Business Benefits
Identify content on your website that is outdated, doesn’t bring organic traffic, is no longer relevant, or doesn’t attract backlinks.
Look for pages that:
- Are more than six months old
- No longer generate a meaningful level of organic or non-organic traffic
- Do not have external links
- Do not target keywords with a meaningful search volume
Source: Why We Removed 3,000 Pieces of Outdated Content From the HubSpot Blog
Make a list of those pages and decide which are worth redirecting, optimizing for their target keyword, or pruning. Pruned articles can later be updated (upcycled) and reused as guest posts.
Make a spreadsheet with all the articles worth pruning and match them to a relevant current page/campaign.
Select articles that you can naturally link back to your target pages. Keep in mind that not all articles worth deleting or pruning will be a relevant match for your link-building campaigns.
Have either your internal content team or external writers prune each piece of content with updated information and add quotes from experts and other link building partners to foster future reciprocity.
You can also hire a freelance writer, a content agency, or use a content marketplace like SEMRush Marketplace. The prices usually vary by $/word. With SEMRush Marketplace, the cost is about $130 for a 2000 word article.
Select publications relevant to your niche and pitch them 1-2 pruned articles as guest posts.
Follow up once. If the prospect doesn’t respond within 2-3 days, pitch the article to a new prospect. The goal here is to match your offering with someone who is looking for exactly that content, not to force your way into a publication.
Last edited by @hesh_fekry 2023-11-14T15:25:37Z