One of the best things about blogging is seeing the results it can bring to a business or individual over time. These results are often increased traffic and leads to a blog. And surprisingly, in some cases your old content is more likely to bring more value than your newly posted content.
There are several reasons why you should dedicate some time to reviving your blog’s older content. It always works to your favor if some of your readers stumble upon one of your evergreen blog posts that still performs well on search. But sometimes these older posts can be riddled with mistakes and need additional editing. Here are some common problems your older blog posts may have:
- Broken links: If a blog post is a couple of years old, having a few broken links is unavoidable
- Lack of in-depth understanding: As a beginner, you might have written posts without knowing much about the topic
- Evolved perceptions and opinions: You might have changed your opinion on the topic covered in your post over years
- Outdated information: The information you shared may have been updated since then
- Obsolete design: Design standards change and your original design may no longer look appealing (ex. colors, fonts, image size, etc.)
If you want to appear as an authoritative blogger who’s worth trusting, these details should be addressed in all of your blog posts.
Additionally, refurbishing your content from time to time can boost your blog’s overall ranking positions and frequently updated posts will benefit as well. The freshness of content matters to Google and your viewers also take the newness of your blog posts into account as they peruse your website.
How to Start Refurbishing Your Old Content
#1 Research Your Keywords
By now you should know what your best-performing blog posts are; next, you need to find out how people find these posts on search engines. Refer to your Google Analytics to find out what keywords and phrases users type into search functions to find your posts on SERPs.
These may not be the exact words you expected to rank for while writing particular posts, so make sure you incorporate these findings into your texts, image tags and meta tags (without changing URLs) to make sure your audience finds the most relevant information possible.
#2 Update Information
We have mentioned this point above but it’s worth reiterating. As time goes by, the accuracy and relevancy of the information you provided years (or months) ago may begin to suffer. Do some research to determine whether or not some of the content (such as screenshots, images, links, copies, statistics, etc.) need to be replaced, modified or simply removed.
The standards for the optimal word count have also changed over the years. If your old blog posts include only a couple of paragraphs, they may not be fully covering the topic. Think about how you can provide more valuable information on the topic while increasing the amount of words in your posts to at least 1000 characters.
#3 Link Internally
Strong internal link profiles brings SEO value to your blog. In your updated posts, link to both your new and old blog content. This way, you supply your readers with more information on the topic while bringing some of your older posts to the attention of your readers. This contributes greatly to the amount of information your readers have access to and works well for increasing your blog’s traffic because you have more users clicking around your blog.
#4 Rewrite Your Meta Descriptions
Accurate and to-the-point meta descriptions facilitate better click-through-rates. Make sure your meta descriptions are relevant to the content they are associated with. When your posts are updated, your meta descriptions may not fully (or accurately) reflect what the updated posts are about, preventing you from realizing your content’s potential.
#5 Update Post Date and Time
Adding the post date in your URL structure will help you bring fresh attention to your old posts and attract new readers. Posts that appear on search results with recent post dates naturally receive more clicks and views as they are considered to provide relevant information and data.
#6 Repurpose Your Content
Hopefully you remember that written content is not the only type of content available to you. Slides, videos, images and audio files are all at your disposal. Among your high-performing blog posts, choose a couple of long-form pieces and consider converting them into other types of content to expand reach and drive even more traffic. People consume information differently, so why limit yourself to only written content?
#7 Re-Promote Your Content
Once you are done reworking your posts, don’t just call it a day. Your posts won’t promote themselves on their own – utilize social media sharing to maximize exposure. It’s not guaranteed that even your oldest loyal followers have read all of your blog posts, so you’ll want to extend your post’s reach in as many ways possible.
Content refurbishment can greatly benefit your current blogging strategy and complements your current content creation strategy. New content is always needed but strengthening your older content can help establish your authority on the subject matter as well. As you develop your blog, be sure to treat your old content as you would your new content to maximize your site’s potential.