What is Content Decay? (And How to Fix It)

In the digital world, content decay is an inevitable challenge that every website faces. As time passes, the relevance, visibility, and effectiveness of online content can wane, leading to diminished traffic and engagement. Understanding content decay is crucial for maintaining a robust online presence. In this article, we will delve into what content decay is, explore the various factors that contribute to its occurrence, and provide actionable strategies to address and fix content decay problems on your website. By implementing these insights, you can ensure your content remains valuable and continues to drive traffic and engagement over the long term.

Content decay refers to the gradual decline in the relevance, visibility, and effectiveness of online content over time. This phenomenon occurs for several reasons, including changes in search engine algorithms, shifts in audience interests, and the emergence of newer, more engaging content. Content decay can significantly impact the performance of a website or blog, reducing traffic, engagement, and conversion rates.

In fact, the value of a blog post is at its highest is 1 year and 9 months, according to a study by Izea. This doesn’t quite mean that your article isn’t relevant or useful, but you’re going to need to do things in order to keep it fresh for your website visitors.

So, why does content decay happen? Here are just a few reasons why content decay can happen:

• Search Engine Algorithms
• Relevance and Accuracy
• Competition
• User Behavior and Preferences

Search Engine Algorithms

Search engines like Google frequently update their algorithms to improve the quality of search results. These updates can affect how content is ranked, potentially causing older content to lose its position in search results. This decline in visibility reduces organic traffic.

Relevance and Accuracy

Over time, information in an article can become outdated or less relevant. For example, a technology tutorial from a few years ago might not be applicable to the latest software versions. As the content becomes less useful, users are less likely to engage with it.

Competition

The internet is a constantly evolving space with new content being published every day. Newer articles, blog posts, and media can overshadow older content, especially if they offer updated information, better insights, or more engaging formats.

User Behavior and Preferences

Audience interests and behaviors evolve. Content that was once popular may no longer resonate with the audience due to changes in trends, preferences, or cultural shifts.

• Traffic Decline
• Engagement Drop
• Revenue Loss

Traffic Decline

As content decays, it attracts fewer visitors, leading to a decrease in website traffic.

Engagement Drop

Outdated or irrelevant content is less likely to be shared, commented on, or linked to, resulting in lower engagement metrics.

Revenue Loss

For businesses, reduced traffic and engagement can lead to a decline in conversions and revenue, particularly if the content was previously driving significant sales or leads.

Addressing content decay requires a proactive approach to maintain the relevance, visibility, and engagement of your online content. Here are six strategies to effectively mitigate content decay:

• Regular Content Audits
• Updating and Refreshing Content
• Optimizing for SEO
• Repurposing Content
• Creating Evergreen Content
• Engaging with Audience Feedback

Regular Content Audits

Conducting regular content audits is essential to identify decaying content. During an audit, review all existing content to assess its performance, relevance, and accuracy. Use analytics tools to track metrics such as traffic, bounce rates, and engagement levels. This process helps you pinpoint which pieces of content need updating, repurposing, or removal.

Updating and Refreshing Content

Once you've identified outdated content, refresh it by updating information, adding new insights, and incorporating recent data. This ensures that your content remains accurate and valuable to your audience. Updating titles, meta descriptions, and headers to align with current SEO best practices can also improve search engine rankings.

Optimizing for SEO

Search engine algorithms constantly evolve, so it's crucial to optimize your content for current SEO standards. This includes using relevant keywords, improving load times, ensuring mobile-friendliness, and enhancing overall user experience. Additionally, acquiring new backlinks and updating internal links can boost your content’s authority and visibility.

Repurposing Content

Repurposing involves transforming existing content into different formats to reach new audiences. For example, turning a blog post into a video, infographic, or podcast can attract different segments of your audience and provide fresh engagement opportunities. This strategy maximizes the value of your content and extends its lifecycle.

Creating Evergreen Content

Focus on producing evergreen content—topics that remain relevant and useful over time. Examples include how-to guides, tutorials, and foundational industry knowledge. While these pieces still require periodic updates, their core value persists, reducing the frequency of content decay.

Engaging with Audience Feedback

Actively engage with your audience through comments, surveys, and social media interactions. Audience feedback can provide insights into what content needs updating or what new topics should be covered. Incorporating this feedback not only keeps your content relevant but also builds a stronger relationship with your audience.

Bonus tips for fixing content decay

• Schedule Regular Reviews
• Use Analytics Tools
• Collaborate with Experts
• Track Algorithm Changes
• Resharing Older Still Relevant Content Regularly

Schedule Regular Reviews

Set up a regular schedule for content audits and updates, such as quarterly or bi-annually. You don’t have to do this every day, but if you have a lot of content over the years, you might want to schedule out a time to do a review.

Use Analytics Tools

Leverage tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, and Ahrefs to monitor content performance and identify decay. If you don’t have a lot of money, just stick to using Google Analytics. Just make sure your website has the Google Analytics code installed so it can properly track your website’s traffic.

Collaborate with Experts

Work with subject matter experts to ensure your content remains accurate and comprehensive.

Track Algorithm Changes

Stay informed about major search engine updates to quickly adapt your content strategy. You can also go to places like Google Trends and use your content’s targeted keywords to see if there is any trending content on the subject.

Resharing Older Still Relevant Content Regularly

If you find that some of your older content is still relevant for the times, you can always regularly schedule the content to publish every so often. It’s kind of like posting a thread in a group or forum and then commenting “bump” to bump the thread up to the top. This will give your article some extra eyeballs on it. Just make sure that when you’re resharing, to send it with engaging and persuasive content in order to get people to click on it.

If you’re using Hootsuite, you can schedule posts to your social media channels. If you’re using WordPress, you can use the Revive Old Posts plugin to share your content.

By implementing these strategies, you can effectively address content decay, ensuring your content continues to drive traffic, engagement, and conversions. Regular maintenance and proactive updates are key to sustaining the value of your online presence. Happy content creating!