Content Decay Detector Agent Skill

Content Decay Detector

Monitor existing content for ranking drops and generate a prioritized refresh queue. Refreshing decaying content is the highest-ROI SEO activity — it's faster and cheaper than creating new content, and recovering a lost position is easier than earning a new one.

Stage

S3: Blog & SEO — Blog maintenance and optimization. This skill keeps your existing content competitive and prevents rankings from silently eroding.

When to Use

• User has existing blog content and wants to check for decay
• User notices traffic declining on specific pages
• User asks "what content needs updating?"
• User says "content decay", "ranking drops", "stale content", "refresh", "content audit"
• Monthly maintenance check — should run every 30 days on active blogs
• After seo-audit reveals declining pages

Input Schema

site_url: string              # REQUIRED — the site to audit
                              # e.g., "myblog.com", "example.com/blog"

content_list: object[]        # OPTIONAL — specific pages to check
  - url: string               # Page URL
    title: string             # Page title
    publish_date: string      # Original publish date
    last_updated: string      # Last update date
    target_keyword: string    # Primary keyword

check_competitors: boolean    # OPTIONAL — whether to check if competitors published fresher content
                              # Default: true

timeframe: string             # OPTIONAL — "30d" | "90d" | "6m" | "1y"
                              # Default: "90d"

Chaining from S6 seo-audit: Use declining_pages as the content_list.

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Content Data

If content_list not provided:

• web_search: site:[site_url] — discover indexed pages
• Identify the top 15-20 most important pages (by topic relevance)
• For each page, note: title, URL, apparent publish/update date

Step 2: Check for Decay Signals

Read shared/references/seo-strategy.md for decay signals and refresh methodology.

For each page:

• web_search for the page's target keyword — check current ranking position
• Look for decay signals:
• Outdated information: Product features, pricing, dates mentioned
• Competitor freshness: Newer, better content published by competitors
• Missing elements: No images, no data, thin content compared to current SERP
• Broken patterns: "2023" in a title when it's 2025+, discontinued products mentioned

Step 3: Score Decay Priority

For each decaying page, assign priority:

| Factor | Score | Criteria |

|---|---|---|

| Revenue impact | 1-5 | Contains affiliate links + had traffic = high revenue impact |

| Decay severity | 1-5 | Major outdated info = 5, minor = 1 |

| Fix effort | 1-5 (inverted) | Easy fix = 5, full rewrite = 1 |

| Competitor threat | 1-5 | Competitor published better version = 5 |

Priority = Revenue × Decay × Fix_Ease × Competitor_Threat (normalized)

Step 4: Generate Refresh Instructions

For each page in priority order, specify:

• What's decayed — specific outdated elements
• What to update — concrete changes to make
• What to add — new sections, data, or elements competitors have
• Internal linking — new pages to link to/from since original publish
• Estimated effort — time to refresh

Step 5: Self-Validation

• [ ] Decay signals are evidence-based (not guesses)
• [ ] Priority ordering makes business sense (revenue-impacting first)
• [ ] Refresh instructions are specific and actionable
• [ ] Effort estimates are realistic
• [ ] Not recommending refreshes for content that's performing fine

Output Schema

output_schema_version: "1.0.0"
content_decay:
  site: string
  pages_analyzed: number
  pages_decaying: number
  total_refresh_effort: string  # Estimated total hours

  decaying_pages:
    - url: string
      title: string
      priority: string          # "P0-critical" | "P1-high" | "P2-medium" | "P3-low"
      decay_signals: string[]
      refresh_actions: string[]
      estimated_effort: string
      revenue_impact: string    # "high" | "medium" | "low"

  healthy_pages: string[]       # Pages that don't need refresh

chain_metadata:
  skill_slug: "content-decay-detector"
  stage: "blog"
  timestamp: string
  suggested_next:
    - "affiliate-blog-builder"
    - "seo-audit"
    - "internal-linking-optimizer"
    - "keyword-cluster-architect"

Output Format

## Content Decay Report: [Site]

### Summary
- **Pages analyzed:** XX
- **Pages decaying:** XX
- **Total refresh effort:** XX hours
- **Estimated traffic recovery:** XX%

### Priority Refresh Queue

#### P0 — Critical (do this week)

**[Page Title]** — [URL]
- Decay: [what's wrong]
- Action: [what to do]
- Effort: [time estimate]
- Impact: [expected result]

#### P1 — High (do this month)
[same structure]

#### P2 — Medium (schedule)
[same structure]

### Healthy Pages (no action needed)
- [Page] — still ranking, content fresh
- [Page] — recently updated

### Monthly Maintenance Schedule
- Week 1: Refresh P0 pages
- Week 2: Refresh P1 pages
- Week 3: Create new content for gaps found
- Week 4: Internal linking review

Error Handling

• No site URL: "I need your blog URL to check for content decay. What's the site?"
• Site has no indexed pages: "I can't find indexed pages for this URL. Check that the site is public and indexed by search engines."
• All content is fresh: "Great news — no significant decay detected. Run this check again in 30 days."
• Can't determine ranking positions: Use available signals (content age, competitor freshness, outdated info) for prioritization.

Examples

Example 1: "Check my blog for content decay"

→ Discover indexed pages, check each for decay signals, generate prioritized refresh queue with specific actions per page.

Example 2: "Which of my articles need updating?"

→ Analyze content list, identify outdated pricing, stale comparisons, missing new products. Rank by revenue impact.

Example 3: "Content decay check" (after seo-audit)

→ Pick up declining pages from seo-audit output. Deep-dive each with competitor analysis and specific refresh instructions.

Flywheel Connections

Feeds Into

• affiliate-blog-builder (S3) — refresh instructions for specific articles
• internal-linking-optimizer (S6) — decaying pages may need better internal links
• keyword-cluster-architect (S3) — content gaps revealed by decay analysis

Fed By

• seo-audit (S6) — declining pages to investigate
• internal-linking-optimizer (S6) — pages with weak link structure may be decaying
• performance-report (S6) — traffic decline data

Feedback Loop

• After refreshing, seo-audit (S6) tracks whether rankings recovered → measure refresh ROI, refine decay detection sensitivity

Quality Gate

Before delivering output, verify:

• Would I share this on MY personal social?
• Contains specific, surprising detail? (not generic)
• Respects reader's intelligence?
• Remarkable enough to share? (Purple Cow test)
• Irresistible offer framing? (refresh actions feel actionable)

Any NO → rewrite before delivering.

References

• shared/references/seo-strategy.md — Decay signals, refresh methodology, priority matrix
• shared/references/flywheel-connections.md — Master connection map