What are the five decisions?

Keep (the page performs well, has clear intent, and needs no changes), update (real potential held back by fixable issues like decay, stale information, or thin content), merge (overlapping pages that should consolidate to outperform either alone), redirect (no future but backlinks or equity worth preserving toward a relevant target), and delete (no traffic, no rankings, no assets, and not worth updating). Every page in the inventory gets exactly one of these.

How do I decide between keep, update, merge, redirect, and delete?

Score each URL first on traffic, rank, impressions, CTR, referring domains, engagement, last update, word count, and internal links, then follow the decision tree. Traffic with recent decay updates; stable traffic keeps; no traffic but backlinks and a relevant target redirects; no traffic while cannibalizing another page merges; nothing worth preserving deletes with a 410. A page can survive low scores on a few metrics, but one that fails on most is a delete or redirect candidate.

Why use 410 instead of 404 for deleted pages?

A 410 (gone) is processed faster than a 404 and signals that the deletion was deliberate rather than an accident or a temporary error. Use it for content you have intentionally removed with no equity worth preserving. Reserve a redirect for pages that still hold backlinks or topical relevance, since a redirect preserves the equity at near-zero cost while a delete discards it.

What is the biggest mistake in a content audit?

Deleting pages that have backlinks. Always check referring domains before deleting, because a redirect preserves the equity at near-zero cost while a delete throws it away. The other common traps are updating pages that should be merged (two thin pages refreshed to medium pages still cannibalize each other), mass-deleting by session count alone (some low-traffic pages are ramping, niche, or seasonal), and treating age as a delete signal when topic relevance and intent quality are what actually matter.

How do I know the audit worked?

Measure aggregate organic traffic at 30, 60, and 90 days after implementing the decisions. Without post-audit measurement, you cannot tell whether the keep, update, merge, redirect, and delete calls recovered traffic or hurt it. Implement the changes in batches with change tracking, re-crawl after each batch to confirm no broken redirect chains, and watch the aggregate trend rather than any single page.

Skill · SEO content audit

SEO content audit.

Keep, update, merge, redirect, or delete: one decision per page.

Inventory existing content, score every page, and produce one of five decisions for each: keep, update, merge, redirect, or delete. The work suits an inherited content library, a site-wide traffic decline, cannibalization, a pre-migration cleanup, or a periodic health check.

The decisions follow a mechanical tree from the metrics, but the judgment is in preserving equity: a page with backlinks gets redirected rather than deleted, and overlapping pages merge rather than compete.

Audience: SEO and content teams pruning a content library, resolving cannibalization, diagnosing a site-wide traffic decline, or cleaning up before a redesign or replatform.

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The framework

Five actions, one per page.

Every piece of content gets exactly one decision, drawn from the metrics and the decision tree.

01Keep: the page ranks in the top 10 for its query, draws consistent traffic with no decay, has healthy engagement, and is up to date. No changes.
02Update: page-2 rankings (positions 11 to 30), traffic decay over 6 to 12 months, stale information, or thin content. Real potential held back by fixable issues.
03Merge: two or more pages target overlapping queries, none ranking well. Consolidate to preserve both the link equity and the topical authority.
04Redirect: no traffic and no rankings, but backlinks worth preserving and a relevant target page that would benefit from the equity.
05Delete: no traffic, no rankings, no backlinks, and content not worth updating. Return a 410, which is processed faster than a 404 and signals a deliberate removal.

The discipline

Check the backlinks before deleting anything.

Every page gets exactly one decision, and the tree is mechanical: traffic with recent decay updates, stable traffic keeps, no-traffic-but-backlinks redirects to a relevant target, cannibalizing pages merge, and the rest delete with a 410. Score each URL first on traffic, rank, impressions, CTR, referring domains, engagement, last update, word count, and internal links; a page can survive low scores on a few metrics but not on most.

