Image: Hal Gatewood on Unsplash
In this article, you'll find seven actionable practices for updating old SEO content assets.
They'll help adapt your website to align with constantly changing search engine algorithms. Regular content update is critical for maintaining visibility, your backlinks portfolio, and high rankings in the SERPs. Orbitmedia’s 2023 study reports that bloggers who update old content are "twice as likely to report success”.
The trick is to know what pages to update.
Why bother?
Before we dive in, let's cover the basics.
Why is a regular update of old SEO content essential?
- Improved visibility and rankings: Update your content to align with changing user search intent, and ensure you’re still following best SEO practice regarding any algorithm updates.
- Increased traffic, engagement and conversions: Frequent updates to cover any new developments means your content stays relevant and helpful, engaging a broader audience that brings more traffic and conversions.
- More backlinks: Websites don't want to link to outdated content. Plus, if you're the first among your competitors to update the page on a particular topic, you boost your chances to poach their backlinks.
- Brand authority: Visitors see your content as comprehensive and fresh. It enhances their experience, as well as your credibility and trustworthiness.
- Saved resources on new content creation: When updating old SEO assets, you give the audience timely information faster and continue to benefit from what worked. The URL already has some backlinks and authority, and fewer resources will go to its promotion.
Which pages to update?
This is always a tricky starting question but you need to use your resources wisely for the best returns.
Analyze your content’s performance in Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or whichever software you use. Consider metrics like keywords, traffic, backlinks, rankings, engagement, and conversions.
Prioritize updating the pages that generate at least some organic traffic. These pages are good candidates to revive. However, consider updating only those relevant to your SEO goals and content strategy.
Three categories of content for updating:
- Pages with high traffic but low conversions: They perform and rank well in search engines. Yet, they don't convert as many leads as you expected.
- Pages with low traffic but high-quality backlinks: Low-performing, they have high bounce rates and poor conversion. Yet, their backlink profiles would be a shame to lose.
- Pages with high-quality backlinks but declining search rankings: They are no longer popular, no longer ranking high in the SERPs. Such pages may target outdated keywords or have broken links or images influencing performance.
How to update old SEO content
Below are your seven actionable tactics for updating old SEO content assets. You don't have to use all of them for a single page. Consider those relevant to your particular case.
1. Check your target keyword
Is its search volume still relevant? If your target keyword no longer fits the information updates, why keep using it in the content?
Carry out new keyword research for the post with a tool like Wordtracker, and consider updating it according to user intent and search trends. Add new target keywords. Long tail keywords or those with lower volumes can maximize your chances to rank.
Optimize the content accordingly:
- Add relevant keywords and place them in titles, subheads, and introductions.
- Include semantic, or related keywords.
- When adding new keywords, also add corresponding content blocks to cover them and make your page more comprehensive.
- Make sure you write naturally and readably.
Don’t forget Google’s E-E-A-T and its helpful content guidelines. Google wants unique, useful, authoritative content, not content written for search engines. Your update should be a positive change, providing better information for your audience.
Think of a few strategically placed keywords. Adding too many keywords will make your content sound stilted and written simply for SEO purposes and you may well be penalised.
2. Update meta tags
Updating old content won't work without stellar on-page SEO. Besides the content itself, you need to optimize meta tags: <title>, <description>, <H1>, and the <alt> text of your images.
Update SEO <titles> according to any target keyword changes. Place a keyword at the beginning and make the title concise but readable. Don't exceed 70 characters. As for <descriptions>, place your updated keywords there and compose them as complete, naturally written sentences, engaging and motivating for users to click.
A page <title> tag and <H1> should be different. While the former appears in SERPs, the latter is for the destination page. Update <H1> with any new keywords, making the headlines catchy and descriptive enough to engage the audience and encourage further reading.
- Consider titles that communicate benefits.
- Add details specifying the content's relevance. (If your title mentions a year, remember to update it.)
- Try to find a happy medium between technical aspects and creativity to engage users: match search intent yet evoke curiosity and a desire to learn more.
All these details with headlines can influence behavioral factors (dwell time, bounce rate), thus influencing content performance and rankings.
