Find and Fix Underperforming Blog Posts With GA4

You’ve been doing everything right, working tirelessly on your site’s content —day and night. But for some reason, traffic to your blog has stalled anyway. So, what gives?

You’re not alone —like the high school group projects that still give you nightmares, every blog has a few posts that simply refuse to pull their weight. Underperformers can silently drag down the overall success of your site, taking you from the A+ you deserve to a B…or C…or worse. Luckily, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can help you weed out the slackers and turn them into traffic-driving superstars.

In this post, we’ll walk through a simple tutorial for finding your underperforming blog posts, plus some tips and best practices for how to fix them.

We’ll also explore why some pieces of content just don’t perform as expected and how to decide whether a stale post should be refreshed or pruned altogether.

Let’s get started!

What Is an Underperforming Blog Post?

An underperforming blog post is a piece of blog content on your site that doesn’t meet the goals or benchmarks you’ve set. For some small business owners, the main objective might be generating leads or sales. Others might prioritize brand awareness, meaning they’re looking for a high number of page views.

It’s important at the conception of your post to determine what purpose your post will serve. Having a clearly defined purpose will lead you to the metrics you need to monitor performance.

Setting Your Own Benchmarks

Before labeling a post a “failure,” you need to clarify what success looks like for your blog. Some common goals (and the metrics that track them) include:

• Traffic and page views: If you rely on ads or brand recognition, you might track simple traffic metrics.
• Engagement and time on page: For a blog that aims to build authority, measure engagement rate or average engagement time.
• Conversions and leads: If you sell products or services, look at how many newsletter signups or purchases a post drives.

Every niche has different performance expectations, so don’t get hung up on arbitrary standards. A blog about handcrafted ceramic mugs might do just fine with 1,000 monthly views, while a blog focused on digital marketing might expect much more.

Determine what “good enough” is for your unique business context.

How To Decide What “Underperforming” Means for You

Ultimately, the decision on whether a post is underperforming should align with your overarching business objectives. Consider the following:

• Relevance: Is the post still relevant to your products, services, or mission?
• Traffic vs. conversion ratio: A post might get decent traffic but fail to convert readers into customers (or vice versa).
• Comparisons within your site: Take a look at the performance of other posts in the same category. If one stands out as a dud compared to the rest, it’s underperforming relative to your own internal standards.

Reasons Blog Posts Underperform

If you’ve determined that certain posts aren’t meeting expectations, it’s time to get curious about why. It usually boils down to one or more of these common issues.

Outdated Information

The internet moves fast. If your post references tools or industry practices that have changed, readers may bounce when they realize the information isn’t current. Fresh, accurate content is key to retaining reader trust.

Weak Keyword Targeting

Perhaps the post isn’t optimized for the right keywords or lacks a clear focus. That makes it difficult for search engines to figure out what your page is about — and in turn, rank it well.

Poor Readability or Bad UX

Large blocks of text without subheadings, bullet points, or visuals can overwhelm readers. A post that offers a bad user experience or is otherwise cumbersome to read can lead to high bounce rates —especially on mobile devices.

Lack of Promotion

Even the best content can wither away if no one knows it exists. Underperforming posts may be undiscovered gems waiting for strategic social sharing or internal linking.

Make sure you have a presence on the social media platforms where your customers are, and repurpose your blog content into bite-sized content morsels to get customers excited to click-thru!

Also, don’t forget that a great email campaign can also help steer customer attention. There’s a lot of great campaign platforms for every budget out there. From Mailchimp for smaller campaigns all the way to big enterprise platforms like Klaviyo (which we love here at DH), many of these providers provide excellent campaign metrics to help gauge campaign effectiveness.

Misalignment With Your Target Audience

If the post doesn’t address your audience’s pain points or interests, they’ll likely skip it. It’s crucial to understand your readers’ needs, which means identifying your target audience and creating content that resonates with them.

Don’t forget to be an active, engaging participant in the online communities your customers frequent. This is a win-win as it will help you to better understand your customers while lending your brand authenticity!

Competition and Saturation

Some topics are just too heavily covered already. If your blog post doesn’t stand out from the crowd, it may remain hidden on page two (or beyond) of search results.

How To Find Underperforming Blog Posts Using GA4

Now that we’ve identified what makes content underperform, it’s time to dig into your analytics and find those posts that need attention. Let’s walk through the process step by step.

Set Up Your Analytics View

We’re going to be using the Life cycle reports collection in GA4. Make sure you have this enabled in your GA4 instance. 

In the GA4 reports section, click the Library button at the bottom of the nav bar and make sure the Life cycle reports collection is published.

Start in GA4 by navigating to Reports > Engagement > Pages and screens.

This view serves as your content dashboard, displaying performance metrics for every page on your site.

If you have categorized your blog under a subdirectory, you can use the search filter for your blog directory (typically “/blog/” or “/articles/”).

Now, let’s move over to analyzing traffic patterns.

