Content decay: What it is and how to fix traffic drops

If you’ve published content before, especially blogs or resource pages, you’ve probably noticed that some pieces may start to drop in performance after a while. 

This slow decline in organic traffic, rankings, and relevance is referred to as content decay. While it typically affects individual pages, it can slowly erode your site’s overall SEO performance if it occurs on multiple pieces.

Content decay isn’t a new phenomenon and doesn’t mean your content is bad. A drop in traffic can happen when existing content no longer fulfills search intent because it’s outdated, irrelevant, no longer accurate, losing to more competitive pages, or because Google’s algorithm updates have changed how it evaluates that topic.

But the landscape is changing fast: Gartner predicts search query volume will drop by 25% by 2026 as more users turn to AI assistants and conversational platforms, also reducing clickthrough rates (CTRs).

There’s no reason to panic, but there is an opportunity to reevaluate your approach to identifying old content in need of attention and fixing content decay. Maintaining your site’s visibility and authority is more important than ever to reach your target audience.

Content decay is common and (usually) easily fixable. But the right approach to reversing it to boost traffic and rankings depends on what’s causing the decline in the first place.

Content decay vs. seasonal drops vs. technical issues vs. tracking errors

When you see traffic drop, first, you need to diagnose the problem.

How can you tell the signs of content decay apart from other causes of traffic and ranking decline, such as seasonal drops, technical issues, or tracking errors? 

Let’s review each briefly. 

Seasonal drops

Seasonal drops are a naturally occurring fluctuation in traffic and clicks that correlate to changes throughout the year. 

For example, let’s say you run an e-commerce swimsuit site and see a drop in traffic as the summer winds down and people stop purchasing swimsuits. But come the beginning of next summer, traffic recovers as search interest in swimwear rises again. 

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Tips for ruling it out: 

• Use Google Trends to help determine if overall search interest for your topic is down. If it is, that tells you it isn’t just your content losing traffic, but a temporary lull for all traffic.
• Check if the traffic drop is consistent across multiple related products or pages. If not, it could be a sign that some content is in decay while other pieces aren’t. 

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Technical issues

Technical issues can lower traffic, search engine rankings, and overall site performance. For example:

• Deindexed pages—pages that aren’t showing in search results or being crawled by bots.
• Canonical changes—canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page to prioritize. If they’ve been changed, search engines may stop crawling the priority page.
• Broken redirects—redirects that point to the wrong page (or no page) prevent link equity from building between interlinked pages, which hurts their ranking authority (more on redirects below).

Technical issues can cause content decay, but they’re not always the sole cause. True decay is more often rooted in older content and declining relevance, outdated information, or stronger competition.

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Tips for ruling it out: 

• Check if the page is indexed in Google Search Console (GSC), as in the image below. If not, it’s a technical issue, not content decay.
• Check for errors in GSC’s “Pages” report, such as “noindex tag,” “blocked by 4xx issue,” “page with redirect,” or other errors that indicate a technical issue and not content decay. 

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Tracking errors

There’s a more subtle culprit that can trick you into thinking you’ve got a bad case of content decay: tracking errors. 

These errors happen when your website and analytics tools aren’t set up correctly, causing inaccurate traffic estimates. Common examples include:

• Duplicate tracking code, when Google Analytics (GA) script is added twice to the same page, effectively double-counting its sessions and pageviews
• Missing Google Analytics code on pages
• Misconfigured filters
• Incomplete analytics migrations

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Tips for ruling it out:

• Verify your GA analytics tag by using Google Tag Assistant or GA4 DebugView to ensure it’s tracking properly affected pages.
• Compare your GA traffic report to other sources like Semrush’s free website traffic checker, GSC, or Ahrefs. If traffic is only down on GA, then it’s more likely a tracking issue than content decay. 
• Check sitewide traffic. If it suddenly dips, it could be a tracking issue rather than all of your content simultaneously experiencing content decay (unlikely). 

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Detecting content decay before it hurts your rankings

The best way to stay ahead of content decay is by building it into your ongoing content monitoring process. 

Track year-over-year traffic and keyword rankings in tools like Google Analytics and Semrush’s Position Tracking, and compare them with Google Search Console indexing reports. If traffic and rankings are consistently down and indexing looks fine, there’s a good chance your content is losing relevance, not just visibility.

