Stale Content Pruner — Rebuild, Merge or Delete by Real GSC Traffic | SEO-GEO
The call is made on measured Search Console clicks, not gut feel: two 90-day windows, the drop, the lost queries and the page age all on one row.
The drop is computed on clicks from your authorised GSC property: pages are aggregated across the last 90 days and the previous 90, then scored as (before - after) / before. Pages under the minimum previous-window click count are skipped to avoid small-sample noise.
What can you check or produce?
- GSC two-window comparison: last 90 days vs the previous 90
- Keeps only pages older than 6 months; unknown publish dates are flagged
- Lists the high-impression queries each page lost (before → after)
- Rebuild: sends the lost queries into the article generator as rewrite constraints
- Merge: enter a target URL to get Nginx / Apache / _redirects 301 snippets
- Delete: generates a 410 Gone config plus the rationale; copy or export CSV
How should you interpret results and choose the next action?
The drop is computed on clicks from your authorised GSC property: pages are aggregated across the last 90 days and the previous 90, then scored as (before - after) / before. Pages under the minimum previous-window click count are skipped to avoid small-sample noise. Publish dates come from your in-app publish-tracking records, matched by URL path. Pages with no record can't be age-checked; they are still listed and flagged as unknown, so confirm manually before deleting. All three actions produce a plan, not an automatic change: the 301/410 snippets still have to be applied on your server or CDN, and the rebuild handoff requires substantive new material for every lost query rather than a synonym-level refresh.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use it without Search Console?
No. The judgement has to rest on measured traffic — connect GSC in Webmaster Pro first, then run the scan.
Why do some pages show an unknown publish date?
That URL isn't in your publish-tracking records. The tool won't assume a date; it flags it so you can confirm manually.
Must deletion always use 410?
No. 410 signals permanent removal and drops out of the index faster, but if the page still holds usable content or has a close sibling, merge with a 301 instead.
By the 23SEOGEO team · Last updated: