Are there benefits to updating old blog content?
Revising existing blog posts can lead to an improved user experience and more SEO opportunities. Website visitors expect quality content. They wish to be assured that your information is current and up-to-date. Making changes to your website on a regular basis creates a better user experience and improves the overall quality. These changes create more possibilities for improving your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by bringing more people to your blog, making it appear higher on search engine results and inducing an increase in backlinks.
Making the most of previous blog posts and their existing existence on the internet can help to prolong the effectiveness of your top-notch material. When your content is no longer garnering an increasing amount of traffic, it is especially helpful to take advantage of this period of stasis.
John Bonini, the Director of Marketing at Databox, has indicated that improving content that has already been published is more useful than merely creating new content when the goal is to grow organic traffic within a short time frame. This can help to raise your website’s ranking on search engine page results and consequently, bring more people to your page.
How To Revive An Old Blog Post
To revive an old blog post, you should:
1. Target new keywords.
How old is your blog post? Two scenarios may occur depending on when the item was first released. Initially, you aimed at selecting keywords based on the difficulty and number of searches available at the time. You lacked the understanding of SEO necessary to perform a keyword search.
The number of individuals inputting a specific word into a search engine can be calculated by the search volume. The Monthly Search Volume (MSV) is a commonly used metric that predicts how much website traffic could be generated with a particular keyword. Evaluate search volume with keyword difficulty. How hard it would be for a certain keyword to be placed on the first page of a Search Engine Result Page (SERP) is referred to as keyword difficulty. It is not possible to use only keyword difficulty or search volume to decide on your target keywords.
If you wrote a blog post a while ago, the difficulty and popularity of the search terms you were targeting during that time may have since altered due to SEO and keyword research. If you didn’t understand the significance of SEO, it is probable that your content does not have any keywords at all. That is why targeting new keywords is crucial.
How do you find new keywords? You will need to:
- Identify industry-related terms in your niche.
- Use keyword research tools to produce long-tail keywords.
- Select keywords based on search volume and keyword difficulty.
2. Update the on-page SEO.
Revamping and executing a SEO plan to an existing blog post can be accomplished in several core regions. You will need to update and optimize your:
- SEO Title Tag
- Meta Description
- Article Title
- Subheadings
SEO Title Tag
The SEO title tag is the first thing people typically observe when looking at a Search Engine Results Page. The clickable title of the web page directs one to the post. Update this title to reflect any new target keywords. Take into consideration that although there are no boundaries to the size of SEO title tags, the first 70 characters will be the only ones that will appear in the outcome when conducting a Google search. In order to make your post appear most impressive and relevant, it is advisable to put the keyword at the start of the title.
3. Update the content.
The majority of your changes will take place in the main area of your page. Begin by rewriting your introduction. Stay up to date by making sure the remainder of the material is current. The process will involve two parts: getting rid of old data and incorporating new information.
Begin by taking out any information that is no longer pertinent when eliminating out-of-date content. Let’s revisit the keyword “androgynous style” from before. Think of a fashion blogger creating an article in 2020 about unisex fashion and its celebrated figures of the past decade. They might write about Prince and David Bowie. Given that both of the musicians have already died several years ago, their data is no longer suitable for use in a revised version of this blog entry.
4. Focus on links.
Adding links to an outdated blog post is an effective way to improve search engine optimization. Connections can advance your positioning on a web search tool results page and expand the dependability of your article. Update your links in two steps.
First, search for broken links. Links that do not work lead users to a page displaying a 404 error message. If someone reads a link, they are likely searching for additional details. If a link is broken, it decreases the dependability and excellence of your material, and aggravates them. Remove, repair, or redirect any broken links.
Second, refresh internal links. Interlinking means connecting to other related blogposts on your website. This method helps to extend user engagement on the website, enhances the standard of the content, and enhances search engine optimization. As you revise your material, add connections to already existing content on your website.
5. Add and optimize new images and videos.
High-quality blogs have high-quality visuals. Incorporating visuals and videos brings us to the point of the advantages of revitalizing an older blog post – enhancing the viewer experience and amplifying the possibilities for SEO.
Adding and optimizing new images and videos can:
- Increase user time on your page.
- Drive more traffic to your post.
- Break up solid text.
- Encourage social media sharing.
- Make your post easier to understand.
More effort is needed to optimize images than to optimize videos for search engine optimization. These are the actions to undertake in order to bring your previous blog post back to life with visuals.
Find the Right Image
If possible, make sure to give top priority to creating your own photos. Hiring a photographer is typically a part of the cost when it comes to obtaining original pictures. If this cost is not something you can afford, utilize a blend of free and paid stock pictures. When choosing an image for your post, go for a natural snapshot rather than an artificial one.
6. Fix Grammar and Formatting Issues
Making errors in your content and headings won’t benefit you in any way. First and foremost, these errors affect readers the most. No thing will damage the confidence and commitment of readers more than continual mistakes in punctuation and grammar. Your lack of attention to ensuring that your posts were legible reflects poorly on your brand’s image.
If you want to create a responsible reputation, strive to make sure that all of your material, whether it is brand-new or already published, is flawless and contains no mistakes.
