ROT Analysis
ROT analysis is the disposition rule applied on top of a content inventory: mark each asset Redundant (duplicates something that does the job better), Outdated (no longer accurate or relevant), or Trivial (never earned its place). Where the audit describes what exists, ROT decides what happens to it, and gives teams permission to delete. Every flagged asset gets one of three fates: remove it, redirect it, or rewrite it into something worth keeping.
The standard cull rule: flag what is Redundant, Outdated, or Trivial.
Redundant / Outdated / Trivial → Remove, redirect, or rewrite
When to use this
- Immediately after a content inventory, an inventory without a disposition pass is just a longer spreadsheet.
- Before a migration or replatform, so you do not pay to move content nobody should find.
- When site search and Google results surface stale pages ahead of current ones.