How To Refresh Older Blog Posts & Why You Need To Do It
When was the last time you updated one of the older posts on your blog?
If you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ll have blogs that have probably never been touched since you hit publish on them. Maybe they’re now out of date, contain inaccurate information or have broken links.
But even if none of that is true, refreshing older content is smart.
Why Update Older Blogs?
Updating older blogs is often forgotten about but it can be a great way to boost SEO and get eyeballs on your site.
Older posts are likely getting low traffic, are dropping in the search rankings and not generating as many conversions as they could. This can lead Google to assume that your content isn’t current and even worse, your audience can see it as outdated too.
Updating these blogs gives them a much better opportunity to jump up the search rankings, get more backlinks and ultimately, drive more traffic (and potential clients!) to your website.
And the great thing is that you can start to get these kinds of results pretty quickly once you update older blogs.
Look at posts that:
Aren’t getting as much traffic as they used to
Have dropped in search ranking
Any posts that are showing up on page one or two for target keywords and could jump higher in position if they’re improved
How To Update Older Blogs
You can add new content that answers questions your dream clients are asking, introduce up-to-date research on the topic
Look at keywords
Firstly, you want to know which keywords the post is currently ranking for.
After that, pick a target keyword (s) that you want to optimise the post for.
But it’s a fine balance here IF the post is already ranking well for certain keywords. You can actually lose traffic if you go ahead and retarget new keywords. In this scenario, it can be better to focus your efforts on improving your search ranking for the keyword(s) you’re already ranking well for.
Questions that potential clients also ask
Do any search in Google and you’ll usually come across a section called People Also Ask - which is a great source of inspiration for the related questions that potential clients may be asking about your blog topic. Another one is the Related Searches that often comes up at the bottom.
You can use this to help inform your keyword research and you can also incorporate answers to these questions within your content. People are actively searching for info on these questions and there’s a good chance your potential clients are too.
Get inspiration from competitors
The content that’s already on page one for your target keyword(s) is a great source of inspiration.
Is this content long form?
Is it covering topics you’re not?
Does it use videos, images, GIFs etc?
Is there a theme with the titles of the content?
Are featured snippets a big thing?
All of this gives you fantastic insight into what Google loves and what people are looking for when they search for that keyword.
Combining content
If you have multiple blogs on similar topics, combining them into one longer post can work well. When you’re consolidating content this way, use the post that’s ranking higher for the target keyword(s) as the base and combine the lower-ranking posts into it.
Look for internal linking opportunities
If you have related posts on the blog, it’s a golden opportunity to add some internal links.
Don’t forget about alt text
If you’re adding images as part of the update, don’t forget about the alt text. Ideally, it should be relevant and descriptive.
Updating your older blog posts is a great content marketing strategy
Here’s my challenge to you this month - go through your older blogs and identify a few that are prime candidates for an update. Maybe they have dropped in traffic since you first published them or they’re declining in search rankings. Or maybe you just see opportunities to make them even better.
If the idea of updating your older blogs feels overwhelming, I’m here to help. As a wellness content writer, I support my clients with blog packages and that includes updating posts.
PS - Only 2 blog packages are available to new clients before the 2023 waitlist opens up!
