Content Audit Planner: keep, update, merge or remove each page
Join your sitemap and Search Console data, and get keep, update, merge, redirect or remove for every page.
- Free to use
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
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Add your sitemap and a Search Console Pages export, or try the example: a tea shop in Jaipur.
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About the Content Audit and Pruning Planner
Add your list of pages, as a sitemap.xml, a crawl export or one URL per line, and a Search Console Pages export. The planner joins them and gives every page one decision with its reason: keep, update, rewrite the title and description, merge into another page (it suggests which), redirect, remove or noindex, or check indexing first. It also lists pages in your sitemap with no Search Console data, and pages in Search Console that are missing from your sitemap. Add publish or update dates to see each page's age. Every rule is our own, worked out with fixed rules and arithmetic, not AI. It runs in your browser: your files are not uploaded.
How it works
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01
Save your sitemap.xml, or export a crawl of your site, and export the Pages table from Search Console (Performance › Search results, Pages tab).
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02
Upload or paste both, add the pages you always want to keep and any publish dates, and choose how many clicks a working page needs.
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03
Filter the plan by decision, check each suggestion against what you know about the page, then download the CSV or copy the plan.
How each page is judged
A page with at least the clicks you choose is working: if its CTR is under half that of your other pages at a similar position, rewrite its title and description, and if it last changed two years ago or more, check and update it. A page Google shows often but few people click gets an update or a title rewrite. A page with few clicks that shares most of its URL words with a stronger page is a merge, an older-year page with a newer twin is a redirect, and a page with no clicks, few impressions and no change for two years may be removed. These are our rules, not Google's.
Pruning is your decision
Google's SEO Starter Guide suggests checking older content and updating it, or deleting it if it is no longer relevant. Google also says that removing lots of older content to make a site seem fresh will not help. So the planner never suggests deleting a page for low traffic alone: contact, about and policy pages are always kept, and you can add any page your customers use. For pages you remove for good, Google says the address should return 404 or 410; for merged pages, use a permanent (301) redirect.
What this tool cannot do
It does not visit your pages, so it cannot judge their quality, see their links or check whether they are indexed; it reads only your lists and the numbers in the export. The Search Console table and its export hold up to 1,000 rows, so on a bigger site some pages show as having no data. Merge suggestions come from URL words, which can match pages that serve different needs. Check every suggestion before you act.
Frequently asked questions
What is content pruning?
Content pruning means going through your older pages and deciding what to do with each one: keep it, update it, merge it into a better page, or remove it. The aim is a site where every page helps a reader. Google says removing lots of older content just to make a site seem fresh will not help, so prune for your readers, not for rankings.
Should I delete pages with no traffic?
Not for that reason alone. A price list, a policy, a contact page or a page you send customers on WhatsApp may get no search traffic and still matter. Remove a page when it is out of date and helps no one, or merge it into a better page on the same topic. That decision is yours; the planner only suggests.
What is the difference between merge, redirect and remove?
Merge means moving what is useful into a stronger page on the same topic, then redirecting the old address to it. Redirect means sending an old address straight to its replacement with a permanent (301) redirect. Remove means taking the page down so its address returns 404 or 410, or keeping it for visitors with a noindex rule so that it stays out of Google.
Why does a page in my sitemap have no Search Console data?
It had no impressions in the export's date range, or it is not in the export: the Pages table holds up to 1,000 rows, and most data is counted under each page's canonical address. Check the page with URL Inspection in Search Console to see whether Google has indexed it.
Should I change the sitemap lastmod after an update?
Yes, after a real update. Google uses lastmod only when it is consistently accurate, and says it should reflect the last significant change to the page. Do not change it, or the date shown on the page, when nothing important changed.
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