Many website owners think they should keep churning out fresh content to boost their ranking on Google and other search engines. While that is important, it should not be your only SEO strategy. It might be beneficial to focus on updating your existing content to drive SEO traffic. It requires less work, plus you’ll see results faster.
Older articles are less ‘fresh’ in Google’s eyes and will have lower chances of ranking on SERPs. But when you update them, you’re telling Google that they’re relevant again and can be used to address search queries. Here’s how to properly update your old content so you can double the traffic on your website.
Identify High-Priority Pages
Eventually, you should update all content on your website. But there are certain pages you should prioritize. These are the types of content that need urgent updating:
Pages That Used to Do Well but Have Stopped Ranking
If a page used to generate lots of traffic but doesn’t show up on SERPs anymore, it needs an update. Competitors have most likely taken everything right about this page and improved it, explaining why they’re now ranking instead of you.
Your Best-Performing Pages
High-performing pages are your bread and butter and should be updated before they start dropping in the SERPs. Do your research, anticipate how users’ needs will change, and update your content accordingly. That way, your pages will keep showing up on the first page of Google SERPs.
Pages With Potential but Aren’t Performing Well
If a page has high-quality content but isn’t performing as well as you hoped, it’s an opportunity for revision. Identify your mistakes and figure out how you can better optimize the page. You can use your learnings for future content.
Update Facts and Figures
To keep your older pages attractive to Google and helpful to readers, check that your facts and figures are still accurate. The world is continuously evolving, and what was true last year might be false now.
Perform a quick search to see if there’s new research or data available about the topic, and update your content to reflect them. You can also check your competitor’s websites to see if they’ve managed to pull newer information. If you updated an article, it’s good practice to mention in the body that you’ve improved its accuracy.
Remove and Repair Broken Links and Add New Ones
Including external links is an effective SEO strategy, but you’ll never know if a source was taken down or if a URL was altered until you check back on them. That’s why it’s vital to go through old pages and remove or repair any broken links. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this manually. Some online platforms and plug-ins can scan your articles and check for links that don’t work anymore.
There are a couple of ways to repair a broken link. First, you can try to find other places where the source was published. If you can’t find it anywhere on the web, you can look for another source with the same quality and link to that instead. You might have to remove the link altogether if there’s nothing similar.
You can also add new external and internal links that are relevant to increase the value of an old article.
Check for Additional Keywords
To make an old article more current, look for additional keywords and phrases you can add. One way to search for relevant keywords is to scroll to the bottom of a Google SERP and check the related searches.
For example, if you search for “best headphones 2022,” some of the related search terms that pop up are “best wireless headphones 2022,” “best over-ear headphones 2022,” and “best gaming headphones 2022.” You can elaborate on those terms to make your content more helpful to readers.
Add Videos or Images
If an old article is made purely of text, you can update it by adding high-quality images and videos. That way, readers will stay longer on your page. When users dwell longer on a piece of content, Google sees it as relevant and valuable and will rank it higher on SERPs.
The Bottom Line
Updating old content is low-hanging fruit and should be part of everyone’s SEO strategy. For more information on how to make successful content, contact Transformation Marketing at 402-788-2896.