Pew Research Center just published research on how age affects the internet, and the results are wild.
Some stats: Of the web pages that existed between 2013 and 2023, 25% are no longer accessible. And the older the content, the worse it gets: 38% of pages from 2013 are gone.
This is especially prevalent in government sites, news sites, and Wikipedia, all of which contain high rates of broken links.
And of course, social media content—especially old tweets—tend to vanish as time goes on.
Something to keep in mind if you do a lot of research for your content.
You can also use this knowledge to your brand’s advantage:
- Reviewing and updating content, as well as creating backups can keep your web pages accessible, functional, and relevant.
- Routinely running audits can help you identify broken links that need fixing… and also reduce 404 errors.
- On social media, understanding what leads to removal and “future-proofing” your content will help you dodge disappearances.
If you want your content to be around for the foreseeable future, taking the above actions will keep everything smooth and ageless.
Like moisturizer for your website.
