Why bother updating old posts?
Today many are focused on creating new content, but you can get better results by updating publications that are already on your website. It is very likely that you have a post of two or more years without touching and that they offer you many possibilities to expand.
It may be that you do not remember those posts, but there are customers who visit them, Google robots are there to track them. If they are not up to date, they may be affecting your content marketing strategy without realizing it.
The importance of updating your blog post lies in relevance. And that is determined by the publication date of the post, if the content is helpful and updated. Contact SEO Agency in dubai for better guidance on that.
You want your website to continue to have relevant posts, so content updates will help you in this.
You will get more inbound links
If the post is not completely up to date with relevant content, it will not help your audience. If you are the first among the competition to update the publication, you are more likely to get more inbound links.
And this is because no one will link to a site with old content.
You can even, after updating your post, send an email to the websites that link to the competition (you can see this in Ahrefs) while instructing them to link to your updated content as an alternative.
You will have loyal readers
If potential buyers or readers of your content read your posts without updating, you will probably lose their trust. Remember that it is key to build content that is fresh, helpful and adds value. Join the SEO Forum to get the latest updates on that.
You keep up with SEO
That post from two years ago is probably optimized for SEO practices that are not current. The SEO industry, algorithms, and Google change regularly. Your posts should be up to date with this.
For example, before headers, links or images were used in a way that perhaps is no longer the best. It could even be that they lead to penalties.
Updating old content and bringing it up to date with current standards ensures that your website is SEO friendly. You can get guidance on that from Digitalmarketing Agency or consult a local SEO Expert.
Another example is that structured data is very important for SEO now and not before. So, it is necessary to review your old posts thinking about this.
A bad post could damage your reputation
You don’t want a post without updating to damage your entire reputation. The information may no longer be correct. Search engines are increasingly analyzing whether a post has relevant information or not. Hence it is important to check if your pages are up to date.
You avoid cannibalization
Maybe if you have a blog for a long time you are falling into topic cannibalization or repetition. Maybe you have two posts that talk about the same thing, a current one and an old one, so you are competing against yourself in the rankings.
To make sure this does not happen, what you should do is know how to position old posts by updating the content.
What is the lifetime of a post?
Research done by Halverson Group called “Lifetime Value of a Blog Post” indicated that after two years a post will reach the highest number of impressions. From then on I couldn’t go any higher. They divide this into three stages:
- Vociferation: these are the first 7 to 10 days after publication. Impressions are increasing, because it is probably shared on social networks and in the newsletter. In this period, generally 50% of the impressions are achieved.
- Echo or repetition: it occurs within 30 days after publication. The impressions begin to fall, the post is less shared. In one month 72% of the total impressions are achieved.
- Resonance: They are the 700 days remaining to the life of the post. It means 28% of the impressions.
That study also determined that impressions vary depending on the topics of the post. Some posts achieve their peak of engagement in the first month, others, such as those on recipes, reach their full potential in a longer period.
From this information you already know that you should use the first month to get more conversions, you will need to share your post more on social networks, look for more incoming links, send newsletters and send it to your network of contacts. In addition, it is important that you understand the importance of content that does not lose its validity.
How to position old posts by updating the content
Updating old posts helps improve SEO, as long as it’s done right. Follow these tips to achieve it:
Choose well what you are going to update
The first step to follow on how to position old posts by updating the content is to choose well the ones you are going to modify. Start your search by looking at your blog posts that already get a fair amount of traffic, especially if you have a lot of time.
If you have popular posts that are older than six months, it’s time to check them out. To do this you can use SEMRush or Google Search Console. Compare the same period between two years with this last tool and analyze the difference in clicks.
Select articles that previously received much more traffic than now and see if they have fallen in the ranking.
To determine which posts to update, consider the estimated value of the traffic you receive. Think about the estimated search volume you will receive.
You can start by updating between 10 and 25 pages and measure what you have achieved. Then consider doing the same thing every 3-6 months.
Also consider posts that were widely shared on social networks and those that are closely related to any of your services.