Analyze Traffic Patterns

Add a filter for “Session medium = organic” if you want to only analyze traffic from search engines. You can also look for organic social, direct traffic, etc.

With your view configured, examine your traffic patterns carefully. Click the Views column to sort the rows in ascending or descending order based on the views.

As you’ll see from the above screenshot, we have quite a few blog posts that have received just a single click over the last 90 days or so.

Look for posts like these that receive significantly fewer views than your site’s average — these are your potential underperformers.

Quick pro tip: The Session source/medium dimension can be used to further breakdown exactly where your traffic is coming from. For example with Session medium set to organic, we can use Session source/medium as another breakdown dimension to see exactly where that search traffic is coming from.

Evaluate Engagement Metrics

Traffic tells only part of the story. You also need to look at engagement metrics. These will tell you whether your content resonates with readers.

Monitor posts where visitors spend less than 60 seconds or posts where there are fewer events compared to the average that you observe for your website. Events can be clicks on different links, interactions with your website pop-up, etc.

These numbers often indicate content that isn’t meeting reader expectations or needs structural improvements.

Review Conversion Performance

Switch to Life cycle > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition to understand how well your posts convert visitors into customers or subscribers.

This analysis often reveals surprising insights: some posts with moderate traffic might drive significant conversions, while high-traffic posts might fail to convert at all.

As you’ll see in the above report screenshot, the highest-performing posts don’t actually generate any revenue.

However, they do bring in visitors who might move further down the funnel during their visit. It couldn’t hurt to check to see if these posts add additional value to the website.

Create Custom Reports

You don’t have to rely solely on the default reports. GA4 is very flexible and allows you to create custom reports with the data you need on a single screen.

You can customize the columns and data points you see in a report by clicking the Customize report icon on any report you’re already on.

You can add more columns or dimensions by clicking through the Metrics or Dimensions under the “REPORT DATA” section.

For instance, if you pick “Metrics,” you should see the following screen with the option to add new metrics.

This can help you develop more nuanced reports to understand your content’s performance.

For example:

• Traffic sources and their relative performance.
• Engagement duration across different content types.
• Conversion patterns and user journeys.

This detailed analysis helps identify posts that might excel in one area but need improvement in others.

If search performance is a priority for you, consider Google Search Console data. It can provide more search-specific data, such as keywords, click-through rates, average position, and page-specific search data.

Here, you want to look for:

• Posts with high impressions but click-through rates under 2%, indicating weak titles or meta descriptions
• Content ranking beyond page one of search results, which means you need to work on search engine optimization
• Seasonal content that requires updating before peak relevancy periods

How To Fix Underperforming Blog Posts

Once you’ve identified the slackers, the question becomes: “Do I pull these weeds or water them?” Do you delete or redirect a post entirely, or do you give it new life by updating, optimizing, and promoting it?

Step 1: Prune or Revive?

Before you dive in with edits, it’s important to determine whether a post is truly worth saving. Some pieces may be too outdated, off-brand, or irrelevant to your audience to justify the effort — in which case, removing or redirecting them might be the better option.

Other posts, however, have plenty of potential if you make a few well-placed improvements.

How To Decide

Prune (delete or redirect) if…

A topic is no longer relevant, and no amount of editing will bring it back into alignment with your business goals. Or perhaps the data within the post is so outdated that it no longer holds value for modern readers (think references to defunct products or platforms). If the content doesn’t match your brand’s core focus anymore, consider using a 301 redirect to point it to a more helpful resource on your site. This preserves any lingering SEO value and eliminates dead ends for visitors.

Revive (update and optimize) if…

The post aligns with your audience’s interests and your brand’s messaging but simply needs a refresh. It might still have some decent traffic or rank for relevant keywords (even if it’s stuck on page two of search results), or maybe it gets plenty of page views but fails to convert. In cases like these, a strategic revision can significantly boost performance.

Taking the time to categorize each underperforming piece of content will help you focus your energy where it’s most effective. If you remove every old post without a second thought, you might lose hidden gems. Conversely, trying to update everything could waste time on content that no longer serves your business.

Step 2: Refresh the Content

When you’ve decided a piece is worth reviving, it’s time to give it a thorough makeover. Think of this like renovating a house: you’re keeping the core structure, but modernizing the decor, upgrading the appliances, and fixing any broken parts.

Update Facts, Figures, and Examples

If readers see outdated stats or references to old tech, they may question the article’s overall credibility. Instead:

1. Replace old data with current statistics: If you originally cited research from 2017, look for the most recent studies to show your piece is relevant in 2025 and beyond.
2. Mention new trends or technologies: Demonstrate that your post reflects the latest and greatest in your niche.
3. Refresh images and screenshots: If your post contains screenshots of old interfaces or references to user flows that no longer exist, replace them to match current experiences.