As a rule of thumb, you should wait a minimum of six months before analyzing a piece of content for signs of decay.

If your online content is less than 12 months old, work with what you have, even if it’s just a six-month-over-six-month comparison.

Just keep in mind, anything published within the last three months is too fresh to be analyzed for decay. It simply hasn’t had enough time to “bake” in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) and establish potential rankings.

How to look up traffic in Google Analytics

To look up traffic in GA, navigate to the Traffic acquisition report:

• Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. (Note: these steps might vary depending on how your GA is set up. Another method is Reports > Business objectives > Traffic acquisition.)
• From there, set the date range to the last 12 months, toggle on the “Compare” switch, and select “same period as last year.”
• Hit “Apply,” and you should see the last 12 months of traffic, clicks, and other engagement metrics compared to the previous period.

If your traffic and other metrics are trending downwards, proceed to the next step.

How to look up traffic in Google Search Console

To look up traffic in GSC: 

• Navigate to the Pages tab in the left-hand menu, then click on the green “Indexed” chart, so you are only viewing the indexed pages.
• From there, compare your indexed pages to their performance in GA. 
• If the pages are indexed and still dropping in traffic and clicks, they may be experiencing content decay.

Navigate back to the deindexed pages list and look into their technical issues (screenshot above, in “Technical Issues”).

These deindexed pages need their technical errors fixed in order to become crawlable, indexed, and rankable again. If their traffic is down in GA, it’s because a technical error has caused them to become deindexed, ultimately preventing them from showing up in search results. 

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Pro tip: Check out GSC’s Insights report to help expedite content decay detection and analysis, offering simplified views of top pages, trending queries, and overall performance, making it easy to spot declining pages quickly. 

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How to fix content decay: Update, consolidate, or redirect? 

Fixing content decay isn’t one-size-fits-all. Understanding why content isn’t performing well will help you choose the best course of action to correct it. 

Update content

A content update is a good solution when the article itself is already a strong, well-rounded piece that has performed well in the past, but the information has become stale or incomplete over time. (See more in the section below.)

Example:

An article on “swimsuit trends” published last year could reclaim its ranking by updating it with the latest trends and hottest brands. Be sure to update its metadata to reflect the current year as well, e.g., “2025’s trendiest swimsuit styles.” 

Analyze top-ranking results to identify angles or subtopics you can add to your article. “Summer” is a popular angle for “swimsuit trends,” so consider working that in. 

Also, order your subtopics in a way that aligns with what users want to know most. If they’re looking for trending colors and patterns, lead with that. Adding images, videos, tables, embedded social posts, and links to reputable sources can help your content stand out and boost visibility. A few simple updates can make your outdated content shine again.

Consolidate content

When you have two or more pieces of content that overlap in keyword focus or search intent, consolidation is a smart move. They may be competing with each other for rankings in search engines if they’re too similar, resulting in neither of the pages ranking well and causing issues like keyword cannibalization, and, ultimately, content decay. 

Example: 

Let’s say your swimsuit site has a category page for “postpartum swimsuits” and another for “tummy control swimsuits.” They’re competing for rankings around similar search queries such as “tummy control swimsuits for new moms” or “slimming swimsuits,” indicating that they overlap in search intent. 

The solution? Merge the two pages into one piece of new content, ensuring you still use keywords related to both “postpartum swimsuits” and “tummy control swimsuits.” This way, you have a singular, authoritative category page that covers a variety of related keywords that share search intent, as opposed to multiple pages competing with each other on your own site, which prevents any knowledge authority. 

Redirect content

A redirect forwards users and search engines to a new URL when the original page has been removed or replaced. Redirects are a strategic way to preserve SEO value and user experience when your site’s content has become irrelevant, obsolete, or unviable. 

Example: 

A 2021 blog post announcing your newest swimwear launch has likely outlived its purpose and is no longer driving meaningful traffic.

You could redirect it to either a recent article about this year’s latest swim trends or to a collection page of your newest swimsuit lines. This way, visitors get the most up-to-date information, versus landing on an outdated and irrelevant piece of content—which results in high bounce rates that can potentially hurt overall site performance. 

Decision matrix: How to determine content decay

A decision matrix provides a solid framework for evaluating content decay across your pages. This matrix can serve as a handy tool for quickly identifying opportunities and prioritizing your efforts. If you chip away at analyzing and improving content pieces, over time, you can restore lost visibility and prevent site-wide decay.

You can quickly decide if content should be updated, consolidated, or redirected depending on its performance, using these metrics: 

• Traffic: Does the page still drive decent traffic, or has traffic fallen off?
• Keyword rankings: Does it still rank for keywords that are relevant and have search volume?
• Backlinks: Are there backlinks from relevant, reputable sources that you don’t want to lose?
• Conversions: Does this content help drive conversions or leads?
• Crawlability/indexing: Is the page still crawled and indexed by Google?

Content decay sample decision matrix: Update, consolidate, or redirect?

Decision-making criteria	Page	Keyword rankings	Backlinks	Conversions	Total
Low Traffic	Old blog post	1	1	0	2
MediumTraffic	Overlapping resource pages	3	2	2	7
HighTraffic	Trend-based listicle	3	3	3	9

***Every aspect can rank between 0-3. The higher the final score, the more likely we should update/refresh, versus remove or redirect. 

Total scores

• 1-3: Redirect to evergreen piece
• 4-6: Merge
• 7-9: Update and repromote

The way you structure your decision matrix should reflect the specific problems you want to fix with your content. 

For example, your swimsuit site might have lots of old blog posts and irrelevant product pages. Some of them still bring in decent traffic, while others rank for long-tail keywords but no longer align with your current product strategy. In this case, you could focus your decision matrix on traffic volume and keyword rankings to spot the signs of content and help you decide if you should redirect, merge, or refresh each page. 

How to refresh content to reverse decay

If you’ve ruled out other issues and know that traffic loss is due to content decay, then a targeted refresh is in order. But refreshing content doesn’t just mean updating metadata and adding a few new sentences of copy. You need a clear understanding of why each piece is underperforming, so you can tailor the right approach.

Let’s walk through the different tactics.

Optimize metadata

Analyze top-ranking results by checking Google Search and Google Trends. This will help you fine-tune metadata such as meta titles, H1s, H2s, and descriptions. 

The goal is to frame your metadata as a solution to users’ most prominent question or need. For example, the top results for “2025 swimsuit trends” mention “summer” a few times, suggesting users want to know swimsuit trends specifically for the upcoming summer season. It’s worth adding that keyword to your title tag or meta description, e.g., “2025 summer swimsuit trends.”

Google Trends calls out related queries that serve as keyword ideas to include in your metadata. For example, “benoa swimsuit” refers to a swim brand, which you could add to your blog post as a trending brand. 

Update subheadings/subtopics

Instead of centering your content solely around a keyword, check search results to discover other related search queries, subtopics, supporting questions, and related themes to expand your article and increase its value. 

With Google’s AI Overview in full swing, take note of what angles and aspects it covers for a search query and consider adding them as subtopics or callouts. For example, the AI Overview below leads with a focus on colors, styles, details, and embellishments for the search query, “newest swimsuit trends.”

To further increase the value of your article, you can also use other semantic elements. For example, consider adding some PAAs (People Also Ask) questions from the search results as an FAQ to your article.

Also, check for entity mentions: e.g., a well-known swim stylist influencer or brand may be referenced in multiple top-ranking sources or related searches. This helps your content align better with what Google expects for a topic, helping to increase the chances of improved rankings and traffic.

Add unique content

Add value to your content using elements such as internal data, expert quotes or commentary, or behind-the-scenes insight that your competitors don’t have. 

For example:

• Embed a social media post like an Instagram reel into your article with a behind-the-scenes look at your latest swimsuit shoot
• Run a customer survey and use the data to extract unique insights to help your post stand out from the competitors
• Host an internal interview with a C-suite executive or upper manager, with the goal of grabbing as many succinct quotes as possible
• Have a repository on hand of go-to quotes that fit a variety of topics on your brand, so down the road, you can cherry-pick ones to help boost your content’s credibility and originality

Authenticity and originality are playing a bigger role than ever in online brand exposure across search engines and Large Language Models (LLMs) alike, so these types of additions can be the little difference that help catapult your content to higher rankings. 

Improve linking/fix broken links

Also, ensure the page is included in internal linking paths so it continues to get crawled and gain authority. If you have other articles or resources related to the page’s topic, make sure you add a backlink from the article to those ones. 

