Content decay

DefinitionContent decay is a steady loss of clicks and impressions on a page that used to perform well, usually because it went out of date or competitors published something better.

Decay is normal over time. The fix is to decide per page: refresh it with current facts, merge it into a stronger page, or let it go. Pages that are out of date are also less likely to be quoted in AI answers that favour specific, current facts.

Learn it step by step

• Content decay radar (Google Search Console tools)

Related terms

• Keyword cannibalisation: Keyword cannibalisation is when several pages on your own site compete for the same search query, so none of them performs as well as one strong page would.
• Impressions: In Google Search Console, an impression is counted when a link to your site appears in a search result a user sees.
• CTR (click-through rate): Click-through rate is clicks divided by impressions: the share of people who saw your result and clicked it.