Content decay happens when a page that once ranked well gradually loses clicks and positions — often because competitors updated their content, search intent shifted, or the page went stale. Daylytix automatically identifies these pages and calculates a severity score so you can prioritize which content to refresh first.
How detection works
Daylytix cross-references your Google Search Console data with historical audit snapshots stored from previous runs. For each page, it compares the most recent 28-day window against the prior 28-day window and looks for a sustained downward trend in both clicks and average position.
A page is flagged as decaying when all three conditions are true:
- Clicks dropped by ≥15% compared to the prior period
- Average position fell by ≥2 positions (e.g. 4.1 → 6.4)
- The trend is sustained over at least two consecutive reporting windows (not a one-week anomaly)
The decay score formula
Each flagged page receives a decay score from 0 to 100, calculated as a weighted blend of click loss and position drop:
Where:
- click_loss_pct — percentage of clicks lost vs. the prior period, capped at 100
- position_drop — position drop in raw positions, scaled to 0–100 (a drop of 10+ positions = 100)
The click-loss component is weighted more heavily (60%) because it directly reflects actual traffic impact. Position changes alone can be noisy due to SERP features and personalisation.
Score severity levels
| Score range | Severity | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
| 0–39 | Mild | Monitor over the next 2–4 weeks before acting |
| 40–69 | Moderate | Schedule a content refresh within 30 days |
| 70–100 | Severe | Prioritise immediately — significant traffic loss underway |
Reading the Content Decay report
The Content Decay tab inside your audit report shows a table of all flagged pages, sorted by decay score descending. Each row includes:
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Page | The URL of the decaying page |
| Decay score | 0–100 composite severity score |
| Click change | Absolute and percentage change in clicks (shown in red) |
| Position change | How many positions the page dropped on average |
| Recommendation | Suggested action: Refresh, Expand, Merge, or Monitor |
Common causes of content decay
| Cause | Signals to look for |
|---|---|
| Competitor freshness | Page has not been updated in 12+ months; top-3 competitors recently republished |
| Shifted search intent | Query now returns video results or a different content format (list → tool) |
| Stale statistics or dates | Article references years or data points that are now outdated |
| Thin supplementary content | Page covers the topic at a surface level; newer pages go deeper |
| Lost backlinks | External sites that linked to this page removed or redirected the links |
| Keyword cannibalisation | A newer page is splitting clicks with this one (see cannibalization guide) |
How to refresh a decaying page
Follow this sequence when refreshing content flagged as Moderate or Severe:
Search for the primary keyword and study the top 5 results. Note content format, word count, headings, and any new SERP features (PAA, video, featured snippet).
Replace outdated statistics, screenshots, and year references. Update the publication date in your CMS and in the page's schema markup.
Add H2 sections that top-ranking competitors cover but your page does not. Aim to be the most comprehensive resource on the topic.
Add author bio with credentials, cite primary sources, include first-hand examples or case studies, and link to authoritative external references.
Share the refreshed content on social, email it to your list, and build 1–2 new internal links from high-authority pages on your site.
Using AI to assist content refresh
On any row in the Content Decay table, click the AI Refresh button to generate a structured brief for that page. Daylytix uses the page's current content, top-ranking competitor headings, and the decay signals to produce:
- A list of recommended new sections to add
- Specific outdated facts to replace
- Suggested internal links from other pages on your site
- A revised title and meta description optimised for current intent
Tracking recovery after a refresh
After publishing your refreshed content, Daylytix tracks recovery automatically. On the next scheduled audit, the system compares the new GSC data against the pre-refresh baseline:
- If clicks recover by ≥20%, the page is removed from the decay list and marked Recovered
- If no improvement is detected after 6 weeks, the recommendation upgrades from Refresh to Merge or Consolidate
- You can also manually mark a page as refreshed from the table to restart the tracking window