No matter how hard you try, your site will have outdated content. Here at WSI, we are constantly writing and posting new content on our blogs, as creating new content is the foundation of an effective marketing strategy. But the world moves on, time goes by, and soon we have a list of outdated articles that need to be updated.
What to do with outdated content? First, you should review old content and consider updating articles that fit your current content strategy. Make updating outdated content part of your editorial calendar—not only does it save you money, it also makes sense.
But what about the rest of your legacy content? What other reasons are there for updating old content?
SEO can be improved
As with other search engines, Google’s algorithm aims to produce relevant and quality results for its users. With over eighty-three percent of the global search market share, Google is constantly updating its algorithms to provide the best possible customer experience. And, ultimately, it is these updates that can lead to a drop in your page rank – content loses its value over time due to customer needs. changeand the target keywords you used to improve search rankings when you first wrote content may no longer be relevant.
Updating outdated content improves SEO performance by adding higher quality keywords, which can boost its ranking again. Why not use this opportunity to optimize for more than just on-page search engine optimization (SEO)? Can an update include changes to off-page SEO and technical SEO? The SEO tech article mentioned here is a great example of updated content as it says:Originally published January 29, 2016, updated January 13, 2022“Updating all the SEO for a piece of content will make it easier to rank the page.
It may save you time, but it will still give you results.
Although it is time consuming, fresh content is vital to any company’s content strategy. But resurrecting old content and giving it new life should also be part of the strategy. It can save you time But are still producing results.
How do you determine what content needs to be updated? Conduct a content audit, during which you will analyze the effectiveness of your content and find out what can be improved. Most content audits only focus on SEO performance, but you also need to review the business performance and usefulness of your content at least once a year.
What factors influence the need for a page audit?
- If a page is less than six months old, it should not be reviewed as it takes time to rank in search engines.
- Does the content rank in the top three for the primary target keyword? Focus on content lower in the rankings.
- Is the content in the top twenty? It may not be the keywords that are the problem, but you don’t have enough backlinks to compete on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Potential grammar and spelling errors can be corrected
Everyone knows that feeling when you write new content and read it the next day only to find annoying grammatical or spelling mistakes 😱
While we strive for professionalism and excellence, mistakes do happen. Updating outdated content gives you the opportunity to correct spelling and grammatical errors. And besides linguistic errors, what else could be updated? Consider things like:
- Is the title catchy enough to draw readers in, and does it match readers’ intent when they search for a particular term?
- Is the content message still relevant to the readers you are targeting?
- Double check all internal and external links of the article and update them if necessary. Nothing says old content like outdated links.
- Check the URL to make sure it reflects the date the content was updated.
- Update visuals and graphics that no longer match your current brand design guidelines.
- Review the meta description and image alt text to update the SEO search elements on the page.
Google can see that your content is fresh
Do you want your monthly traffic to increase and Google to see that your content is fresh? Approximately 4.32 billion people use their mobile phones to access the Internet, which is why Google has switched to indexing mobile devices. This means that Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. While they state that mobile content is not required for your pages to appear in search results, it is highly recommended.
So, another way to improve your content rankings on search engines and drive more organic traffic is to adapt your content for mobile use. Google has mobile indexing best practices, including ensuring that desktop and mobile content is the same or there will be some loss of traffic. When updating legacy content to mobile-friendly, small changes, such as shorter paragraphs, can make all the difference.
The accuracy of your content can be improved
Content maintenance includes improving the accuracy of content by updating statistics and backlinks, and revising content to reflect the latest research or findings. But updating old content is also an opportunity to create a new user experience by making it more interesting with visuals like:
- Photo
- Video
- Illustrations
- Visual calls to action (CTA)
- Data visualization
- Screenshots
- User Content (UGC)
- augmented reality
Accurate, up-to-date content is not just about visuals and up-to-date information, but it also appeals to your entire audience. Your audience may be more diverse now than when the article was originally written, or your target audience may have changed.
Changes to legacy content don’t have to be extensive, but simply viewed from a different, more modern perspective by your consumer.
Search Engine Behavior Changes
Global, national or personal events can change user behavior very quickly. A report on content marketing trends has been published, highlighting, among other things, the need to keep track of changing audience needs. Shortly after the contents were made public, a war broke out that, although characteristic of the region, affected the entire world. Suddenly, the needs of the audience have changed, albeit short-lived for many.
What does this mean for updating outdated content? The article on consumer experience and how people shop highlights that shoppers buy earlier than usual, love to shop online and shop where it’s most convenient, be it in the app, offline store or online. The old piece of content you’re adapting may be available to the consumer on a different platform than before and will be published sooner than expected.
Finally
So, here it is. Six good reasons to update old content (even if you don’t think it’s necessary) and some tips on how to do it. Of course, we understand that updating all the content on your website can be a daunting task, especially if you are short on time or resources. That’s where we come in!
Contact us for a free consultation if you need help updating your website content. We will work with you to develop a plan that fits your budget and schedule while delivering the results you need to stay ahead of the competition. Have you updated the content of your site recently?
