Description
Rc2i Content Pruning is the all-in-one WordPress plugin to audit, clean up, and optimize your content for better SEO. Stop guessing which pages to keep, update, or remove — let the data decide.
Documentation & Getting Started | Support | Website
Why Content Pruning?
Over time, every WordPress site accumulates underperforming pages, broken links, and orphan content that drag down your SEO. Content pruning helps you:
- Improve crawl budget — search engines focus on your best content
- Boost rankings — removing or consolidating weak pages strengthens your domain
- Fix broken links — stop losing link juice and frustrating visitors
- Strengthen internal linking — make sure every page is discoverable
Key Features
Outbound Links Scanner (External/Externes)
- Automatic scan of all outbound links across your site
- HTTP status verification (200, 301, 404, 500, etc.)
- One-click bulk deletion of broken links
- Inline link editing (URL, anchor text, target, nofollow)
- Purge and full rescan
- Domain exclusion list (YouTube, social networks, etc.)
- External = links to websites outside your domain
Internal Links Analysis (Outgoing/Sortants)
- Complete map of your internal linking structure
- Detection of pages with no outgoing internal links (pages that don’t distribute link juice)
- Internal link count per page with detail popup
- Outgoing = links this page sends to other pages on your site
Incoming Links & Orphan Pages (Entrants)
- Identify orphan pages (no internal links pointing to them)
- Incoming link statistics per page with detail popup showing source pages
- Visual page distribution chart
- Incoming = links from other pages on your site pointing to this page
Page Traffic (Google Search Console)
- One-click Google Search Console integration — no Google Cloud project needed
- View impressions, clicks, CTR, and average position per page
- See Search Console keywords for each page
- Find pages with zero impressions
- Delete underperforming pages with automatic 301 redirect
Additional Tools
- Article debug — detailed link analysis of any single article
- Bulk comment deletion
- 301 redirect manager
Google Search Console Integration
Connect to Google Search Console in one click via secure OAuth 2.0. No Google Cloud project or API key required — the plugin handles everything for you in Simple mode. Advanced users can provide their own credentials if preferred.
External Services
This plugin connects to external services to retrieve traffic and search data for your website. All connections require explicit user consent through OAuth 2.0 authentication.
OAuth Relay Server
- What it is: A relay server operated by Rc2i (hosted at seopilote.fr) that handles Google OAuth authentication on behalf of the plugin
- What it’s used for: Securely managing the OAuth 2.0 flow so users don’t need to create a Google Cloud project. The relay exchanges authorization codes for access tokens using credentials stored server-side.
- Data sent: OAuth authorization code, exchange tokens
- Data NOT sent: The relay never receives your Google Search Console data. All API data calls are made directly from your WordPress site to Google.
- When: When you click «Connect to Google» in the plugin settings
- Service URL: https://seopilote.fr/
- Privacy Policy: https://seopilote.fr/politique-confidentialite
- Terms of Service: https://rc2i.net/
Google OAuth 2.0
- What it is: Google’s authentication service
- What it’s used for: Authenticating users to access Google Search Console API
- Data sent: Authorization code, client credentials (Client ID)
- When: When you click «Connect to Google» in the plugin settings
- Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
- Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms
Google Search Console API
- What it is: Google’s API for accessing Search Console data
- What it’s used for: Retrieving search impressions, clicks, CTR, position data, and keywords for your pages
- Data sent: Your website URL, date ranges for data queries
- When: When you click «Synchronize traffic data» in the Traffic tab
- API Documentation: https://developers.google.com/webmaster-tools
- Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
- Terms of Service: https://developers.google.com/terms
Important: The plugin does not send any data to Google without your explicit consent and authentication. In Advanced mode, you can provide your own Google Cloud credentials instead of using the relay server.
Screenshots
Outbound Links (Externes) — Scan all external links, check HTTP status codes, and bulk-delete broken links 
Internal Links (Sortants) — Visualize your internal linking structure and find pages with no outgoing links 
Incoming Links (Entrants) — Detect orphan pages that receive zero internal links 
Page Traffic — Google Search Console data with impressions, clicks, CTR, and keywords per page 
Content Pruning — Identify pages with zero traffic, with incoming/outgoing/external link counts and detail popups
Installation
- Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard
- Search for «Rc2i Content Pruning»
- Click Install Now, then Activate
- A new «Content Pruning» menu appears in your admin sidebar
- Start by scanning your outbound links from the first tab
- (Optional) Go to Settings and click «Connect to Google» to enable traffic analysis
For detailed setup instructions, visit the documentation.
FAQ
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Does the plugin work without Google connection?
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Yes. The outbound links, internal links, and incoming links features all work without any Google configuration. The Google connection is only required for the «Page Traffic» tab.
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What types of content are scanned?
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The plugin scans all published posts and pages. Content in meta fields (custom fields) is also analyzed to find links that may be rendered by your theme or page builder.
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How do I exclude certain domains from the scan?
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Go to the Settings tab and add domains to the exclusion list (one per line). Common exclusions include youtube.com, facebook.com, twitter.com, linkedin.com, etc.
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Does deleting a page create a redirect?
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Yes. When you delete a page from the «Page Traffic» tab, the plugin automatically moves it to trash and creates a 301 redirect to a URL of your choice (home page by default). This preserves any existing link equity.
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Does the plugin slow down my site?
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No. The plugin runs exclusively in the WordPress admin area. It does not load any scripts, styles, or database queries on the front-end of your site. The only front-end component is the 301 redirect handler, which is extremely lightweight.
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How long does the link scan take?
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It depends on the number of pages and links on your site. The scan runs in batches via AJAX to avoid timeouts. A site with 500 pages typically completes in a few minutes.
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Is my Google data safe?
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Yes. The plugin uses OAuth 2.0 with a secure relay server. Your Google Search Console data is fetched directly from your WordPress site to Google — the relay server only handles authentication tokens, never your actual data. See the External Services section for full details.
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Can I use my own Google API credentials?
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Yes. Switch to Advanced mode in the Settings tab and enter your own Client ID and Client Secret from a Google Cloud project. This bypasses the relay server entirely.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Rc2i Content Pruning” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Rc2i Content Pruning” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.9
- New Content Pruning tab: dedicated view showing only pages with zero traffic (0 impressions)
- Content Pruning table includes Incoming (Entrants), Outgoing (Sortants), and External (Externes) link counts with detail popups
- Orphan page detection directly in Content Pruning tab (pages with 0 incoming links)
- Orphan pages button in Incoming Links tab for quick filtering
- Warning message recommending a minimum 90-day GSC analysis period for reliable results
- Meta fields management: exclude or permanently delete custom fields from scanning (Settings tab)
- In-tab documentation explaining link column terminology
- Fixed internal link resolution bug (wp_parse_url typo)
- Added translation support (load_plugin_textdomain)
1.0.8
- Simplified Google OAuth flow (no Google Cloud project needed)
- Secure OAuth relay server for credential management
- Removed Google Analytics 4 dependency (Search Console only)
- Improved security: Client Secret stored server-side only
1.0.6
- Improved 301 redirect management
- Minor bug fixes
1.0.5
- Added Incoming Links tab
- Orphan page detection
- Page distribution chart
1.0.4
- Search Console keywords per page
1.0.3
- Added HTTP status verification
- Bulk deletion of broken links
1.0.2
- Added internal link scanning
- Interface improvements
1.0.1
- Added domain exclusion
- Article debug
1.0.0
- Initial release
- Outbound link scanning
- Google Search Console integration