Top 6 SEO Fixes for Content Decay (That Won’t Break the Bank)

Feb 14, 2025
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9 min read

Content decay is like tooth decay — it doesn’t happen overnight. It is the gradual decline of your organic search traffic and rankings. Sometimes it’s a result of poor hygiene and sometimes it’s just genes. Whether behavioral or technical (or both), you can prevent content decay.

To add to the good news, this isn’t a problem with your entire website; rather, content decay is a page-by-page problem. (You can breathe a sigh of relief now.) Remember, Google and Bing don’t index websites; they index pages.

Content decay can happen for many reasons: changing search intent, a change in your content focus, increased competitor content, and generally evolving user needs. It needn’t be your fault but becomes your fault if you don’t fix the problem. And, like neglected tooth decay, fixing it becomes more expensive.

Think of content like your backyard deck that you post on Instagram. It will fall apart if you don’t maintain the wood, paint, and joints every year. That’s not climate change destroying your deck; that’s the result of you ignoring your property.

Fighting content decay isn’t rocket science; it’s just work. The good thing is that WordPress makes content updates easier and faster, so you can concentrate on the writing.

WordPress 6.7 was a game changer for content creation which helps tremendously with content decay. We’d like to point out that updating content isn’t just about the main article. Updating content includes changing your featured image, rewriting the meta description, adding captions and alt text for images, and checking for broken links.

If you’re not doing all of the following to fix content decay and maintain your ranking and traffic, then you should read on. We’ve got you covered!

TL;DR: 6 SEO Fixes for Content Decay

Updating existing content
Adding new, relevant information
Optimizing for current SEO standards
Improving user engagement
Staying on top of current search intent
Using a great CMS, like WordPress

“The ability to add, rearrange, and edit patterns more efficiently enables you to update your content more frequently, keeping it fresh and relevant. (WordPress) lets you focus on broader content updates without getting bogged down in individual block edits.”
Rocket.net – WordPress 6.7 – A New Era of Content Creation and Design

What is Content Decay and How Does it Happen?

The content lifecycle typically follows a predictable pattern, beginning with an initial period of attention.

Initial indexing and algorithm analysis
Sporadic traffic spikes in the first weeks
Possible short-term boost from social media and newsletters

As your content gains backlinks and rankings improve, it enters a growth phase.

Steady increase in organic traffic
Accumulation of backlinks (hopefully!)
Improved rankings for more search queries

Eventually, your content reaches its peak performance, depending on varying factors.

Growth plateaus due to reaching a ranking ceiling
Duration varies from days to months
This can occur from maxing out rankings or facing new competition

Finally, your content enters a period of decay. This is what we want to help you fix.

Performance decline begins
Usually happens faster for competitive topics
Caused by decreased relevance or freshness
Can affect relatively new content in competitive spaces

When Does Your Content Begin to Decay?

Despite what fancy salespeople like to pitch, there is no magic shelf life for content. It’s not yogurt. Search for a topic in Google or Bing and you still find articles from top brands stretching back to the early 2000s. When does your content expire? As they say in SEO, “It depends.”

Check your sitemap.xml quarterly to see how old articles and pages are. As a rule, you should take another look at any content that hasn’t been updated in the last six months.

News: Hours. Days to weeks.
Tech/Trends: Months.
SEO Content: 6-12 months.
Technical: Months to years for links, years for code.
Engagement: Months for popular, years for niche.
Accuracy: 1 year (or less in fast-evolving fields).

“What people mean when they talk about Content Decay is a slow drop in search traffic. But a slow drop in traffic is not a definition, it’s just a symptom of the problem of declining user interest.”
searchenginejournal.com

How to Find Content Decay on Your Website

To find content decay on your website, monitor drops in organic traffic and keyword rankings. Use your analytics tool and SEO plugin in combination with Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools performance reports.

Other tools like Semrush, Sistrix, and Ahrefs provide you with similar reporting. If you can’t measure it, you can’t use it. Find a tool that fits your needs.

If you still aren’t using an SEO plugin, WPMarmite has you covered with a review of the best ones.

Regardless of your tool of choice, you should be looking at two things: a report of your content performance and a report of your keyword rankings.

