{"id":13896,"date":"2025-01-14T11:44:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T16:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/?page_id=13896"},"modified":"2026-01-05T14:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:26:16","slug":"cleaning-up-website-content","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/analytics-and-seo\/cleaning-up-website-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleaning Up Website Content"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Across the UNC School of Medicine\u2019s WordPress network, maintaining an effective and user-friendly website requires regular evaluation and cleanup of content. Web editors and authors play a critical role in ensuring content is relevant, organized, and aligned with the site\u2019s goals. By focusing on performance, purpose, and audience, you can keep your site nimble and well-structured to better serve users and meet institutional objectives.<\/p>\n<h2>Why It Matters<\/h2>\n<p>A lean, focused website is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Easier to maintain and update.<\/li>\n<li>More intuitive for users, improving their experience.<\/li>\n<li>Aligned with organizational goals and audience needs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By regularly evaluating and cleaning up your WordPress content, you ensure your site remains effective, efficient, and adaptable to future challenges. Embrace the principles of purpose-driven content, clutter-free dashboards, and audience-focused design to keep your website performing at its best.<\/p>\n<p>The following are some tips and best practices to help clean or refocus your efforts.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Understand Content Purpose and Performance<\/h2>\n<p>Every piece of content on your website should have a clearly defined purpose and audience. Begin by asking key questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What is the purpose of this content?<\/strong> Is it meant to inform, recruit, or guide?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Who is the intended audience?<\/strong> Prospective students, patients, faculty, or staff?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Is this content successful at its purpose?<\/strong> Use tools like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/accessibility-and-seo\/google-analytics\/\">Google Analytics<\/a> to evaluate performance:\n<ul>\n<li>Where is the traffic coming from (geographic, search engine, etc.)?<\/li>\n<li>Are users engaging with the content (time on page, bounce rate)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong><br \/>\nIf a page designed for prospective residency applicants receives mostly international traffic, it may not be effectively reaching its intended audience. Similarly, patient care pages targeting North Carolina residents that attract out-of-state traffic may require refocusing to serve their intended audience better.<\/p>\n<h3>Understand Web Users\u2019 Behavior<\/h3>\n<p>Knowing how users interact with your site helps you tailor content to meet their needs. In 2025, North Carolina users spent an average of <strong>2:28 on our website(s)<\/strong> and viewed <strong>4.88 pages<\/strong>. This data highlights the importance of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Concise Content:<\/strong> Users have limited time and attention. Avoid overwhelming them with excessive details.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Actionable Information:<\/strong> Deliver what users need quickly and efficiently to keep them engaged.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Strategies for Effective Content Management<\/h2>\n<h3>Regular Content Audits<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Use tools like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/accessibility-and-seo\/google-analytics\/\">Google Analytics<\/a> to identify low-traffic or misaligned pages.<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate whether each page still serves its intended purpose and audience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Simplify Site Structure<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/news-events\/pages\/tips-for-deleting-pages\/\">Delete outdated or irrelevant content<\/a> instead of archiving or hiding it.<\/li>\n<li>Consolidate information where appropriate to reduce the total number of pages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Streamline Navigation<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Align <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/navigation\/\">navigation menus<\/a> with the site\u2019s structure to make it easier for users to find content.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid creating unnecessary layers or clicks to access key information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Delete, Delete, Delete<\/h3>\n<p>A lean, well-organized website is easier to maintain, adapt, and align with current goals. Keeping unnecessary content\u2014even if unpublished or hidden\u2014creates clutter and increases the risk of errors.<\/p>\n<h4>Best Practices for Content Deletion:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Remove Outdated Content:<\/strong> Delete old drafts, past event pages, and any other content that no longer serves a purpose. Unpublished or hidden content should not live in WordPress.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Clean the Media Library:<\/strong> Remove unused images, documents, and videos. Remember, anything in the WordPress media library can be found by search engines, even if it\u2019s not linked to a page.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Avoid Using WordPress as Storage:<\/strong> Non-public content should be stored in shared drives or secure storage solutions outside of the CMS.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Keep the Dashboard Clutter-Free:<\/strong> A clean dashboard helps you stay organized and ensures no unwanted content is accidentally published or left accessible to search engines.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Learn How:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/news-events\/pages\/tips-for-deleting-pages\/\">Learn the proper technique of deleting pages to avoid broken links and orphaned child pages<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By embracing a \u201cdelete, delete, delete\u201d mindset, you\u2019ll create a streamlined, efficient website that\u2019s easy to manage and aligns with institutional goals.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Across the UNC School of Medicine\u2019s WordPress network, maintaining an effective and user-friendly website requires regular evaluation and cleanup of content. Web editors and authors play a critical role in ensuring content is relevant, organized, and aligned with the site\u2019s goals. By focusing on performance, purpose, and audience, you can keep your site nimble and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/analytics-and-seo\/cleaning-up-website-content\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Cleaning Up Website Content\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79967,"featured_media":0,"parent":14846,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-13896","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79967"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13896"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15076,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13896\/revisions\/15076"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}