How/when do you trim your article pages?

[SDavis11]

Hi all,

I wanted to ask what have you all done to your article section that has  made a difference to the site's SEO performance? What's the criteria for deciding which articles top cut or 301 redirect to the main page

For example:

1. you have a slightly irrelevant article to your website topic, low conversions, but a lot of quality links to page, but no primary keywords in article title.

2. You have a slightly irrelevant article to your website, low conversion, but a lot of quality links AND you have your site's primary keywords in article title

3. You have a relevant topic to the site, but low engagement and low conversions

Thanks for all your help!

[Nigel_Carr]

Hi SDavis11

The main point here is that each page should focus on a particular theme or subject, If you start overlapping then you will dilute any link juice between pages. Taking your points one by one:

1. If you have an article which is unrelated to your website topic then consider noindexing - or just leaving it alone. If you 301 to the main site then you are telling Google that the page has moved and that the main site is the new version. It is not. Any backlinks you do have are linking to that page because they feel that it is relevant to them. If they are suddenly linking back to the home page which is not relevant you end up:

a. Upsetting those who link to you as they are not now connected to relevant content.
b. Having a toxic backlink to your home page from non-relevant content.

2. If the article (I assume this in ON your site and not _TO) _has more irrelevant content - first I would question why you keep producing irrelevant articles then I would remove any site related keywords. Then treat it like point 2. Retitle it and let it breathe on its own. this will benefit the article and the site as you have removed overlapping themes from the title.

3. If you have a relevant topic in an article on the site then beef it up. If it's a 300-word article and it's ranking reasonably well then it is likely that the content is not enough to fully satisfy a user's query and that is why the engagement is low.. Extend the article, serve the answers as quickly as you can, above the fold and internally link to pages that will lead to a conversion.

Write semantically connected and strong content written around your theme which invariably will be a medium to long length keyword or phrase. Make the writing rich without overstuffing.

I hope that helps

Regards

Nigel

[EGOL]

Everyone has their opinions about these things.  I am not going to give an opinion, I'll simply say what I do.

1. you have a slightly irrelevant article to your website topic, low conversions, but a lot of quality links to page, but no primary keywords in article title.

I prefer to have mostly content on a site that is closely related to the central theme of the site, but I don't mind having slightly, or moderately, or highly unrelated content on my sites - especially if it attracts visitors - and if it attracts visitors I don't mind having quite a bit of that content on the site.  I monetize it with ads and if it attracts links I enjoy the linkjuice.   I know for a fact that some of these visitors buy stuff, and know for a fact that they go onto other pages of the site that are in the central theme.

Bottom line... I would keep the article that you describe.  I might improve it if I can so it will attract more links and more traffic.  I would slap a couple of Adsense units on it and block my competitors ads from appearing.

2. You have a slightly irrelevant article to your website, low conversion, but a lot of quality links AND you have your site's primary keywords in article title

This is kickass.  Make more of these if you can.

3. You have a relevant topic to the site, but low engagement and low conversions.

Sometimes articles like this are extremely valuable for visitors and past customers.  If it is a page that says how to repair an item that you sell then it is valuable, if it is low effort to produce make more of them.  These articles can attract links.

There are many ways that slightly irrelevant articles can be valuable.  I have totally irrelevant articles that attract a lot of traffic, make a lot of ad money and produce a few conversions.  Low engagement, low conversions but huge links and huge ad revenue.  I am always looking for these opportunities.

[SDavis11]

Thank you both for your responses - both answers have been very helpful in clarifying what I need to do with these articles going forward

[Nigel_Carr]

Thanks and good luck!