Written by Market My Market’s content team, with contributions from Hannah Kernal, Lindsay Bennett-Guido, and Kimberly Osborn
As search trends, Google’s algorithm, and user interest change, so does the traffic to your website’s content. This slow decline in traffic is called content decay, and understanding the types of content on your website that have decreased in interaction can help address weaknesses and improve your digital marketing strategy. At Market My Market, we can help you identify decayed content on your website and refresh it to make the information more relevant and cater to current search trends and user interests.
Because content decay occurs gradually, it can be challenging to notice it on your own. With our experienced in-house content and SEO teams, we ensure content decay doesn’t weaken your online presence by taking a proactive approach. We continually analyze content performance, repurpose content for social media, and implement strategic page updates. By refreshing and optimizing your existing content, you can sustain long-term ranking and engagement while focusing on your business.
Hannah Kernal — Content Writer
Content decay is what happens when a piece of web content gets less traffic and interaction over time. Content decay may occur naturally for several reasons, such as audience interests changing, laws getting updated, or new and better content getting published. But we at Market My Market know that these pieces of content can often be refreshed to increase this traffic again. Normally, this content needs to be changed or updated in some way so it feels more relevant to readers.
One way we fight content decay is by using SEO tools like SurferSEO. Alongside a small team, I work to perfect this process. To begin, SurferSEO analyzes a piece of content and compares it to other pieces with similar keywords and audiences. Then, it makes suggestions to improve the content, including keywords and phrases, restructuring the content, adding images, and boosting the word count.
SurferSEO will also recommend new sections that should be included in the content, depending on what competitors use in their work. This helpful tool—paired with our personal oversight—allows us to make fast and effective changes to the older content on many of our client’s websites, such as pieces published before we began working together. After an update, we’ll also audit these pieces of content to make sure they’re getting more traffic. We’ll tweak our approach if we find we aren’t getting the desired results.
Lindsay Bennett-Guido — Content Specialist
While our writers and content strategists aim to keep our content evergreen, content decay happens naturally over time. Between newer, competitive content and constant changes in medical and legal standards, sometimes our content needs updates to stay fresh. Our strategists and SEO specialists take a data-driven approach to refreshing, combining, and replacing content to maintain and improve results. This includes monitoring search trends, analyzing user intent, and leveraging performance metrics to identify opportunities for optimization. By refining outdated information, improving readability, and aligning with evolving industry guidelines, we ensure our content continues to drive engagement, authority, and conversions.
Additionally, we can draw attention to accurate content that may be losing engagement by promoting it on social media. Our social media team can increase traffic to blogs and pages with links, engaging copy, and customized graphics. One strategy they use to drive engagement with older content is creating compelling infographics. By offering a sneak peek of the content in an appealing and digestible format, these visuals entice users to click through for more details. This approach not only revitalizes underperforming content but also reinforces the brand’s authority and keeps valuable insights in circulation.
Kimberly Osborn — Content Writer
Content decay is a natural but often challenging process in the digital marketing world. The decline in high-performing content as it gradually loses visibility and traffic can result from algorithm changes, evolving audience interest, or increased competition. What was relevant and engaging a year ago might not hold the same value today. As content writers at Market My Market, we must recognize that publishing isn’t a one-and-done process but rather an ongoing rotation of optimization and refinement. We can prevent our work from fading into the background by regularly auditing content for outdated information, broken links, or shifts in audience interest.
To combat content decay, we take a strategic approach that includes refreshing old blogs and pages with updated information, re-optimizing keywords based on current trends, and improving readability and quality to match the evolving expectations of our audience. For example, on the social media team, we repurpose existing content into new formats like infographics and digital media snippets to extend the content’s reach to a broader audience and drive new engagement. At the end of the day, the key to combating content decay is continuous improvement to ensure our content remains valuable, authoritative, and high-quality in an ever-changing digital landscape.
Revive Your Content and Reclaim Your Traffic With Market My Market Today
At Market My Market, we understand that content decay is inevitable—but it’s also fixable. With tools like SurferSEO, we can analyze older content, compare it against top-ranking competitors, and implement data-driven improvements that help reclaim lost traffic. Whether adjusting keyword density, restructuring sections, or expanding content to better match search intent, our strategic updates ensure your content remains relevant and engaging for your audience.
By combining SurferSEO’s insights with our expert writing and SEO strategies, we don’t just refresh content—we give it new life. Our team carefully audits each update, making additional refinements when necessary to maximize its impact. If your content isn’t performing as it once did, we can help turn things around. Call us at (800) 997-7336 or reach out through our contact form to start optimizing your content today.
