Context:
I manage a site cataloging 247,000 insect species, each with a unique URL (e.g., https://example.com/insect/unique-label). Many species pages have minimal traffic, and I want to prune low-value URLs to consolidate link equity (PageRank) toward high-population species.
Goal:
Maximize URL removal while retaining aprox 85% of impressions/clicks.
Data Analysis (16 months of GSC):
(Population = "thousands of units")
Population Threshold (k);URLs Removed;Impressions Retained;Clicks Retained;Impressions/URL;Clicks/URL
10;56.6%;87.4%;90%;403.5;12.9
20;64.1%;85.5%;88.6%;477;15.3
30;67.7%;84.2%;87.5%;522.2;16.8
Proposed Strategy: Threshold: 20k units
- Remove 64.1% of URLs (aprox 158k pages)
- Retain 85.5% impressions and 88.6% clicks
- Improve efficiency: +18.2% impressions/URL, +18.6% clicks/URL
Key Trade-Off:
At 30k units (67.7% URLs removed), impressions drop below 85%, which risks losing SEO visibility for competitive species.
Questions for the Community:
- Does this threshold strategy align with best practices for PageRank consolidation?
- Would you prioritize higher URL removal (e.g., 30k threshold) despite losing 15.8% impressions?
- Alternative approaches to maximize equity transfer without sacrificing traffic?
