How to Update Old Blog Posts and Increase Blog Traffic
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Are you taking the time to update old blog posts on your site? Over time posts grow old, content becomes inaccurate, and traffic declines.
The good news is that updating old blog posts can increase search rankings in traffic, make posts look more attractive and give you quick wins without having to create brand new content.
I’ve been doing a Spring cleaning and audit of my blog, so naturally I thought a blog post on the topic was in order!
When was the last time you did a review of old content on your blog?
It’s almost laughable how horrible my early posts are. Terrible quality images, poorly designed graphics, 200 hundred word posts 😳. But, I was learning! And over the years my blog has evolved.
As I’ve been reviewing my blog I’m becoming more and more aware of just how much outdated content is on it. It was definitely time for a deep clean, review and updates!
Why update blog content?
Is it really necessary to update old blog posts? The answer is yes!
Google favors new content which means over time your content naturally loses freshness in Google’s eyes. By giving your content a little refresh from time to time, you are signaling to Google that your content is new! Neil Patel puts it this way,
“To increase the effectiveness of your SEO efforts and boost your search engine traffic, you can just update your old content and give yourself an improved freshness score.”
Neil Patel
In addition to at least one new post to your blog a week, reviewing and updating old content can be a key way to keep your blog current.
Your competitors are publishing new content on the same topic. Each time another blog publishes a post on the same topic as you, it’s going to effect your traffic.
The lower your post starts showing up in search engines, the less clicks you receive, the less clicks you receive, the lower it continues to fall on a search page. Periodic refreshes to high performing posts keep them performing well. Refreshes to posts that aren’t performing well can increase their performance!
How to refresh your existing blog content
Time for a Blog Refresh?
Are you ready to refresh your existing blog content? Spring is the perfect time to do a deep clean of your blog!
A refresh of your existing content is a great way to breath a little extra life into your blog. Reviewing old content makes sure that outdated info gets removed or replaced. Plus it’s a great time to re-share content.
I recommend a quarterly review of content of the upcoming season.
Here’s why. By refreshing next seasons content you’ll ensure that it’s spruced up and ready to go when people start searching for it.
Think about it this way, ever walk into a store and wonder why the shelves are fully stocked with Christmas items before Halloween? Or ever tried buying Christmas lights in December, only to find a measly assortment of four different kinds of lights on the shelf?
As content creators we need to be ahead of the curve. Just like we need to get our seasonal content out several months in advance, we need to be reviewing and refreshing it in advance.
When it comes to evergreen or non seasonal content, I recommend dividing that content up into quarters and reviewing it annually as well.
Here’s a few quick tips to audit and update old blog posts:
- Review posts quarterly and update them with current information.
- Consider removing portions of posts that are no longer relevant.
- Review your keywords and update your SEO as needed.
- As you review old content, take note of any ideas it sparks for future posts you could write!
- Look for places in old posts to internally link to posts you’ve written since the publish date your old post.
- Update post titles and meta descriptions as needed.
- Update images and create new Pinterest pins with Tailwind Create.
Review posts and update them with current information
Over time information changes. If your post is a year or older it probably has outdated information. Periodically reviewing old post and updating them ensures new readers are still receiving relevant content.
When your information is up to date your reader is more likely to complete reading the post than if the information is no longer applicable. Which will help to reduce bounce rates as well.
Avoid content decay
Over time posts naturally go through an initial spike, steady traffic, a plateau and then content decay. Singlegrain.com define content decay this way, “Content decay is, simply put, content that’s been declining in traffic over the past twelve months.”
One of the most important ways to avoid content decay is to simply refresh your existing blog content when traffic begins to decline.
These two things combined will naturally lead to a decline in your traffic:
- It’s important to recognize that Google prioritizes fresh content. As your content loses freshness Google will prioritize newer content over it.
- As time goes on your competitors will publish newer posts on the same topic.
Updating your posts does two significant things. It signals to Google that you have fresh content and it makes sure your content is relevant.
Study competitors’ content to see if there is a gap of information that you could fill. What insightful content could you add to your post to stand out? By including valuable content in your post that no one else is, you’ll position yourself as an expert and build trust with your audience.
How to track content decay on your site
Use Google analytics to spot downward trends in post traffic.
When looking at your analytics a downward trend indicates a drop off in traffic. Look for posts with downward trends to identify posts that need refreshing.
To review the analytics on a specific post log into your Google Analytics and navigate to “Behavior” in the left hand menu, then choose “Site Content,” and then “All Pages.”
Then on the right hand side of the page set a custom Date Range spanning a year. Then filter by month.
In the screenshot below you can see the traffic decline on a post. Minus a seasonal spike in January, this productivity post could use a refresh!
Consider removing portions of posts that are no longer relevant
If a section of a post no longer makes sense remove it. This will especially apply to evergreen, tutorial or technology driven topics. This is a great opportunity to improve the quality of a post. You should also remove filler or fluff text. If it isn’t relevant remove it and replace it with more valuable content.
Review your keywords and update your SEO as needed
Has your SEO improved since you started blogging? It took me a few years to begin implementing keywords and SEO on my posts! A few years ago I did a full keyword and search engine optimization update on my blog.
Review current keywords and long tail keywords on your posts to see if you can improve them. If your SEO is killing it, awesome! But, if there’s room for improvement honing in on better keywords will improve rankings and traffic.
As competitors write on similar topics your keywords might start to get saturated. Getting more specific with long tail keywords can help your posts stand out again.