Analyze engagement metrics such as bounce rates and time on page to help you identify underperforming content. You want time on page to be 2 minutes or more on average. Check for outdated information, ensure relevance to current trends, and address technical issues like broken links or slow load times. Most important of all is to watch out for content people are looking for.

Regular audits help keep your content fresh, accurate, and aligned with user intent. That gets you visits.

Tip 1: Updating Your Content to Get Google and Bing’s Attention

Freshen those stats, swap out old examples, and add the latest industry buzz. Are you still optimizing for 2023 keywords in 2025?

Google and Bing love to see that you’re keeping things current. And, if you’re focused on AI citations, your content needs to be better than even the big two search engines. When you edit and refresh articles on your website, don’t forget to request reindexing on Google Search Console. This is an important step that many people forget.

If Google and Bing are still important to your game plan, then here’s a good old basic SEO reminder:

Create comprehensive, original content – that means first-hand (think Reddit).

Add new insights and current data and remove outdated information.
Are you using schema markup? Really? To the max?

Improving page loading speed is often the same thing as updating your content.
Credibility Boosters: case studies are fine, but short podcasts with guests are better.

Use Google Search Console. Use Bing Webmaster Tools.
Continuously refine your content strategy. That alone can help stop decaying content.

Tip 2: Adding Search-Friendly Content

What does that even mean? It’s 2025, and people are asking Alexa and Siri for recommendations. We’re using AI for informational search queries. That’s 90% of SEO outside of the big two search engines. We haven’t even mentioned Amazon, Etsy, or YouTube. Want to talk about TikTok search for a moment?

Search-friendly doesn’t mean just Google or Bing. Not anymore. Search-friendly means wherever your customers are searching. It could be the local paper. Yes, it could be X, Google Maps, and Yelp.

Don’t just stick to surface updates of your content. Think out of the box. Look at your customer insights from support tickets, emails, and even replies on social. Watch the conversations on X. Weave in new research and emerging trends. Updating content is like adding new ingredients to keep your recipe exciting and relevant.

While you’re at it, don’t be afraid to prune away anything that’s past its prime. Saying goodbye to your number one post can be hard, but if people love it, they will return.

Tip 3: Absolutely Nothing New to Write or Optimize in Your Content? Try Chunking.

We wrote about content chunking in a recent post. Think of chunking as revamping your kitchen. Everything is perfect, but you could find your favorite spices a little easier, right? (And get rid of the expired ones, gross!)

Chunking out your content for AI and search engines is like rearranging your spice rack. Not a hobby chef? Then, think of it as rearranging the tools in your workshop.

Content chunking breaks long-form content into focused, digestible sections to improve SEO performance and user experience. You can enhance visibility and engagement in AI citations and search engines by simply restructuring your content for specific search intents. No new content is required!

Let’s say we have an article about recovering organic website traffic that is six months old. We’re losing visibility but don’t have time to write a new article. You can go in and chunk out two pieces in the same article. It’s like a new layer of paint on your deck. Don’t work harder; work smarter

Example: AI Search Citation Chunk

SEO fundamentals remain unchanged: create high-quality, user-focused content that answers audience questions. Focus on semantic HTML for better structure and accessibility, benefiting users and search engines. Craft compelling headlines and opening paragraphs to increase engagement. Use keywords to guide content creation, prioritizing user intent over keyword density. Effective SEO is about making valuable content easily discoverable by people who need it, not outsmarting search algorithms.

Example: Featured Snippet Chunk

How to rediscover SEO and recover organic traffic:

Create high-quality, user-focused content.
Implement semantic HTML for better structure.
Craft compelling headlines and opening paragraphs.
Use keywords to guide content, focusing on user intent.
Prioritize simple, well-structured content over complex SEO strategies.

Effective SEO focuses on making valuable content easily discoverable by people who need it, rather than trying to outsmart search algorithms.

See what we did there? We optimized the content in a much quicker and more useful way than a complete rewrite would have accomplished. Content decay avoided!

“Featured Snippets benefit from smaller chunks of content. AI Search Citations benefit from bigger chunks of content.”
Rocket.net – Why Content Chunking For Ranking AI Overviews Makes Sense

Tip 4: Quick Wins to Improve Use Engagement

To keep readers engaged, you have to keep their attention. A video here, an interactive poll there. Learn from social media. Watch your analytics, too. Where are readers dropping off?

