Should you delete old content from your website for SEO?

Recently, Gizmodo published an article about the news outlet CNET deleting thousands of pages from their website, as they thought this would help with their SEO. In this blog, we’re asking if this decision has really helped them and whether Google would recommend doing this.

What did CNET do with the old content and URLs?

CNET confirmed that they decided to either redirect, repurpose or remove content from the website by looking at pageviews, backlinks to the content and the amount of time passed since the content was last updated.

What should you do if you delete old content so that it doesn’t affect your SEO?

If you do remove content from your website, the best thing is to redirect it to a related piece of content, as you don’t want people clicking on a link from another website to the content that you have deleted to be only shown a ‘404 page not found’ error, which affects user experience and can also have a bad effect on your website from a user experience perspective, as well as a search engine optimisation (SEO) viewpoint.

Does Google recommend you deleting old content?

Google’s Danny Sullivan, before Gizmodo published their article, said on the Twitter/X account @SearchLiaison that:

“deleting content from your site because you somehow believe Google doesn’t like gold content, that’s not a thing!”

He went on to say that older content can still be helpful for SEO.

What do some SEOs say?

Some SEOs have found that deleting, improving or consolidating content should be part of your SEO strategy as it can help improve content quality, which can help to improve your website’s performance. Therefore, if you have old content, perhaps you should think about updating it before you even consider deleting the content.

If you’re looking to get in front of customers searching for content about your products and/or services, get in touch with our team to discuss how our content and SEO services can help your business grow online.

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Jonathon Roberts

Jonathon lives and breathes marketing, boasting a degree in Business Management and Marketing Management and a diverse list of experiences both professional and voluntary. Having grown up in the thick of the digital and social media age, he has been quick to dive into online marketing and search engine optimisation in his career and spare time, spanning such fields as academics, local business and sport.

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