When updating old content, remember to add <alt> text for your images. Make it descriptive and under 125 characters to improve your image SEO and website accessibility, but again, avoid keyword stuffing.
3. Recheck the links
Scan content for broken links, aka those leading visitors to 404 or other error pages. They diminish the credibility of your content and frustrate users who click on them for more information. Remove, redirect, or correct broken links.
Add links to new research, surveys, and studies. Google's E-E-A-T guidelines stipulate that creators should provide users with reliable, useful information, so outdated resources will hurt your SEO endeavors. Verify that your facts and data are current, and update or remove out-of-date information.
Refresh your internal links. Add new links to existing content and remove old or irrelevant ones. This practice boosts content quality and improves SEO by keeping users on the page longer.
4. Improve the content for SEO
When renewing old content, it's worth reviewing current SEO practices and opportunities in the SERPs. Given that they change over time, you should regularly audit and update your content structure.
What you can do with SEO content to rank high today:
- Try to win a Featured Snippet: Add a definition for your target keyword, include a numbered list near the content top, and use proper subheads to target keyword clusters.
- Add an FAQ section: Consider a Questions filter within a keyword research tool such as Wordtracker, or “People also ask”, or Google suggest for ideas.
Image: Wordtracker
- Update content with quotes from experts in your niche: This not only gives you expert, reliable information but improves your authority.
- Rewrite your introduction for better engagement: Website visitors are generally scanners, not readers, and easily bored. A great intro can hook them in and convince them to keep reading.
Some writing formulas can help you achieve that. For example, we crafted this article's introduction with the PPB formula: Preview, Proof, Bridge. Feel free to test the various formulas to see what works best in your particular case.
- Rewrite your conclusion: Consider updating "final thoughts" and CTAs of your SEO articles to improve them and to increase conversions.
5. Update visuals
High quality visuals provide a better user experience and boost opportunities for SEO. They serve for content scannability and readability, increase dwell time, drive traffic, and encourage backlinks and social media sharing.
Ensure you add original images to the content and optimize them following the rules of image SEO:
- Craft custom images with a backlinking potential: graphs, charts with solid data, visual examples, etc.
- Resize and compress them according to your CMS sets, and don’t forget formats (JPEG and PNG work best).
- Update all image file names for relevance.
6. Watch content readability
Many SEO experts have written about the influence of poor grammar and spelling on user experience and rankings, not to mention it being a bad reflection on your site.
Content readability does matter:
Reading online is 25% slower than from print. Why make it challenging for users to scan your content? By improving readability, you can influence behavioral factors and rankings. Make sure you correct spelling and grammar errors, rewrite vague sentences and break up the text with subheads, bullet points, and visuals.
Craft short paragraphs, write transitions, and use active voice and clear language.
Ensure you place your CTA in a prominent location where it is clear to the reader.
7. Update the publishing date (watch the URL!)
If we go to a Google search for any keyword, we'll see that the top results are all from the past year or so. No wonder.
Everything changes so quickly in most niches today that the information gets outdated within a few months. We're more likely to click on recent articles, assuming we'll find the most relevant data there.
When updating your content, remember to update its publishing date. It will improve its CTR and attract more backlinks. (It stands to reason that websites prefer linking to recent articles, not those from the past decade.)
But here's the catch:
Don't change the page's URL as you'll damage the existing authority of that page, together with its backlink profile. It helps also to consider this detail when creating new URLs: keep them short, simple, and descriptive, easy to reuse later.
Avoid numbers and content formats in URLs. When updating your content next year, you may want to change that information and the URL will appear irrelevant.
No: www.website.com/blog/7-content-update-practices-infographic
Yes: www.website.com/blog/best-content-update-practices
If a URL change is necessary, implement a 301 redirect to save its authority and juice.
Wrapping up
Regular content updates are essential for your SEO. Make them a part of your SEO strategy, and don't wait for your content to become old or irrelevant. Schedule regular audits to see how your content performs and whether it's time to revise it for better results.
Test different topics, formats, and keywords to see how they impact your SEO goals.
Regular content updates can help you grow visibility, build trust, and maintain a competitive edge in today's rapidly changing algorithms, trends, and searcher habits.