Holding onto your rankings and page traffic is more than adding attention-grabbing content. Your website isn’t a circus. People need to trust your website in order to trust you with their business. Add relevance and value to your content with videos, infographics, and downloadable content.

Here is an out-of-the-box idea:

Create a “living” content hub. This goes beyond a static blog by transforming yours into a dynamic, continuously evolving resource. Integrate regularly updated sections like “What’s New in Digital Marketing for 2025.” Embed live Q&A sessions and utilize webhooks to display real-time industry trends.

You’ll keep your content fresh and search-engine friendly while building an interactive experience that encourages users to return. Your content goes from a one-time read into an ongoing conversation.

The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing Trends (2025 Edition)

Dynamic Features:

Regularly Updated Trends Section:
- A dedicated area at the top titled “What’s New in Digital Marketing” updates weekly with the latest insights (e.g., “AI-Powered SEO Tools Are Redefining Search Strategies”).
- Use APIs to pull real-time data, such as trending keywords, analytics, or case studies.
Live Q&A Widget:
- Embed a chat or forum where users can ask questions (e.g., “How do I adapt my strategy to algorithm changes?”) and receive answers from experts or AI.
- Archive the Q&A responses as mini-blog entries to build an evergreen FAQ section.
Industry Updates Feed:
- A sidebar showing live stats (e.g., “Today’s Most Googled Marketing Buzzwords”).
- Use a service like Zapier to pull data from relevant industries or even a service like UpContent to enhance content on your site.
Community-Driven Spotlight:
- Showcase top comments from users, like “Top Marketing Hacks from Our Readers.”
- Add support ticket queries or chatbot chats; this spotlights your expertise!
- Allow users to upvote or share their favorite ideas.

Why It Works:

Regular updates signal freshness to search engines, improving ranking.
User interaction increases dwell time and pages per session.
Real-time relevance builds authority and encourages backlinks.

Tip 5: Is Search Intent Obvious or Are You Missing Something?

Search intent is often not as obvious as we would like it to be. Search intent is simply understanding exactly what someone is trying to find. Do they want to purchase, learn something, find a specific website, or solve a problem?

However, as search habits change, there is a lot we could be missing. That is a good chance to update content and win some clicks.

The Intent You Might Be Missing

Search intent can sometimes seem obvious, but some nuances can be missed. Can your content be optimized for any of the following?

Explicit vs. Implicit Intent:

Explicit Intent: The user clearly states what they are looking for. For example, “Best Smartphones 2025” shows a clear intent to find information on the best smartphones of that year.
Implicit Intent: The user might not directly state their need; for instance, “how to make a smartphone last longer” could relate to battery life, durability, or software maintenance.

Contextual Clues:

Keywords: The choice of words can reveal intent. “Buy” or “purchase” suggests transactional intent, while “how to” indicates informational.
User Behavior: Previous interactions, click patterns, and session history can also provide insight into what the user might be looking for.

User Demographics and Location:

Even if you know the user is from Canada, don’t assume their current location without confirmation. Ask for more details if the search intent seems location-specific.

Ambiguity and Multi-Intent Queries:

Some queries can have multiple intents. “Apple” could refer to the fruit, the company, or even a record label. Recognizing this requires understanding the broader context of the search.

Feedback and Iteration:

If you’re in a position to interact with users, feedback can be invaluable. Adjust your interpretation based on user reactions or further queries. Build a FAQ from all those emails and phone calls you receive.

Tip 6: Use the Tools You Have. AKA Build Better.

WordPress. Your trusty Swiss Army knife. Your CMS has all the tools you need to keep your content sharp and performing well. When was the last time you used 100% of your CMS?

Don’t forget those SEO plugins and scheduling features to maintain your content; they make your website much less work than maintaining your deck!

“Your purpose is to create content that educates and helps people – content that showcases your expertise. That’s what clients are looking for. No one is looking to buy a thousand words – they’re looking to buy a message.”
Rocket.net – Still Thinking About Using AI Content on Your Website?

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