There are a lot of useful resources available to assist you with this task, like Grammarly, which offers a free version. The higher-priced version takes things to a higher level by helping with things like the formation of sentences and improving lexicon.
It’s essential to have flawless grammar and structure for readers, but search engines also take it into consideration. Particularly, Bing configured their algorithm to only rank content that is completely flawless. It is extremely vital that you review your blog posts several times for grammar, spelling, and formatting.
7. Add More Internal Links, Research-Backed Stats, and New Backlinks
Connecting to other trustworthy websites from your domain will increase your website’s ranking. In addition, adding internal links to your site is beneficial for your search engine optimization and allows for creating a network of connected content. Inserting internal links in appropriate places can also persuade readers to have a look at your additional posts, thereby leading more people to visit those other posts.
Statistics that are confirmed by research will increase the trust that search engines have in you. Ensure any assertion is supported adequately by referring to a trustworthy research means or documentation. Search for connections coming from web pages with the domain extensions of .gov, .edu, and .org specifically.
You should also include fresh links to any pieces that you revise. Obtaining newer, more trustworthy backlinks will do wonders for the credibility of your domain. I already mentioned that revamping old blog articles is an effective way to procure connections from other outdated posts from other organizations.
Lastly, take a look at your cited sources. The likelihood is great that they will be as dated as your blog entry. Switching out old citations with newer ones is another option for optimizing a post that has been around for a while.
What Can Updating Older Blog Posts Do For You?
Are you still unsure about refreshing your existing material? Perhaps these desirable advantages will open your eyes to the solution. Refreshed blog posts can bring in organic traffic and create excitement around earlier subjects, among other positive outcomes.
Acquire Outdated Competitor Backlinks
It is indispensable to frequently refresh the material in order to secure (and keep) top-notch backlinks. If you possess a webpage with an article titled ‘Fintech Innovations of 2021’ that hasn’t been altered yet, then that would be an example.
From there, you can observe a rival company with appealing connections that still has not freshened their FinTech advancements article. You seize the chance and are the first to create a blog post titled ‘FinTech Trends for 2022.’
Subsequently, contact the holders of the backlinks from the competitors’ article and persuade them to link to the recently published post. It looks as if they’re probably going to go with that choice since no one desires to connect to outdated material. You can use a tool such as Ahrefs’ backlink checker to learn about what links your opponents possess.
That’s how to get backlinks from competitors by using up-to-date blog posts. Revising your material will help you keep the backlinks that you worked very hard to acquire. It is paramount that you make every effort to maintain current blog posts to uphold the reputation of your domain.
Obtain Thought Leader Status Among Readers
The main objective of any content marketing scheme should be to cultivate loyalty among the followers. The most trustworthy approach to maintain your posts is to ensure they are current. Having old content on your blog is a bad sign and makes it likely that viewers will search for recent material elsewhere.
If you don’t keep your blog up to date, the opposite will happen. Your blogs will always provide readers with the most useful, current information.
That’s an excellent approach to getting “thought leader” prestige – something that all blogs strive for but only some accomplish.
It is imperative that you revise the material already on your blog if you desire to attract readers. This demonstrates that you are invested in your material and aim to offer your readers the highest value. If you are having difficulty keeping your blog readers around, consider revising your blog posts and generating timeless content that is still useful and answers queries which remain consistent.
Stay Current with the Latest SEO Tactics
Content must be regularly updated in order to keep up with the ever-changing and developing SEO strategies. The strategies employed for SEO in 2018 will not give the same outcomes in 2022.
Be certain to include the most up-to-date SEO practices when revising a blog post.
e.g. Reorganizing an existing article to group related keywords into multiple clusters rather than merely emphasizing one keyword. A set of related words having the same goal of purchasing is referred to as a keyword cluster. This is a relatively new approach that yields remarkable outcomes and is now favored in comparison to simply employing a limited number of search terms.
On the other hand, utilizing some of the antiquated methods could get you in trouble with Google and other search engines. In the early part of the decade, including long words and phrases repeatedly in an effort to boost search engine rankings was a common tactic, however in the present day, it is widely considered a form of spam and consistently penalized.
Generate More Revenue From an Existing Investment
Finally, revising established material will take advantage of the funds you have invested.
It would be regrettable for the money you spent on content to be forgotten and fade away.
You can continue to get money out of previously created content by simply revising it. I have noticed that small changes such as including the current year, researching new keywords, and including more interesting facts can result in a considerable rise of visitors to a blog post that has not been popular.
Blogs can have lasting effects that are similar to those of search engine optimization (SEO). If you keep updating and including fresh, pertinent data, a single blog entry can pull in viewers for a prolonged duration.
For those who desire the best value, refreshing aged posts is a must.
It’s already been paid, so do anything in your power to recoup the investment and gain additional profits.
It is to your benefit to create fresh interest in an already-existing work. Your readers will benefit from the post because it will provide them with fresh ideas and current facts. In a nutshell, revising outdated blog posts carries unlimited advantages with almost no cons, and it’s a perfect solution to create more interest and bring in more money.
