# Content Decay Signal Auditor (`junipr/content-decay-signal-auditor`) Actor

Audit public content pages for decay risk proxies such as stale dates, outdated year references, broken cited links, SERP title mismatch, competitor freshness gaps, and lost freshness signals.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/junipr/content-decay-signal-auditor.md
- **Developed by:** [junipr](https://apify.com/junipr) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $11.50 / 1,000 content page analyzeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Content Decay Signal Auditor

Audit content pages for transparent decay-risk proxies derived from observable evidence. The Actor checks publication and modification dates, old year references, explicitly checked citation statuses, supplied search-result title drift, and supplied competitor freshness dates. It returns a bounded risk score with the exact factors that contributed to it.

Use it to prioritize editorial refresh queues, review stale articles, find outdated references, inspect cited-link health, and compare freshness evidence. The Actor does not have access to analytics or ranking history, so its score is a content-maintenance signal rather than proof of traffic or ranking decay.

### Risk signals

- `staleDays` measures elapsed days from the latest visible or structured publication/update date to the run timestamp;
- `outdatedYearReference` detects visible years older than the configured current-year window;
- `brokenCitationCount` counts failed statuses only when outbound checks are explicitly enabled;
- `serpMismatch` compares the observed page title with a title in supplied structured search-result records;
- `competitorFreshnessGap` checks whether supplied competitor dates are more than 90 days newer than the accepted page date.

Each contribution is bounded, and the final `decayRiskScore` is capped at 100. Missing dates add a limited uncertainty signal. A zero score means no configured proxy crossed its threshold; it is not a guarantee that the article is current or performing well.

### Input

| Field | Purpose | Default / cap |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `pageUrls` | Content pages to retrieve | empty |
| `currentYear` | Reference year for visible-year checks | 2026 |
| `staleDateThresholdDays` | Age threshold for stale content | 365 days |
| `checkOutboundLinks` | Check visible citation/link statuses | `false` |
| `maxOutboundLinks` | Maximum links checked per accepted page | 10 default, 25 maximum |
| `serpResults` | Supplied URL/title records for title comparison | empty |
| `competitorPages` | Supplied competitor publication/update dates | empty |
| `maxSignalsPerPage` | Bounded signal-row allowance | 20 default, 100 maximum |
| `htmlInputs` | Captured records with HTML and optional checked-link results | empty |
| `allowedDomains` | Optional hostname allowlist for page retrieval | empty |
| `maxPages` | Maximum pages retrieved | 1 default, 25 maximum |
| `includeEvidence` | Preserve evidence excerpts in rows | `true` |
| `includeRawSnapshots` | Store accepted raw page HTML | `false` |
| `maxChargeUsd` | Stop before the next event exceeds this amount | 35 USD maximum |

Example:

```json
{
  "pageUrls": [
    "https://publisher.example/guides/queue-reliability"
  ],
  "currentYear": 2026,
  "staleDateThresholdDays": 365,
  "checkOutboundLinks": true,
  "maxOutboundLinks": 10,
  "serpResults": [
    {
      "url": "https://publisher.example/guides/queue-reliability",
      "title": "Updated queue reliability guide"
    }
  ],
  "competitorPages": [
    {"updatedDate": "2026-06-15"}
  ],
  "allowedDomains": ["publisher.example"],
  "maxChargeUsd": 5
}
```

Outbound checks are off by default to keep the run bounded and intentional. The Store default has no page source and returns a nonempty `source_required` diagnostic.

### Dataset output

Each row includes common source provenance plus:

- `pageUrl`, `publishedDate`, and `updatedDate` from accepted HTML;
- `staleDays` as an integer when a valid date exists, otherwise null;
- `outdatedYearReference` as a boolean;
- `brokenCitationCount` for the explicitly checked link set;
- `serpMismatch` and `competitorFreshnessGap` from supplied comparison records;
- `decayRiskScore` from 0 to 100;
- `refreshRecommendation` listing the contributing review actions;
- `issueCode`, `evidenceSnippet`, `httpStatus`, and `scannedAt` for auditability.

The recommendation identifies what to review, not how to rewrite the page. Validate current analytics, search intent, subject-matter accuracy, conversion needs, and editorial ownership before scheduling a refresh.

