Existing Article Audit
Read articles written before Sorabun too, give them review dates, and rank which to work on first
Review dates for articles written before Sorabun
Articles Sorabun creates get a "when will this go stale" mark (a review date) the moment they're generated. Articles you wrote before installing Sorabun have no mark at all. Their review date stays blank and they never enter the automatic freshness check, so years-old prices or rules can sit there unnoticed.
"Sorabun > Measure / Analyze > Existing Article Audit" reads your published articles and does three things.
- Counts what can be counted. Length, headings, images, internal links, search description, featured image, readability, and inbound links (when the Internal Link Map is built). No cost
- Estimates when the content goes stale. AI judges "stale in 6 months / stale in a year / long-lasting," what exactly will go stale (e.g. "the monthly price of the plans listed"), and the main keyword
- Ranks which article to work on first. A priority (0 to 100), the reasons, and the next step
You can also start the same reading from "Read past articles" on the Site Diagnosis screen.
Review dates count from the last update
The clock starts from the date the article was last updated, not when it was written. A pricing article written five years ago and never touched is not due six months from today; it was due four and a half years ago.
Articles the freshness check confirmed as "still accurate" count from that confirmation date, so re-planning never pushes an extended date back into the past.
Two clocks
| Clock | What it watches | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Content freshness | Prices, rules, product names going out of date | The automatic freshness check (up to 3 a day) verifies due articles with search. If nothing changed it just extends the date; if something did, it notifies you (or fixes it, if you enable that) |
| Search performance | Clicks falling, rank dropping, almost on page one | Worth rewriting even when the facts are right. The review date is left alone; priority and the "Rewrite" suggestion show it |
Search performance needs Search Console (via Site Kit) or keywords in Rank Tracking. Without them nothing is deducted; the judgment uses the content only.
Priority and reasons
| Reason | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|
| Past its review date | 30 points when overdue, plus 1 per month overdue (up to 50) |
| Search clicks are falling | Clicks in the last 28 days fell 30% or more from the 28 days before (when the earlier period had 10 or more) |
| Almost on page one | Average position 4 to 20 with 50 or more impressions |
| Rank is dropping | Down 5 or more places from about 30 days ago, or from top 20 to unranked |
| Not touched for 2+ years | 2 years since last update (more points at 3+ years) |
| Short body | Under 1,500 characters |
| No headings | 1,000+ characters without an H2 |
| Many hard-to-read spots | 2 or more readability issues of medium or higher |
| No other article links here | Only when the Internal Link Map is built |
| No links to other articles / no description / no featured image | Small points |
Articles to consider deleting or merging
Many weak, thin articles dilute how the whole site is evaluated. Articles that match any of the following show "Consider deleting or merging."
| Reason | Condition | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Another article targets the same search | Another article's main keyword targets the same search, and this one is weaker (compared by clicks, then length, then age) | Move the good parts into the stronger article and 301 redirect this article's URL to it. "Open merge target" opens the other article |
| Almost never seen in search | Published over a year ago, under 1,500 characters, no internal links pointing to it, fewer than 10 impressions and no clicks in the last 28 days | Delete it, remove it from search results (noindex), or rewrite it with more substance |
| Almost no content | Published over a year ago, under 300 characters, no internal links pointing to it (or unknown) | Same as above |
"Targets the same search" uses the same duplicate check as keyword suggestions (differences in word order or particles count as the same search; a single shared word does not).
Articles without Search Console data are never treated as "not seen." Search Console returns a limited number of pages; when the limit is reached, articles missing from the list are treated as unknown.
Sorabun never deletes articles. Before deleting, check that no external sites link to it and that it isn't an entry point for inquiries or ads. If in doubt, noindex it or rewrite it with more substance instead. These articles don't show "Check freshness," and the automatic freshness check skips them (no search costs for articles you may delete).
Next step
| Label | Meaning | Buttons |
|---|---|---|
| Consider deleting or merging | Any of the three above | "Open merge target" (when another article targets the same search), or "Open article" and "Rewrite instead of deleting" |
| Rewrite | Falling performance, almost on page one, thin, or no headings | "Rewrite with AI." For a published article this creates a rewrite draft, so you read the diff before choosing "Apply to the original." Keeps the URL; the old text stays in revisions |
| Check freshness | Only the date has come. Most need no changes | "Check freshness" (verify with search), or "No issues" once you've checked yourself (restarts the date from today) |
| Nothing needed now | No notable problems | None |
"Re-analyze" reads just that article again and re-estimates its review date.
Costs and what runs automatically
- AI is only called when you click the button: once per 8 articles, without search, so each call is inexpensive
- Without an AI key, only the countable items are analyzed (no review dates)
- Once a day, priorities of analyzed articles are recalculated (days overdue keep growing). No AI or search is used
- Editing an article returns it to "not analyzed yet," and the next reading recounts it
- Once review dates exist, the automatic freshness check (in Settings) verifies up to 3 due articles a day. It uses search, so each article costs a little. Turn it off in Settings if you prefer
Drafts, scheduled posts, and pages are excluded. Up to 3,000 articles are handled at a time.