\u2019re looking for relatively quick changes that can\u2019t be easily explained by other initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-performance-results\/\">How to Measure SEO Performance &amp; Results (The Right&nbsp;Way)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-173536-_v7pyeaqb8oqy\"><\/a>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Content pruning is a relatively niche tool in the SEO toolkit, best suited to (very) big websites, or those with a ton of irrelevant or low-quality content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if you find yourself in either situation, taking the shears to your least helpful pages can improve the performance of the content that\u2019s left behind. Or put another way, care of <em>The Office:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"219\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-8.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-173544\"><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Content pruning sounds pretty appealing: delete a ton of content and see your organic traffic improve. But pruning has risks (like deleting useful pages and useful backlinks), and benefits are not guaranteed: So how does pruning actually work? And when<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,335],"tags":[],"coauthors":[457],"class_list":["post-173536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-content-marketing","category-general-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Featuring 3 practical content pruning case studies.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-pruning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Featuring 3 practical content pruning case studies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-pruning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-27T10:01:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-17T12:58:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-173536-1.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Law\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@thinking_slow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ryan Law\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e63cf0d276886d0391667a066edafeda\"},\"headline\":\"Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do&nbsp;It\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-27T10:01:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-17T12:58:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1906,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/content-pruning-why-it-works-and-by-ryan-law-content-marketing.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Content Marketing\",\"General SEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/\",\"name\":\"Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/word-image-173536-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-27T10:01:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-17T12:58:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"Featuring 3 practical content pruning case studies.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/content-pruning\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/word-image-173536-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/word-image-173536-1.png\",\"width\":1056,\"height\":378},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\",\"description\":\"Link Building Strategies &amp; 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