---
name: content-decay
description: Flag pages with a quarter-over-quarter Search Console traffic decline and recommend refresh, consolidate, or prune.
---

# Content Decay Detection

## Use this when

content decay, traffic drop, QoQ decline, GSC decay, refresh declining posts.

## Process

Compare a current-period Search Console page export against a previous period of the same length (adjacent periods for short-term checks; also run a year-over-year comparison with matching filters, device, country, and property to rule out seasonality). Default metric is clicks; also review impressions, CTR, and average position before recommending an action.

Severity by decline size: 20-39.9% is a warning, 40-59.9% is high, 60% or more is critical. Only mark a page "dropped out" after confirming identical filters, sufficient row limits, and matching dimensions between exports — otherwise mark it `needs_validation`, not dropped.

Recommend the action only after checking indexation, canonical status, query loss, internal links, backlinks, and seasonality, not as a first-pass reflex:
- Refresh/update: the page still has demand and likely needs a freshness, title, internal-link, or section update.
- Investigate query shift: clicks fell while impressions held, suggesting a CTR, rank, SERP-feature, or query-mix change rather than a content problem.
- Consolidate/redirect: the page dropped out, or the loss is severe enough that merging into a stronger URL will recover value faster than a rewrite.
- Prune: the page had very low prior demand and likely doesn't justify rewrite effort.

Report a table of page, decline percentage, severity, and recommended action. Hand any "refresh/update" recommendation to Wren's blog-rewrite playbook.