### Reports

When `includeReport` is enabled, key-value storage receives a Markdown summary, CSV records, issue JSON, bounded evidence excerpts, and run metadata. Raw accepted HTML is stored only when explicitly enabled.

### Pay-per-event pricing

| Event | Price (USD) | When charged |
| --- | ---: | --- |
| `actor-start` | 0.0350 | after successful startup |
| `content-page-analyzed` | 0.0115 | once for each accepted content page |
| `decay-signal-detected` | 0.0115 | before a paid decay signal is recorded |
| `recommendation-generated` | 0.0115 | before each paid recommendation row |
| `executive-report-generated` | 0.4000 | before report artifacts are stored |

Apify platform usage pass-through is off. Higher-tier Store discounts are reserved in the pricing policy. `maxChargeUsd` is checked before every event; rejected, partial, or over-budget charges stop the related dataset or report write.

### Safety and interpretation

Only HTTP and HTTPS page or citation URLs are accepted. Loopback and private IPv4 targets are rejected, optional hostname allowlists narrow primary-page retrieval, and page, link, response-size, and timeout caps remain active. Citation checks occur only after explicit opt-in and never expand into general crawling. Access-denied and human-verification responses are recorded as diagnostics.

Dates can be missing, malformed, or editorially misleading. Search-result and competitor comparisons are only as current as the supplied records. Treat the output as a documented review queue and retain human editorial judgment for prioritization and publication decisions.

# Actor input Schema

## `pageUrls` (type: `array`):

Public page URLs to audit for content decay signals.

## `currentYear` (type: `integer`):

Reference year used for stale-date and outdated-year checks.

## `staleDateThresholdDays` (type: `integer`):

Age threshold in days before a visible date is treated as stale.

## `checkOutboundLinks` (type: `boolean`):

Check outbound citation links when enabled.

## `maxOutboundLinks` (type: `integer`):

Maximum outbound citation links to check per page.

## `serpResults` (type: `array`):

Optional structured SERP evidence for drift and competitor freshness checks.

## `competitorPages` (type: `array`):

Optional competitor page evidence used to compare freshness signals.

## `maxSignalsPerPage` (type: `integer`):

Maximum decay signals to emit per page.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional public page URLs to analyze when actor-specific URL fields are not used.

## `sitemapUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional public XML sitemap URLs. Accepted pages remain bounded by maxPages.

## `htmlInputs` (type: `array`):

Optional captured HTML records with sourceUrl and html or currentHtml for deterministic analysis.

## `allowedDomains` (type: `array`):

Optional hostname allowlist for fetched pages.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Maximum pages to fetch in one run.

## `maxDepth` (type: `integer`):

General link discovery is disabled.

## `includeEvidence` (type: `boolean`):

Include short source evidence snippets in output rows.

## `includeRawSnapshots` (type: `boolean`):

Opt in to raw HTML artifacts in key-value storage.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Delay in milliseconds between outbound page requests.

## `timeoutMs` (type: `integer`):

Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for a page request.

## `userAgentMode` (type: `string`):

User agent profile to use for public page requests.

## `maxChargeUsd` (type: `number`):

Maximum estimated PPE spend before the actor exits gracefully.

## `includeReport` (type: `boolean`):

Write the markdown summary report to the run key-value store.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "pageUrls": [],
  "currentYear": 2026,
  "staleDateThresholdDays": 365,
  "checkOutboundLinks": false,
  "maxOutboundLinks": 10,
  "serpResults": [],
  "competitorPages": [],
  "maxSignalsPerPage": 20,
  "startUrls": [],
  "sitemapUrls": [],
  "htmlInputs": [],
  "allowedDomains": [],
  "maxPages": 1,
  "maxDepth": 0,
  "includeEvidence": true,
  "includeRawSnapshots": false,
  "requestDelayMs": 250,
  "timeoutMs": 15000,
  "userAgentMode": "standard",
  "maxChargeUsd": 35,
  "includeReport": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

## `report` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("junipr/content-decay-signal-auditor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("junipr/content-decay-signal-auditor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call junipr/content-decay-signal-auditor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,junipr/content-decay-signal-auditor"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/zLDYlGqrA0G1iS6mC/builds/DfSRObgmjl8j3qcnV/openapi.json