Should You Delete or Update Old and Outdated Content?
- By Sian Thomas Digital Marketing Executive
- Published
- Category Content & PR
If you’ve been publishing for a few years, chances are your website is home to a collection of old blog posts, outdated information, and even a few dead pages you’d rather forget.
We’ve talked all about identifying content decay in our recent blog post, but the question is once you’ve found these blog posts, what should you actually do with them? Should you delete them completely, or create an updated version and keep them live?
You might think these old and outdated posts don’t really matter and can just sit there. But the truth is that they can seriously affect your search engine rankings, user experience, and organic traffic if handled poorly.
In this guide we’ll talk about how you can decide whether to delete or update old content, how to check which pieces are worth keeping, and how to manage it safely for both your audience and search engines.
Why Old Content Matters More Than You Think
We all know that old web pages don’t just sit quietly on your own website. They still appear in Google search results, are linked to from social media, and may carry valuable backlinks.
But when those older articles no longer meet current standards, they can drag down your entire site’s perceived quality. Google’s algorithms evaluate overall authority and content age, not just your latest new post. In short: even, one piece of content with outdated information can hurt your search engine optimization across the board.
Not only that, but if you’re retaining out of date information on your website, it could cause problems for your real human users as well as search engines – you might have people turning up at the wrong location, or demanding that you honour a price from many years ago!
But that doesn’t mean all old pages are bad. In fact, some might have historical significance, rank for evergreen topics, or attract steady organic traffic year after year.
The challenge is knowing which to refresh, which to redirect, and which to retire.
Update or Delete? Start With a Content Audit
Before you touch a single page, run a content audit.
If you need a hand with this, we can help! We have a simple to follow content audit checklist, just sign up below to receive a free downloadable copy of it, plus a little email course that will teach you how to use it best:
A content audit will gives you a list of pages across your site and their performance metrics, meaning that you can make data-driven decisions instead of guessing.
Start with:
- Google Analytics → check traffic, bounce rate, and engagement.
- Google Search Console → see clicks, impressions, and average position for each URL.
- SEO plugin or crawl tool (like Screaming Frog) → find broken links, status codes, and internal linking.
Once you’ve exported your data, sort your content into three categories:
| Category | Description | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Still performing | Brings in steady traffic or conversions | Keep and maintain |
| Outdated but valuable | Good topic, old data | Update and re-optimise |
| Irrelevant or obsolete | No traffic, no backlinks, outdated topic | Delete or redirect |
When It’s Best to Update Old Content
If the content is evergreen, has valuable backlinks, or still gets impressions in Google Search Console, updating is nearly always the best option.
Here’s how to spot content that’s worth keeping:
1. It still ranks or gets impressions
Search your topic or URL in Google Search Console. If it appears in the search result preview or still receives impressions, it’s signalling some ongoing value to search engines.
2. It covers an evergreen topic
Posts like “how to bake sourdough” or “best SEO practices” might be a few years old, but they’re always still going to be relevant, they just need a bit of love! Try adding in current information and updated internal links.
3. It has external links or shares
Check for valuable backlinks using your SEO tool, or see if it’s been linked from host websites or even on social media. Those links are ranking gold.
4. It contributes to your content strategy
If the post supports a category page, online store product, or your wider content marketing strategy, it’s better to refresh than remove.
Read more: 5 reasons you should target social media in an SEO campaign
How to Refresh Outdated Content the Right Way
- Check the status of your request
Make sure the live page is still indexed (search “site:yourdomain.com/slug”). - Add new data or examples
Update statistics, screenshots, and past events that no longer apply. - Replace old URLs or screenshots
Fix broken links, remove incorrect information, and use current standards. - Optimise headings and keywords
Use a refresh outdated content tool like RankIQ or your SEO plugin to find keyword gaps. - Update internal links
Link to newer, related content or your home page where relevant. - Change the publish date (if appropriate)
If it’s a fully revised post, update the date so search engines see it as fresh content. - Promote again
Share the refreshed post on social media or via your newsletter You can even treat it like a new page.
Pro tip: Add a short “Updated [Month, Year]” note at the top so readers know it’s current.
When You Should Delete Old Content
Sometimes, even a great rewrite can’t save an old article.
In these cases, deleting might actually help your search engine rankings by cleaning up irrelevant content that wastes crawl budget and confuses your target audience.
Delete content when:
- It’s about past events that will never be relevant again
- It contains sensitive information or incorrect information
- It’s a duplicate topic with a stronger, more relevant post elsewhere
- It’s generating error pages or thin content warnings
- It has no backlinks, no traffic, and no conversions
When you remove obsolete content, Google can reallocate crawl resources to your high-quality content. It’s a small but genuine ranking factor.
How to Delete Content Safely (and Keep SEO Value)
Deleting isn’t as simple as hitting “Trash.” Here’s how to do it properly:
- Redirect old URLs
Use a 301 redirect to the most relevant page (such as an updated version or category page). This preserves link equity and helps users find the best result. - Avoid deleting en masse
Removing a large number of pages at once can cause crawling confusion and temporary ranking drops.
Google’s Danny Sullivan often says that quality > quantity, but removals should be strategic. - Use proper status codes
- 301: Permanently moved (ideal for updated or merged content).
- 410: Permanently deleted (for truly obsolete pages).
- 404: Temporary “not found” (fine for a short period, but tidy up later).
- Update internal links
Remove links pointing to deleted pages to avoid creating error pages and poor user experience. - Re-submit in Google Search Console
After deletions or redirects, use your Google account to request reindexing of affected URLs to speed up updates in search results.
How to Decide: Update or Delete?
