More than 90% of the pages on the site do not receive search traffic, should we do a content inventory first or delete pages first?
Most of the pages on the site have no search traffic, should we inventory the content first or delete the low-quality pages first? Inventory first. Zero traffic itself does not constitute a reason for deletion, a third-party full-site study shows that: 96.55% of the pages in its index receive zero traffic from search, and 1.94% of the pages have only one to ten visits per month. This shows that 'no search traffic' is the norm for the vast majority of pages, treating it as an accident would lead to massive erroneous deletions.
The inventory answers another question: This page has no traffic because there is no corresponding search demand, or there is demand but the page is not well done. The two situations have opposite handling methods, the former can be retained or deleted without affecting the result, and the latter is worth investing in updates.
Before inventory, divide it into layers: three lists.
Group by three indicators, mark each page, and each of the three indicators can be in a column, no need for comprehensive scoring.
| Grouping dimension. | Specific criteria. | Direct supporting judgment. |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword library attribution. | Which word in the corresponding word library on this page, is there a word or not. | No corresponding word belongs to 'no demand words'. |
| Indexing status. | Whether included, whether in draft or pending publication status | First solve inclusion without judging quality, if not included |
| External links and in-site references | Number of external links, number of in-site citations | Pages with links cannot be deleted directly |
The first item is the most labor-saving: AnQiCMS's keyword library centrally manages the site SEO keywords. Whether a page corresponds to a searchable word directly determines whether it is a long-tail candidate or an invalid page. The second item should avoid misjudgment, as drafts and documents pending publication should not be counted in the zero-traffic pool. Drafts can be viewed separately with a preview parameter
Judgment line of three processing methods
Merge situations where the same topic is split into multiple pages: Retain the most complete article, merge the rest of the text, and set a jump to the retained page for the merged pages.
Update for the case of 'words but no ranking': The page hits the words in the keyword library, but the content depth, structure, or timeliness is lagging. The work involved in such pages is usually supplementing and reordering, rather than rewriting.
Move to the recycle bin is suitable for pages that are no longer in service. The key action here is to leave a window instead of clearing immediately: AnQiCMS deletes formal documents by moving them to the recycle bin, not by physical deletion, and documents in the recycle bin can still be restored, which gives time for rollback in case of misjudgment; completely clear when necessary, then handle it within the recycle bin.
Confirm the links and redirects before deleting a page
The most common loss of a one-cut delete page is not the content itself, but the link assets: the addresses pointed to by external links become invalid, and other pages within the site are still referencing it. Check the three items in order.
Check external links: Pages pointed to by external links should be deleted and redirected to the closest retained page using 301 redirect to ensure that both authority and visitors have a place to go. Then check the internal references: Links pointing to the address in the text and navigation should be changed together; otherwise, it will leave a batch of dead links. Finally, regenerate the site map and remove the deleted addresses from the submission list to avoid repeated crawling of invalid addresses by the inclusion end.
The review rhythm after inventory
After the disposal is completed, it is sufficient to review once a quarter, looking at three aspects: whether the jump of merged pages is effective, the inclusion and traffic changes of updated pages, and whether there are any mistakenly deleted pages that need to be restored in the recycle bin. The significance of the review is to calibrate the judgment line, not to pursue zero - it is impossible to reduce the number of zero-traffic pages to zero, and it is also not valuable.
Common questions
Question: Can we use 'zero traffic' as the basis for deletion directly?Answer: No. Zero traffic is mixed with three reasons: no demand, not indexed, and ranking insufficient. Only when the page is confirmed to have no corresponding words, no external links, and no internal citations, the deletion is a neutral operation.
Ask: Should the original address be retained after merging?Answer: Yes. The retention method is redirection instead of a blank page, 301 redirection allows the original external links and bookmarks to continue to be available, and also avoids the appearance of two indexable addresses for the same topic.
Ask: Can you regret deleting a page?Answer: As long as you go through the recycle bin path, it can be restored, and the original state is maintained after recovery. To recover after physical deletion, it depends on backups, which is much more costly.