6 SEO Pruning Strategies You Can Do Today

Pruning is an essential part of gardening; it ensures that your garden blooms in the following season so it's enjoyable. This is also true for SEO efforts, especially as the search landscape undergoes a significant transformation driven by AI-powered results, zero-click searches, and the increasing use of social media platforms. Personally, I have found Instagram Reels to be a valuable source of new information for ideas, strategies, and tactics on topics like SEO.

What does this all mean?

As Google SERPs become more competitive, the need for pruning becomes evident. Pruning is essential to integrate various content types and uphold your brand's authority, trust, and expertise in your industry.

Credit: The webinar from Neil Patel's SEO Strategies That Always Work This is a must-watch, but here are 6 SEO pruning insights.

1. Prune Content:

Removing low-quality or old content and combining related pages can improve overall site performance and address keyword cannibalization. Refreshing outdated articles can significantly boost organic traffic—regular updates, ideally quarterly. Remember, just changing timestamps has a minimal impact, and Google can detect content updates regardless of timestamps.

Do it yourself now: You can use [site: yourwebsite.com "keyword"] to quickly assess this. Addressing what people are currently asking can also give you ideas for new content.

See below using a Google search "within" the site for a keyword

[site: hivery.com "assortment optimization"]

Google uses various signals to determine content helpfulness, including user behavior, links, and consistency with industry standards. User signals like time on site, bounce rate, and backlinks play a significant role.

2. Prune Link Building

This is still crucial for SEO. Look at who has high authority for your topic or keywords at the moment. This always changes.

3. Prune User Experience (UX):

Google considers user interactions a ranking factor. Factors like page speed, site architecture, navigation, mobile friendliness, and content structure are crucial. Good UX is indicated by longer dwell time and reduced pogo-sticking (When a user enters your site from a search engine results page (SERP) and then exits back to the SERPs). You can use tools like Microsoft Clarity and Google Analytics.

4. Prune Keyword Research, Keep Blogging:

Here, focus on long-tail keywords and user intent. Tools like Answer the Public can help find relevant queries for your target audience. Blogs are good for earning backlinks and targeting informational keywords.

5. Prune Social Media:

Use social media platform tools for insights and leverage evergreen and timely content. Low-fidelity, authentic content tends to perform better.

6. Prune Meta Tags

Title and meta descriptions should be optimized separately. Title tags should be more keyword-focused, while headings should be engaging. Meta descriptions can include calls to action but should not appear too "salesy". Use free tools like Detailed to help with this.

What do you think?

Do any other SEO pruning ideas