Detect content decay from Google Search Console exports by comparing current and previous page performance, flagging quarter-over-quarter traffic drops, dropped pages, and refresh, consolidate, prune,…
Library skill — the default version is maintained in GitHub; edits you make live in your own clone.
Use /blog decay to find pages whose Google Search Console performance has
declined quarter-over-quarter. The command compares a current-period export
against a previous-period export, flags pages with a 20% or larger decline by
default, and recommends the next content action.
Run the local analyzer against two GSC page exports:
python3 scripts/content_decay.py current.json previous.json
Useful options:
python3 scripts/content_decay.py current.json previous.json --threshold 0.30
python3 scripts/content_decay.py current.json previous.json --metric impressions
python3 scripts/content_decay.py current.json previous.json --format markdown --output decay-report.md
The script accepts JSON lists of page rows with page or url, clicks, and
impressions. It also accepts the object shape returned by blog-google when
the rows are under a top-level rows key.
For live data, use /blog google gsc or the underlying blog-google command
to create each period export, then run the offline analyzer:
python3 skills/blog-google/scripts/run.py gsc_query --property sc-domain:example.com --dimensions page --start-date YYYY-MM-DD --end-date YYYY-MM-DD --json > gsc-current.json
python3 skills/blog-google/scripts/run.py gsc_query --property sc-domain:example.com --dimensions page --start-date YYYY-MM-DD --end-date YYYY-MM-DD --json > gsc-previous.json
python3 scripts/content_decay.py gsc-current.json gsc-previous.json --format markdown
Use adjacent periods of similar length for short-term checks. For seasonality, also run a year-over-year comparison using the same date length, filters, search type, device, country, and property. When possible, inspect up to 16 months of GSC history before diagnosing a traffic drop.
The default metric is clicks. Also review impressions, CTR, average position,
query and page pairs, device, country, and search appearance deltas before
choosing an action.
Severity:
| Decline | Severity |
|---|---|
| 20% to 39.9% | warning |
| 40% to 59.9% | high |
| 60% or more | critical |
Dropped pages are previous-period pages missing from the current export only
after confirming identical filters, sufficient row limits, matching dimensions,
and URL inspection. Otherwise mark them as needs_validation, not
dropped_out.
Use the action as the first triage path only after checking indexation, canonical status, query loss, internal links, backlinks, seasonality, and business value:
| Action | Use when |
|---|---|
| refresh/update content | The page still has demand and likely needs freshness, title, internal link, or section updates. |
| investigate query shift | Clicks fell while impressions held up, suggesting CTR, rank, SERP, or query mix changes. |
| consolidate/redirect | The page dropped out or the loss is severe enough that merging into a stronger URL may recover value faster. |
| prune | The page had very low prior demand and may not justify rewrite effort. |
Use blog-google to collect Search Console exports when live credentials are
available. Use blog-rewrite after decay detection when the recommended action
is refresh/update content and the page is worth improving.