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Content pruning

Also known as "content pruning", regularly removing redundant, outdated or trivial (ROT) content from your website is important for both your audiences and your website's search performance. (Bonus: it also means you have less to maintain!)

How often should you audit your website?

This will depend on how often the content changes, but you should aim to review and prune ROT content from your site at least once a year.

Step 1: Content inventory

Before you can evaluate how your website is performing, you need to understand what is there.

A content inventory is a list of every page and file on your website (typically in a spreadsheet), as well as the last time that piece of content was updated. Content that hasn't been updated for years is likely no longer accurate or relevant.

For UVic websites in Cascade, email the senior web officer for help generating a content inventory for your site.

Step 2: Content audit

Once you have a list of all pages on your website, you need to evaluate their performance.

You can measure performance in different ways, but ideally each page should have a clear goal: provide information, link to a specific resource, collect information (such as application forms), etc.

• learn more about goal setting and analytics

If you have Google Analytics set up, run a report to see how much traffic and engagement each page has received in the last year. If it's low, consider:

• is the content no longer relevant and should be archived?
• is the page hard to find?
• does the content need to be broadcast using other communications tools, such as social media?

Step 3: Prune or refine your content

If a web page is no longer performing, you must decide whether to delete it from your site or refine it.

Delete a page

Deleting a web page will remove it from your live website. It will no longer be accessible to the public.

• note: before you delete a web page, email the senior web officer to discuss setting up a redirect to avoid any broken links

Refine a web page

You can improve a web page's performance by refining the readability of the content or way the content is structured on the page.

Readability

• look at the amount of text and consider how to present the content in a way that is easy to scan:
  • short paragraphs (1-3 sentences)
  • short sentences (under 25 words)
  • lists
  • nested headings (h1, h2, h3, etc.)
• check to see if you have multiple pages with related content, and look for sections that could be combined into a single page
• try pasting your rewritten content into the . We aim for a grade 7 reading level on our pages
• try rewriting content using plain language and avoid jargon where possible

Accessibility

• check for accessibility issues
  • this will help you write content that is more accessible to people with disabilities
• avoid using PDFs when a web page will do
  • if you must use a PDF, use the built-in accessibility tagging in Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat to ensure your PDF is accessible for screen readers

Search engine optimization

• make sure search engines can properly crawl and understand your pages through technical SEO

Additional resources

Learn more about effective website development:

• (LearningSEO.io)
• (Neilsen Norman Group)
• document accessibility
• readability and writing web content
• user experience quick wins