I observed a concerning trend in the B2B / industrial marketing sector. Many agencies prioritized creating new on-site content for their clients while neglecting older posts and pages. This trend often led to a focus on quantity over quality, reminiscent of “pump-and-dump” strategies in the stock market, where short-term gains can result in long-term losses.
I recognized this flawed approach as what is termed “Content decomposition”
For instance, we worked with a commercial medical equipment client who had an underperforming blog post created by a previous agency. Although the content was decent, it lacked essential on-page SEO elements like header tags and internal links—some of which were even broken. After updating these elements and rewriting about 30% of the content, that single blog post rose to the top position for its target keywords within six weeks. Amplifying it on social media attracted additional shares and quality backlinks, ultimately generating nearly 13 Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) from that one piece of content.
What Is Content Decomposition?
Content decomposition occurs when a webpage experiences a gradual decline in traffic over time due to several factors:
- Search Engine Algorithm Changes: What worked well last year may no longer be effective.
- New Competitors: Emerging competitors often create fresher content that aligns better with current audience preferences.
- Stale Content: Over time, even high-quality content can become outdated.
The rise of AI-generated content has expanded this issue, as many brands produce large volumes of content without a strategic approach to keep it relevant.
Recognizing the Signs of Content Decomposition
To address content decay effectively, you must first identify its signs through engagement metrics:
- Negative user feedback
- Decrease in organic traffic
- Lower search engine rankings
- Outdated information
- High bounce rates
- Low average time on page
- Fewer social shares
Strategies to combat Content decomposition
Here are several strategies to revitalize your content and enhance user experience:
Conduct Regular Content Audits
Utilize tools like Google Analytics and Ahrefs/Ubersuggest to identify underperforming pages that need updates. Focus on key metrics such as organic traffic and bounce rates.
Update and Refresh Existing Content
Instead of solely creating new content, refreshing older pieces can yield significant results. Simple updates—like adding new statistics or optimizing for current SEO best practices—can make a big difference. Unlike B2C, B2B has a lot of content to the variety that can be produced as B2B is more focused towards educating customers.
Repurpose Outdated Content
Transform older blog posts into videos, infographics, or podcasts to reach wider audiences and maximize existing resources. This also allows Google crawlers to crawl fresh content from the website. Repurposing old content can also help in the branding efforts of the business.
Sunset Content That’s Past Its Prime
Not all content is worth saving. Remove outdated or irrelevant posts or redirect them to more relevant pages.
Utilize User Feedback
Gather insights from comments and social media interactions to understand what resonates with your audience and what needs improvement.
Create a Content Review Schedule
Establish a regular timetable for reviewing and refreshing your content to ensure it remains relevant and engaging.
Monitor Performance Regularly
Keep track of individual pages/posts weekly or monthly based on your website’s size and performance needs.
By implementing these strategies, businesses can effectively combat content decomposition, improve search engine rankings, and enhance user engagement. Regularly reviewing and refreshing content is essential for maintaining relevancy in the competitive industrial landscape, ultimately leading to increased traffic and revenue generation.
As a small and medium sized company, you might not have the resources to churn out new and high quality content. This can be mainly due to budget or skill related issues. With repurposing content, it will help save time and at the same time helps you be relevant for the algorithms as well. Produce limited high quality content and repurpose it time to time, it will help you stay on top of the searches.