Pages that are buried or orphaned (e.g., not linked to from any other content) are less likely to be discovered by search engines and may gradually lose visibility.

Not sure about the health of your page’s backlink profile? Use Semrush’s backlink checker or Neil Patel’s free backlink checker to find broken, toxic, or missed linking opportunities. If you find broken links pointing to your page, set up proper redirects or reach out to the linking site to update the URL.

Add rich media elements

Rich media improves user engagement and helps make a piece more contextually relevant. You can get fancy with custom-designed images or infographics, or keep it simple with bare-bones charts or tables. If you run a YouTube channel or Instagram account, consider embedding or linking to videos or reels in your content. 

For example, this swimsuit article about the “coconut girl aesthetic” embeds Instagram posts from influencers who embody the aesthetic, tying the brand back to the influencers and making the post more contextually relevant. 

Bonus: Rich media elements also boost your chances of showing up in visual SERP features to meet the growing demand for visual, skimmable content, especially among Gen Z searchers and AI-powered search experiences. 

Reorder sections

One of the easiest ways to improve your content’s performance is to reorder its subsections based on what users want to know the most. 

For example, if the search query “newest swimsuit trends” yields results that focus on colors, patterns, and designs, lead your article with those topics. 

If your article leads with sections like “What is a swimsuit?” or “How to prepare for swim season,” users have to scroll to find what they need, potentially leading to higher bounce rates. This could signal to search engines that your content isn’t meeting intent and can lower your rankings.

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Pro tip: Add a Table of Contents (ToC) so users can jump to specific sections of your content while still preserving the flow of the copy. 

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Section reordering alone rarely boosts traffic or rankings, but combined with the tactics above, it can drastically improve your content’s value and helpfulness.

Align with reader/SERP intent

Search intent behind a primary keyword can shift over time based on what users want. For example, your blog post about “best swimsuit styles” may have dropped in rankings because the SERPs now prioritize product pages over educational blog posts, a fundamental shift from information-based to commercial-based content. 

This SERP shift doesn’t mean your content suddenly became low-quality, it just means it no longer fulfills the intent of what most users are looking for. 

In this case, you could reformat your article to function more like a product page. For example: 

The blog post models its structure after the product category page by showcasing athleisure items, providing in-depth descriptions, and product page links. This better aligns with user intent by offering a quicker path to purchase, matching what Google now prioritizes in the SERPs for that keyword.

Another option is to redirect the page to a top-performing product or category page if it’s no longer driving significant traffic.

Build topical clusters

If the decaying content is a one-off post with no supporting articles, consider creating or updating related pages to form a strong topical cluster. Well-supported content clusters help signal authority to search engines compared to standalone content, especially for highly competitive terms. 

Say you have a blog post titled “best swimsuits for athletic body types,” but it’s starting to lose rankings and isn’t linked to from anywhere else on your site. To strengthen it, you could build a supporting topical cluster of several articles around swimwear fit guides and body confidence, which might look like: 

• How to choose a swimsuit for your body shape (pillar/overview page)
• Best swimsuits for curvy figures
• Flattering one-piece swimsuits for petite women
• High-support swimsuits for active beach days

By interlinking these pieces and your “best swimsuits for athletic body types,” you can create a balanced content hub that improves internal relevance, crawlability, and topical authority.

Add schema markup

Schema markup is structured data that helps search engines understand the purpose of each site page. You can embed schema markup code in the header or footer of your pages to help them “speak the language” of search engines, making them easier to crawl, index, and categorize.

For example, you’d want to use “article” schema markup code on your swimsuit trends article so search engines can immediately recognize that your page is an article, and, in turn, evaluate it as one. 

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Pro tip: Read our in-depth guide on how to implement schema markup. 

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Adding or updating schema can help revive decaying content by improving how it appears in search results, potentially earning rich snippets that boost visibility and click-through rates.

Always keep content fresh

All content eventually hits a point of needing a refresh. Even your best-performing evergreen posts are not immune to content decay. But it doesn’t have to become a complex, looming project so long as you bake content decay monitoring into your regular site maintenance process.

Tools like Semrush make this easy. With features like position tracking, traffic analysis, keyword research, and site audits, you can proactively spot pages that are slipping in performance before they fall too far. 

By catching content decay early and addressing it with strategic updates, consolidations, or redirects, you can extend the life of your content and keep your traffic and rankings strong long-term.