Here’s a quick decision checklist to help you make a decision:
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Does it still get organic traffic (check Google Analytics)? | Update | Delete |
| Does it have backlinks or shares? | Update | Delete |
| Is the topic still relevant or evergreen? | Update | Delete |
| Is the post full of outdated information or old news articles? | Update if fixable | Delete |
| Is it a thin, low-value piece (under 300 words)? | Merge or delete | Keep if useful |
| Does it align with your current brand or target audience? | Keep | Retire |
If it’s a good ranking post that’s simply old, update it.
If it’s an irrelevant content relic that adds no valuable information, remove it and focus on fresh content that attracts potential customers.
Don’t Delete, Repurpose!
Before removing older content entirely, consider turning it into something new:
- Combine multiple old posts into a single, stronger guide.
- Turn an old article into a short video or infographic for social media.
- Move a time-sensitive post into a “Company News” archive if it has historical significance.
- Turn an older page into an evergreen resource hub that supports your content marketing strategy.
Repurposing helps you preserve valuable backlinks while improving user experience and consolidating your authority on a topic.
How to Handle Deleted Content in Google Search Console
Once you’ve deleted or redirected a deleted page, you may still see it in Google Search Console for a while.
Don’t panic, that’s normal!
You can:
- Use the URL Removal Tool (under Removals) to hide the page temporarily.
- Check the status of your request after a few days.
- Verify the new page or redirect is being crawled correctly.
- Watch your crawl errors to make sure there aren’t too many dead pages.
Keep an eye on your search engine rankings for a few weeks as they often rebound once Google update search results for your changes.
Common Misconceptions About Deleting Content
There’s a lot of fear around removing old content, but let’s clear up a few myths:
“Deleting content always hurts SEO.”
Not true! Deleting low-quality or irrelevant content can help SEO by improving site quality and reducing bounce rate.
“You should never delete old pages.”
Some older pages with outdated information or sensitive details should absolutely go.
“Updating the date alone makes it fresh.”
Search engines are smart. They look for genuine content creation or revision, not just new timestamps.
“You can trick Google by making a new post.”
Publishing a new post with the same content and deleting the old one confuses search engines. Instead, update the existing page or use a 301 redirect.
How This Affects Crawl Budget and Site Health
If you have hundreds of old URLs, host sites, or obsolete pages, they still consume crawl resources.
Deleting or consolidating them helps Googlebot focus on your high-quality content and fresh content which means improving discoverability for your new content. This is especially useful for large blogs or news sites that publish regularly.
Keep Your Internal Links Clean
When you delete or merge content, check any pages linking to those old URLs. Broken internal links not only frustrate readers but also signal poor site maintenance to search engines.
Use a crawler or SEO plugin to check for:
- Broken external links
- Redirect chains
- Missing anchor text relevance
Then point those links to the most relevant page or your new updated version.
Why Old Content Strategy Now Matters for AI Search Engines & GEO
As generative AI search engines (ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Gemini, etc.) become a primary means of discovering information, having out-of-date or low-quality content on your site can do more harm than in the traditional SEO era. Because AI-driven systems don’t just rank pages, they extract, summarise, and cite content directly. This means that your content has to be machine-friendly, fresh, and well-connected. This is where GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) comes in.
1. AI doesn’t care about old
It cares about relevance and trust.
AI systems retrieve information based on signals of clarity, reliability, and recency. If your old pages are full of obsolete content or give conflicting information compared to updated ones, they may be skipped or even penalised as poor sources. In effect, they become “noise” in the AI’s knowledge graph.
On the other hand, updated and well-structured content is more likely to be selected and cited in AI-generated answers. This is exactly what GEO is all about.
2. GEO & localisation: why your geography matters more now
In AI-based search, local signals and context become more critical, especially for location-specific queries (for example, for users in the United Kingdom). If your content isn’t geotargeted or contains outdated location references, AI engines might prefer fresher, locally relevant sources. By keeping your older content updated, and tailoring it with current regional data, examples, or case studies, you increase the odds that your content is surfaced in GEO-driven local answers.
You can read more about how we approach this in our Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) strategy at Bronco:
3. “Dead pages” or conflicting pages confuse AI summarisation
If you have multiple versions of a topic (for example, an old article and a refreshed article), AI engines may sample from both or even worse: pick a version that’s outdated or incorrect. That can lead to confusing or contradictory AI responses citing your content.
Consolidating, refreshing, or deleting conflicting pages helps the AI “see” the correct version more clearly, boosting your chance to become the authoritative source in the AI-generated answer.
4. Crawl budget & AI signal clarity
Even in the GEO world, crawl efficiency matters. If your site has many deleted content, broken links, or neglected older pages, AI engines may waste resources crawling those instead of focusing on your high-quality, updated content.
By pruning obsolete pages and focusing on updated, context-rich content, you help AI systems index your site more effectively, reinforcing your authority in the generative layer.
Best Practices for Managing Old Content
- Review content age regularly — every 6–12 months.
- Add update notes when you refresh a post.
- Keep a record (spreadsheet or tool) of when each page was last updated.
- Plan updates for pages that perform well but need a refresh.
- Delete in moderation — aim to prune 10–15% of obsolete content per year, not entire sections.
So, should you delete or update old and outdated content?
If it’s evergreen, still attracts traffic, or supports your content marketing strategy, update it.If it’s irrelevant, full of incorrect information, or serves no target audience, delete it (but safely, with redirects!)
Your goal as a website owner is to keep your site clean, current, and genuinely useful. Do that, and your search engine optimization will naturally improve, no tricks needed! Remember: every old post once brought value. With the right strategy, it can again.