When auditing a website, when do you decide to delete pages?
-
Given that the Panda algorithm includes engagement and user experience, when would you consider deleting a page that has poor engagement and conversion metrics?
For example, consider a page that ranks well organically and receives (relatively) decent traffic from search. However, this page has poor engagement metrics compared to other pages on the site, does not convert visitors as well as other pages on the site, and doesn't have any external links. Would you consider deleting this page?
Which metrics do you use when auditing a site and considering a web page from removal (bounce rate, average time on site, pages per visit, linking root domains, visits, revenue per visit, etc.)?
Are some metrics weighed more than others? What kind of thresholds do you use?
Finally, is there a situation when you would choose NOT to delete pages, even considering the above?
-
For example, consider a page that ranks well organically and receives (relatively) decent traffic from search. However, this page has poor engagement metrics compared to other pages on the site, does not convert visitors as well as other pages on the site, and doesn't have any external links. Would you consider deleting this page?
I would improve the page.
Beef up the content, add seductive links to get traffic to a more valuable page, add adsense to earn money if the traffic is low quality.
Which metrics do you use when auditing a site and considering a web page from removal (bounce rate, average time on site, pages per visit, linking root domains, visits, revenue per visit, etc.)?
If someone brought me a site that needed help I would do keyword research to determine if they are covering the important queries for their line of business. If they are not I would have a content plan to get them covered. If they are covered but performing poorly we would improve those pages.
Looking at the numbers you suggest is like cutting off a foot because you have a blister on your toe. Decide instead if the foot is valuable. If yes, cure it.
-
Hard to beat what Dan has said here.
The only think I could possibly add is to monitor whether google has added those pages to the index, and/or removed them. I find it telling to see what google acknowledges by way of their own search results.
-
Hi There
First off, I rarely delete pages. Better and easier to noindex. That way you get them out of the SERPs and reduce the poor user metrics, but people can still find the pages otherwise and you don't have to 301 redirect them etc. You can delete if you feel they are just a bad user experience over all of course - but I noindex as a starting point.
Anyhow, regardless, here's how I access it - first I use a custom report with the following metrics (you can play around with them);
- pageviews
- entrances
- new visits
- avg time on page
- exits
- exit rate
- "page" for the dimension
Thresholds - starting point (I use filters)
- pageviews - I start with over 50
- avg time on page - less than 30 seconds
- exit rate - great than 80%
I like to end up with a list of maybe 50-100 pages that fall within the thresholds. Every site is different. But I try to isolate 50-100 of the worst pages (we're assuming maybe a 2,500+ page site).
You can throw a segment on there if you want to segment just Google Organic traffic - that could in some cases be more accurate.
Hope that helps! Interested to see what other people do.
-Dan
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google not giving ranking to the intended page of my website.
Hello friends, This is my very first question, I hope I will explain my issue correctly. I have created two pages related to SSC CGL keyword on my website: https://www.ibtindia.com/ssc-cgl-notification-exam-date 2) https://www.ibtindia.com/ssc-cgl-apply-online I want to target the keyword SSC CGL Apply Online on the 2nd URL but Google is only considering the 1st page for all the "apply" related keywords as well. Can anyone suggest to me how to get the second page in rankings for its intended keywords? I will be very thankful for this help. I tried adding image but its showing dummy. Please you can check it op GOOGLE SERP Second page
Search Behavior | | namitathakur0 -
Decent Bounce Rate but extremely low visit duration and page depth?
I'm having a bit of difficulty understanding the Bounce Rate, Visit Duration, and Page Depth metrics in Google Analytics. GA is reporting that my site's bounce rate is pretty decent - currently 36%. Yet when I drill down into audience behavior engagement, I am seeing that the vast majority of visit durations are 0-10 seconds, and the page depth is only 1 for a majority of visitors. If this were the case, wouldn't my bounce rate be higher?
Search Behavior | | JPS890 -
How come some local 7 pack listings link to site and some link to the G+ page?
Does anyone know how to fix this issue? Even though a site profile has had the website added to it Google continues to link the main "title tag" link to the G+ page and not the actual website domain. Thanks for any info in advance! https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&q=dog+sitting+in+rockaway&oq=dog+sitting+in+rockaway&gs_l=hp.3..0i22i30l4.14871.16189.1.16397.8.8.0.0.0.0.296.2042.2-7.7.0...0.0...1c.1.15.psy-ab.Y1db0jo77V0&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.bmk&fp=722b460c2153b7be&biw=1920&bih=910
Search Behavior | | irvingw0 -
Does Page Load Time Affect SEO Rankings?
I was curious about how much page load times affect rankings. Here's what I did: I put together a lot of interactive media on specific landing pages Time-on-Page from organic visitors went from 50 seconds to average of 34 minutes Bounce Rate decreased by 20% Page Load time increased from 1 second to 6 seconds and at peak times to 8 seconds (on 56KB test) In the meantime the page was re-indexed and re-cached My question is three-fold: Would the time on page give higher rankings for keyword Would decreased bounce rate enhance rankings? Would the page load time decrease rankings? Did anyone do a similar test? What were the results?
Search Behavior | | HMCOE0 -
Why does my website not rank better for the keyword i am going for?
My website is www.canadafloraldelivery.com. I just can't seem to get my webpage ranked well for the keyword " Flowers Edmonton " . Also I can't seem to get my Google local listing on the map for many keywords. Is there something obvious that I am missing? Any help would be very appreciated.
Search Behavior | | CKerr0 -
2 gallerys showing the same images on the one website
Hi, I was Just looking through some of our website and noticed that we have a slide show gallery and when you click on the image it loads onto a light box gallery. would this act a duplicate content as it shows in two different types of displays in the one place. Thanks again
Search Behavior | | Feily0 -
Hi guys.. post-penguin my website coming in and out of serps every other day... what reason for that? ie. #11 --> #300+
We had one of the pre-penguin "unnatural links " messages in WMT - then Penguin hit April 24th/25th.. wee then set to work on Link profile... since 19th May we have had numerous search phrases come 'back' into rank pre-penguin for a day ie.. #5 - #10 and then drop the next.. ie 300+ this has been happening across a wide range of key phrases.... in fact it may well be that the key phrases are added to the serps 'briefly' or for a set amount of time... but our ranking checker checks daily so while it appears to be every other day in and out there may be another pattern... but the question is What is Google doing here and Why? any suggestions?
Search Behavior | | Geminineil1