On the other hand, you will want to update or delete posts with information that no longer works or is incorrect.
Update meta tags
The title tag and meta description is what users see on the Google results page (SERPs) and leads them to click. It is important to write them persuasively to outperform the competition.
Meta tags can be very helpful, but you must make changes very carefully. Writing clickable titles or incorporating some modifiers can help drive more traffic. In other words, you will be able to position yourself better for specific terms and get more clicks on the results you are already in.
Use Google Search Console to see the terms that get the most impressions and add them to the title. You can do A / B tests to see what works best for you.
One option would be to update meta tags for low click rate keywords.
In general, some words that help to get more clicks on meta tags are: what, better, lists, how to, free, tips, tricks, among others.
Eliminate outdated information and references
Check the information in the post, for example, if you mention a business or quote a source, make sure that it is still working means that they are still a good reference with a reputation.
If you usually add memes or references to TV shows or movies, they may have already lost their validity in a post more than two years ago. So you should know how to position old posts by updating content of this type as well.
Consider deleting phrases like last year because if they are old that was more than an year ago. It would be best to put the exact date.
Also check statistics that are already out of date . Add new research and details, update data, cite sources.
Also look at old or irrelevant links. Remember that broken links can affect your positioning, use tools such as Broken Link Checker or Check My Links to analyze this aspect.
Add new audiovisual content
Images and videos are key within the content of blogs, especially if they are long. They help people spend more time on the page and give air to continue reading.
Check that the images are up to date and they continue to add value. Also that it has the correct format and the alt text optimized for the keywords.
If you took the images from another website, cite the source.
Create new headers in posts
Expanding the content with additional information helps you get more traffic because you can include other keywords. Find keyword ideas in Google’s “Related Questions” and “Related Searches” sections.
In these two parts of the SERP, you will be able to see phrases that Google considers relevant for the search (in this case, check your main keyword).
Those phrases, especially related questions, give you content ideas that you can add to your post. Of course, you do not have to write exactly those sentences, because in the end Google is based on an algorithm and robots that do not perfectly understand grammar.
Increasing the number of words will help you improve positioning. As long as it is with relevant information, that adds value.
Link to the updated post from other pages or post
Internal links help position content as well and these are the ones you can control.
- Look at the pages of your website that have more authority and more links. So, put links from those to the updated post that you want to position.
- By adding internal links from key pages to that old post, you pass link juice to it .
- You could also put those updated posts in the widget on the “Popular Posts” sidebar.
- In the case of internal or external links, you can also change the anchor texts for more relevant ones.
Match content to search intent
Before it was not so relevant and search intent was not much talked about, though this is increasingly important for Google. Consider if those old posts are really relevant to what people are consulting .
Analyze if your post has relevant content for the keywords for which you want to rank. That is, if you answer the question that people type in Google. It’s not just about keywords, it’s about whether you meet the goal of informing or helping people.
Look at the competition on Google, the ones that are positioned for the keywords you want to rank for. Look at the content, whether they are posts, videos or lists.
You could have to split your post because it is too long compared to the others, or rather lengthen it because it is too short. Add infographics, videos, tools or other things.
Check the loading times
For Google the load times are becoming increasingly important especially in mobile time. Therefore, if you want to know how to position old posts by updating the content, it is also key to optimize this aspect of on-page SEO.
It is always clear that for Google the most relevant thing is good content, but if it is on a very slow website it is very difficult for it to position itself. The recommendation is that your page does not take more than 3 seconds to see, although less is better.
Slow loading times are reflected in a high bounce rate, among other problems for your SEO. So take advantage of the fact that you are updating the content and check the page in Page Speed Insights.
Lastly, remember to promote and share your post again . If you increased the number of words, improved loading times, changed metadata, added more information, you are updating that page, therefore, you must make it known.
Share it on social networks, in content aggregators and send it in the newsletter. And include it in your link building strategy.
Knowing how to position old posts by updating the content will help you take advantage of the posts you already have on your blog. Follow this SEO tactic to improve your ranking and if you need help contact us.