Check referring domains before deleting anything. Deleting a page that holds editorial backlinks throws away equity a redirect would preserve at near-zero cost. For overlapping pages, merge usually beats delete because it keeps both the link equity and the topical authority, and the merge target is the URL with the stronger signals (older, more backlinks, better slug, better ranking), not the one with more words.

Date alone is not a delete signal; topic relevance and intent quality are. Resist mass-deleting old or low-traffic pages, because some are fresh pages still ramping, niche pages serving a specific audience, or evergreen pages with seasonal traffic. Then measure aggregate organic traffic at 30, 60, and 90 days, because without it you cannot tell whether the audit worked.

Reference files

Two references that go alongside the SKILL.md.

references/audit-template.md
Spreadsheet column definitions and the summary report template.
references/cannibalization-resolution.md
A detailed methodology for resolving cannibalization clusters.

Browse all reference files on GitHub

Bridges to other skills

The skills around an existing-content audit.

This audit decides the fate of pages that already exist. These cover the single page, the new content, the competitive frame, and the move it often precedes.

One page in depth
seo-onpage
When the decision is 'update', optimizing that single page's titles, headers, and content is on-page work. The audit picks which pages earn the effort.
New content
seo-keyword
Planning content that does not yet exist is research, not audit. The audit handles what is already published; research decides what to add.
The competitive frame
seo-competitor
Comparing the library to competitors is a different lens. The audit scores pages against their own performance; competitor analysis scores them against the field.
The move it precedes
content-migration
A pre-migration cleanup is often an audit. The keep, merge, redirect, and delete decisions become the migration's URL map and feed its cutover.
Site-level issues
seo-technical
When a site-wide traffic decline is technical rather than content quality, the cause sits there. The audit rules content in or out as the culprit.

Open source under MIT

Read the SKILL.md on GitHub.

The skill source lives in the rampstackco/claude-skills repository alongside dozens of other skills covering the full lifecycle of brand and product work. This page is a structured overview; the SKILL.md is the source. MIT licensed.

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Frequently asked questions.

What are the five decisions?: Keep (the page performs well, has clear intent, and needs no changes), update (real potential held back by fixable issues like decay, stale information, or thin content), merge (overlapping pages that should consolidate to outperform either alone), redirect (no future but backlinks or equity worth preserving toward a relevant target), and delete (no traffic, no rankings, no assets, and not worth updating). Every page in the inventory gets exactly one of these.
How do I decide between keep, update, merge, redirect, and delete?: Score each URL first on traffic, rank, impressions, CTR, referring domains, engagement, last update, word count, and internal links, then follow the decision tree. Traffic with recent decay updates; stable traffic keeps; no traffic but backlinks and a relevant target redirects; no traffic while cannibalizing another page merges; nothing worth preserving deletes with a 410. A page can survive low scores on a few metrics, but one that fails on most is a delete or redirect candidate.
Why use 410 instead of 404 for deleted pages?: A 410 (gone) is processed faster than a 404 and signals that the deletion was deliberate rather than an accident or a temporary error. Use it for content you have intentionally removed with no equity worth preserving. Reserve a redirect for pages that still hold backlinks or topical relevance, since a redirect preserves the equity at near-zero cost while a delete discards it.
What is the biggest mistake in a content audit?: Deleting pages that have backlinks. Always check referring domains before deleting, because a redirect preserves the equity at near-zero cost while a delete throws it away. The other common traps are updating pages that should be merged (two thin pages refreshed to medium pages still cannibalize each other), mass-deleting by session count alone (some low-traffic pages are ramping, niche, or seasonal), and treating age as a delete signal when topic relevance and intent quality are what actually matter.
How do I know the audit worked?: Measure aggregate organic traffic at 30, 60, and 90 days after implementing the decisions. Without post-audit measurement, you cannot tell whether the keep, update, merge, redirect, and delete calls recovered traffic or hurt it. Implement the changes in batches with change tracking, re-crawl after each batch to confirm no broken redirect chains, and watch the aggregate trend rather than any single page.