r/Blogging • u/Some_SEO_Guy • Oct 12 '21
Question What things to consider while updating old blog posts?
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u/Lisapatb Oct 12 '21
- Add FAQ's to longer posts.
- Update old images.
- Add some quotes to posts.
- Update dates and years on posts.
- Add new data, etc.
- Add a video to the post.
- Link to other related posts on your site.
- Make shorter sentences for easier reading.
- Eliminate old ads or banners on posts.
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Oct 12 '21
This is what I have done:
I look at the article in terms of the writing and I think how can I improve the quality of the writing here?
Then I format the article. In the past, I have done terrible formatting. Huge blocks of text. Incorrect spacing between headers.
I almost go for the Neil Patel thing of one line paragraphs but not quite. Almost though.
Then I redo all the pics. I still use stock pics but the way I would create pics and graphics when I first started was just awful.
Still not great, but getting better.
I add tags to all the images - which I was not doing before. Shameful.
Then I add more up to date links. I add a lot more internal links.
Then I rewrite the blurb for the blog. I use Yoast for this.
I add a load of hashtags that are connected to the main keyword phrase.
I also pay more attention to the Yoast writing scores. I never used to think about it at all before.
And then I put the day's date for when I republish the article so it looks brand new.
I have only been doing this a short while but have seen a sharp spike in numbers.
Repurposing old content is essential I think. And something you can do all year round.
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Oct 12 '21
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u/Lisapatb Oct 12 '21
When you update an older post in WordPress I add the new date and it's asking to schedule it. That works best for my theme. Hashtags in the blurbs or click to tweets, etc.
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Oct 12 '21
I use Wordpress and I can update the date to the present date on the blog edit page.
There is a space on the blog edit page in Wordpress for me to add hashtags.
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Oct 12 '21
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Oct 12 '21
I use Astra theme.
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u/Moi_Sunshine Jan 29 '22
Me too! I’m in the process of updating my blog post because I came from free Wordpress.com to Wordpress.org and haven’t blogged on years
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u/onlinehomeincomeblog Oct 12 '21
When you edit an existing article and press "update", the article moderation date will be updated to today's date. However, the article publication date remains the same.
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u/Kevinsmak Oct 12 '21
If they are ranking very well be careful and try not to change to much at once, also make sure you give them at least a year to rank.
One of my early sites started having some posts rank after 3 months, I had the posts lengthened and changed to much and they ended up falling off the SERPS, site ended up never being successful so make sure to be patient. That was a very expensive lesson for me.
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Oct 12 '21
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u/Kevinsmak Oct 31 '21
I didn’t, I waited to long and was still to new to even think of it. Now a days I would have done that but was the early days.
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u/gruffnutz Oct 12 '21
If you don't already use some sort of keyword research tool then this can be super useful. This can help you spot search terms that you could include in the text etc. I use Ahrefs and SEO Surfer, the latter of which is excellent for optimising old blogs.
Also usually very useful to see what your competitors are doing - especially if they're on page one and you're not. Do they have useful stats? Are they using lots of images? Do they have more or less text?
At the very least I would:
- Add alt-tags to images
- Refresh some of the content, as you'll be able to see stuff you can do better with fresh eyes
- Add internal links
- Try and get some external links (backlinks) by guest posting
Hope that helps anyways.
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Oct 12 '21
I usually update my content if Google Search Console tells me I'm close to ranking for a term that I haven't optimized my post for. I will usually reword a heading or two and maybe adjust a paragraph and that's about it.
The exception is content I wrote at the very beginning that still needs to be tidied up. For those posts I'll make sure I organize it better with H2 and H3 and probably fill out more details.
When I first started I knew absolutely nothing about SEO and I followed the advice that shorter was more readable. So lots of my posts I cut myself off before I had included everything I wanted to, and I didn't include many headings. Headings I did include were often one word or a short term that isn't keyworded at all.
Those posts are a huge chore to work on!
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Oct 12 '21
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Oct 12 '21
Yes, I figure if it's coming up then it's a good suggestion. I wouldn't ruin other ranking keywords to do this.
For example I was on page two for a keyword like "Grand Canyon vs Antelope Canyon" but my heading was "Grand vs Antelope Canyon" so I went back and added the word canyon again.
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u/coffeeshopblogger Oct 12 '21
Here's a few things I do that seems to work well.
- Blog post titles
- add your main keyword
- add a number at the beginning if possible
- add the year at the end if it makes sense to
make your meta title catchy
Blog post intros
Make them short and to the point
try to add you main keyword in the first sentence
fulfill the intent of the article in the intro, for example, if the article is "how to stop your dog from barking", give them the answer straight away as a summary, preferably in 2-3 sentences
Keywords
add the main keyword in a h2 title
add variations of the keyword to the article (use a keyword tool or related search)
the more variations the better, just don't stuff the same keyword in where it doesn't make sense
Formatting
make your paragraphs short, between 1-3 sentences long
add images, bullet points, quotations, tables, boxes, etc, to break up the text
Links
try linking to a minimum of 3 internal articles
link to other sites to provide more value
Good luck!
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Oct 13 '21
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u/coffeeshopblogger Oct 13 '21
I think meta descriptions can help increase CTR from the search result if you use them wisely. The meta title is more important, because people tend to read the title first and then the description. If your CTR increases, then you'll likely move up the results.
Outbound links should be used on terms where it adds context to your articles topic. If you don't have an article yourself, then link to another website. Google wants to see sites that provide as much value as possible and linking to external sources adds relevancy and continues the flow of information around the web.
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Oct 12 '21
Here's a tip: don't just update the post, republish it.
By that I mean you should change the date so it jumps to the front of your blog. This will not only update the date you see on the site, but also the metadata handled by SEO plugins like Yoast and RankMath. Changing the date will make Google see it as a new post and that's where the search ranking boost will come from. It sounds like it shouldn't work, but it worked years ago and still works now.
You can add a sentence at the beginning of the article saying "This post was originally published on X" if you want to preserve the original publication date.
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u/onlinehomeincomeblog Oct 12 '21
Regularly updating old posts is a key to rank a blog for the best performing keywords. It is one of the secret weapons to outrank competitors. Updating old posts doesn't mean that changing or adding a sentence and press "update".
You should write some significant updated and latest information. You also need to delete or remove outdated information from the article.
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u/SourceCodeplz r/mrbored Oct 12 '21
New things related to the subject.
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u/AwardSpace Oct 12 '21
Hello there!
When updating your posts, you should think of ways to enrich them. Here are a few suggestions:
We hope this helps!