Optimize Keywords and Headings

Many underperforming posts fail to gain traction because search engines can’t easily match them to user queries. To fix this:

1. Research current keywords: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or third-party platforms (Ahrefs, Semrush, etc.) to find relevant terms and questions people ask about your topic.
2. Sprinkle keywords naturally: Once you identify the right terms, weave them into your headings, subheadings, and main text. Avoid forced repetition or “keyword stuffing,” which can harm readability and rankings.
3. Revamp your title and H1: Often, a more compelling or concise title can improve click-through rates from search results. Make sure your title clearly states what the post is about and entices users to click.

Improve Readability

Even if your content is loaded with facts and figures, poor readability can quickly turn off visitors. Here are a few steps to keep readers engaged:

1. Use short paragraphs and sentences: Readers often skim before they commit to reading. Chunking your text into smaller paragraphs helps them absorb the content without feeling overwhelmed.
2. Break up sections with subheadings: A scannable format makes it easy to jump right to the info they need.
3. Incorporate visuals or multimedia: Photos, charts, infographics, or embedded videos can illustrate points more effectively than text alone.

These readability tips are just the beginning of creating engaging blog content. From finding your voice to structuring your posts, there’s always more to learn about the craft of blog writing.

Step 3: Re-Promote Strategically

Once you’ve updated and optimized your content, it’s time to make sure the world knows. Even the highest-quality content can underperform if no one discovers it. This step is all about reintroducing your revised blog posts to existing followers and attracting new readers.

Share it across your own social media networks. If you have a mailing list, let subscribers know you’ve refreshed an article they might find helpful. Briefly explain why it matters and include a clear link to the updated post. Including updated graphics or interesting pull quotes can catch attention in a crowded social feed or inbox.

You should also strengthen the article’s internal linking if possible. Internal links can help Google understand your site’s structure and signal which pages are most valuable. They also direct readers from one relevant post to another, increasing overall engagement.

To optimize internal linking:

1. Identify related posts: Look for older posts that complement your refreshed content.
2. Add contextual links: Within your article, link key phrases to pages that expand on those topics.
3. Create a network of cross-references: Encourage binge-reading by weaving in links naturally and consistently throughout your site.

Step 4: Improve Conversions

Traffic is important, but if your blog posts aren’t converting visitors into leads, customers, or subscribers, you’re missing a key piece of the puzzle. An underperforming post might already be attracting decent traffic but failing to inspire action.

Here’s how to fix that:

Add Clear, Compelling Calls to Action (CTAs)

A strong CTA guides the reader toward the next logical step — whether that’s downloading a free resource, signing up for a webinar, or making a purchase.

To make CTAs more effective:

1. Use action-oriented language: Phrases like “Get Started Today” or “Claim Your Free Trial” can help motivate clicks.
2. Place CTAs strategically: Don’t hide your CTA at the bottom of a long post where readers may never see it. Insert buttons or links in logical spots throughout the content.
3. Highlight the benefits: Instead of simply stating features, show how your offer solves a pain point or delivers a desired outcome.

Another way to up conversions is by improving your user experience (UX). That means strategies like making your site mobile-friendly. More people now browse on mobile than desktop, so maximize your page load times because slow sites frustrate users and drive them away. (If you’re struggling with speed, DreamHost’s fully managed hosting solutions might help you out.)

Step 5: Measure Results After Updates

Finally, it’s time to circle back to GA4 and see if your hard work is paying off. By revisiting your newly updated posts’ performance, you can determine if your fixes have made a difference — and refine your approach based on real-world data.

Check your metrics over time. See if new social shares, email campaigns, or improved SEO are driving additional visitors. If certain updates haven’t moved the needle yet, you can experiment further — try new keywords, adjust your CTAs, or even ask a segment of your audience what they think. Hearing readers’ perspectives can reveal hidden opportunities to improve.

Evaluating the data helps you refine your content strategy. You don’t need to get everything perfect on the first try — continuous optimization is the name of the game.

Nurture Your Content Garden With DreamHost

Underperforming blog posts aren’t dead ends; they’re opportunities. By using GA4 to spot the weak links, and then carefully deciding whether to prune or refresh each piece, you can transform underperformers into real contributors to your site’s success. Whether it’s updating outdated info, fine-tuning your keywords, or strategically promoting your content across various channels, each step you take helps you build a stronger, more engaging blog.

It all comes down to this: quality over quantity. By focusing on the posts that truly matter and making them shine, you’ll attract the right audience, reduce bounce rates, and encourage more sign-ups or sales. Keeping a close eye on your data means you’re always improving — and that’s how a content “garden” truly flourishes.

Ready to grow even more?

DreamHost is here to help you create a thriving online presence, whether you’re starting a brand-new blog or optimizing your existing site. With affordable, reliable hosting solutions and helpful resources at your fingertips, you’ll have the support you need to manage your content more efficiently and effectively.

So, roll up your sleeves, dig into your analytics, and start transforming those underperforming posts into powerful assets for your business!