Give every page a job
Classify the decision each page helps a reader make and the role it plays in the wider journey. Pages without a defensible audience or business purpose should not survive because they once received impressions.
Combine performance with quality
Traffic alone can hide weak intent fit, outdated advice, duplication, or poor conversion. Review demand, links, product relevance, editorial proof, freshness, engagement, and the internal paths surrounding the page.
Choose from four real actions
Maintain pages that remain accurate and useful. Improve pages with a valuable purpose but weak execution. Combine overlapping pages when one stronger destination will help. Retire pages that no longer justify their place.
Protect the transition
Before merging or removing content, record inbound links, internal links, rankings, conversions, and replacement intent. Use redirects only where a genuinely equivalent destination exists, then monitor the affected cluster.