Merge, Update or Retire, One Decision Per Page

What it is for

When several pages cover the same ground, the reflex is to update all of them, which fixes nothing and often makes the overlap worse. This forces a single decision per group, names how to pick the survivor, and lists what to rescue before a merge deletes it. Reach for it during any inventory-driven audit.

The skill Copy

Use the content inventory to find pages competing with each other, then make
exactly one decision per group. Do not "refresh everything".

Find the groups:
- Pages whose topic coverage overlaps heavily.
- Pages that take turns ranking for the same query, or that both rank badly.
- An old post and a newer guide covering the same ground.
- Anything where you cannot say, in one sentence each, why both exist.

For each group choose ONE outcome and write it down:
  MERGE      One page absorbs the others' unique sections; the rest redirect
             to it. Pick the survivor by links and existing rankings, never
             by which is newest or which you enjoyed writing.
  KEEP BOTH  Only if you can state two different searcher intents in one
             sentence each, without hedging. If you hesitate, it is a merge.
  UPDATE     One page is correct and thin. Deepen it against its topic model
             and leave the rest of the group alone.
  RETIRE     No traffic, no links, no intent. Redirect to the nearest genuinely
             relevant page, or let it go. Do not redirect everything to the
             homepage; that is a deletion wearing a costume.

Before any merge:
- Copy out every unique section, table, number, quote and image from the
  losing pages. Merging silently deletes them, and that is the regret people
  discover three months later.
- List every internal link pointing at the losing URLs and repoint them by
  hand. The redirect keeps the traffic; it does not keep your anchor text.
- Record the old URLs and their traffic before the change, so you can tell
  later whether this helped.

After: leave the group alone for at least six weeks before judging it.

Failure this prevents: a content audit that consolidates the wrong page,
loses the sections nobody backed up, and drops rankings that were fine.

How to install it Copy

1. Open the tool and start a new conversation, project or template.
2. Paste the text below wherever the tool keeps standing instructions
   — usually called system prompt, instructions, or persona.
3. Save it so it applies to every run rather than a single message.

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Where it came from