How to do keyword research
One of the most powerful ways to refresh your existing blog content is to update your keywords. There are tons of keyword tools out there, free and paid. So you might be wondering how you choose a good keyword planner!
Google Ads Keyword Planner
One of the best free options for keyword research is using Google itself. Google Ads has a keyword planner that helps you identify average monthly searches and competition.
Chrome Extensions
I use two Chrome extensions for keywords that I have found very useful.
- Ubbersuggest by Neil Patel (the king of SEO!)
- Keywords Everywhere from keywordseverywhere.com
Both extensions deliver keyword data right on Google’s search page. Which means anytime I search for something in Google I’m being hand delivered keyword ideas and information.
Ubbersuggest
You can also set up a free Ubbersuggest account for even more detailed keyword research!
This powerful keyword planner by Neil Patel has both free and paid components. For free you get 3 daily searches. Ubbersuggest provides you will keyword data on your search as well as suggested keywords, questions, prepositions and comparisons.
Use a SEO Plugin
Use a plugin like Rank Math to evaluate your SEO. If you aren’t already using an SEO plugin (or even if you are) I highly recommend Rank Math.
You’ll come to find that SEO is an extremely important component of blogging. This plugin acts as a guide to optimizing your post for search engines. Which is key when it comes to being found when people are searching for content.
Consider lengthening your post to between 1200 and 1500 words. According to this study by backlinko.com, data shows that posts with higher word count tend to rank on the first page in Google search! They share that the “average Google first page result contains 1,447 words.”
Read more about my favorite plugins here: 8 awesome plugins that add value to my blog
Take note of ideas for future posts you could write
Look at your most popular posts and take note of new content ideas they inspire. Anytime you review a post read through it looking for spin off posts you could write.
For example as I write this post additional post ideas I’ve thought of are
- What is Content Decay and Why it’s losing you traffic
- How to use Rank Math to evaluate your SEO
- Brainstorming tips for coming up with great content ideas
- My number one regret as a blogger
All of these are posts I can write and then come back later and internally link in this post! I simply keep a Google document full of all my blog post ideas and pull from it when I’m ready to write my next post.
Look for places in old posts to internally link
If you do nothing else at least take some time to internally link your own posts! What have you published recently that you can link to in old posts?
Take a look through your content library for related posts and link to them. Also think of posts on your site you can link to your newly updated post in.
Update post titles and meta descriptions
When writing title think like a person. If you were searching for information on the topic what would you search for? Use a headline analyzer to review your title. If a post isn’t receiving a lot of traffic consider a more powerful title.
Google your keyword and see how your title compares to the results. Is your title clear or confusing? How would you search for the topic.
Meta descriptions are key. Review your meta descriptions to make sure that they are clear and concise. When someone see that preview sentence on Google make them want to click through to your post.
Title and meta descriptions should make sense. If you aren’t receiving a lot of traffic to a post, review both carefully to make sure people know that your post is exactly what they are searching for!
Update images and create new Pinterest pins with Tailwind Create
Refresh your existing blog content by updating posts with new images to give them a fresh look.
Start with your feature image. Is it in line aesthetically with newer posts on your blog?
Next make sure all the images in your post are timely and relevant. An outdated image will make your post look just that, outdated.
Create 2-3 new Pinterest pins with Tailwind Create. Easily creating new pin images for Pinterest takes moments in Tailwind Create! Simply drop your url into Tailwind Create and it does all the work for you creating ready to use images in seconds. Plus you can make matching Instagram and Facebook images to further promote your freshly updated post.
Add your new Pinterest pin images to the bottom of your post for easy pinning.
Swap out old screenshots with new ones
Nothing screams outdated like old screenshots. For example if you have a screenshot of a program or platform that has completely changed their look, your old screenshot is a dead giveaway that your post may be outdated.
Take new screenshots and swap them out.
Replace or remove broken links
Links get broken over time and Google does not like sending people to sites full of broken links. I used brokenlinkcheck.com to find broken links on my site. It found 93 broken links! Yikes.
As I was reviewing these links I discovered that some of them led to unsecure sites. I definitely do not want to send my readers to bad links! Fixing broken links on your site is essential.
If you aren’t reviewing your site regularly for broken links this may be a little time consuming the first time around. But, it’s well worth the time as broken links can really hurt your traffic.
What to do after you refresh your existing blog content
Once you’ve updated a post it’s time to get the news out!
Ask Google to reindex your post using Google Search Console.
Go to Google Search Console:
- Navigate to URL inspection.
- Paste the url of your update post into the search bar.
- Request Indexing.
Send it out to your email list again.
Use an excerpt from your freshly updated post, link to it and send it out to your email list! Whether they’ve read the post before or not, it now contains valuable updated information for them.
Don’t have an email list? My number one regret as a blogger is not starting my list sooner. If you don’t have a list I highly recommend starting one ASAP.
If you are looking for a great marketing platform, I use and love Convert Kit! You can get started for free and upgrade to the plan you need as you grow! Convert Kit offers a full suite of amazing features. You can easily create landing pages, opt in forms, send emails, set up integrations and put powerful sales funnels in place to support your blog or business.
- Pin it to Pinterest
- Share it on Facebook with a link
- Share is to your Instagram feed and add it to your link in bio
- Share it to Instagram stories and include a link sticker
- Create a Reel featuring content from the post!
- Tweet it
- Post it on LinkedIn
- Republish in on Medium
Now you are ready to refresh your existing blog content!
Review, refresh and re-share to breathe new life into your posts and increase traffic.
Happy blogging!
xoxo Naomi
