Have you heard about the term Content Decay? Lizzi Sassman and John Mueller from Google lately stumbled upon it during a podcast discussion. They turned unknown about the term and it was surprising as Lizzi had seen it suggested as a podcast topic. She was curious to explore it.

Lizzi was initially confused and expressed it. She thought that the term sounded like something was wrong with the content itself. She believed it could be about “rotting” over time.

Similarly, John admitted a bit lost with the term when he first encountered the Content Decay term.

However, the two discovered that Content Decay is not a new issue, but it is more like an old problem. It actually refers to a decline in search traffic over time. And the decline is a symptom of a bigger issue.

It is believed that user interest may change over time and it could be for various reasons like perceptions of a topic shifted, there was a seasonal trend, a new technology disrupted the market and popularity of a subject simply faded.

Understand this way. Earlier content on standalone digital cameras used to get traffic, but now the popularity of smartphones has changed the interest of website visitors. This shift in user behavior affected search patterns.

The problem with such fancy words is that these are really vague and misleading too. The terms don’t pinpoint the real issue. This often fluctuate user behavior or evolving search trends.

However, it is not just the Content Decay that causes reduced traffic. It is believed that Google might introduce new features that change how people navigate or display search results. Personalized search may impact traffic too and make it seem like content is “decaying” when it is responding to personalized preferences.