Even the most evergreen web content doesn’t stay fresh forever. It gets old and stale quicker than you might think.
Content freshness has been a ranking factor for Google for a long time. Google’s freshness algorithm seeks to give users the most up-to-date results.
The good news is that you can improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) fairly easily simply by doing a content refresh. Start by taking stock of the content you have on your website. Think about how you can improve or add onto individual pieces of content, and then set about remastering some of those individual pieces. Once you have finished refreshing a piece of content, re-promote it.
Refreshing Content Improves Your Website
Refreshing old content ensures that your viewers are getting what they need from your content. It really does help with SEO because refreshed content becomes fresh and relevant again, and that means it’s likely to see a return of the kind of traffic it got when it first came out. Regularly refreshing content can keep organic search traffic high for a piece even as time passes. It can also ease some of the pressure of constantly creating new content, since it helps you get more mileage out of your existing content.
Of course, if you need help writing new content, you can always turn to a local marketing firm that offers white label SEO services to help with content creation. Existing content should be refreshed at least once a year to keep ranking high in search engine returns.
Audit Your Content Before a Refresh
Ready to give your website content a refresh? You should audit your site to see what kinds of content you have and which pieces are most in need of buffing up. Look at the numbers for each piece of content on your site – those that are still gaining in traffic aren’t yet in need of a refresh, but those that have slacked off and become less popular are aching for a reboot.
Traffic isn’t the only factor you should consider when trying to decide which content to refresh. You also need to look at click-through rates, conversions, and sales. That’s the ultimate goal of striving to get more search traffic – you want more of that traffic to result in conversions and sales, so make sure you prioritize refreshing content that isn’t performing as well as it could.
Find Gaps to Fill in Each Piece
Pieces in need of refreshment may contain information that’s become out of date. The core intent of the related search keywords may have changed – for example, the core intent for the keyword “face masks” changed from skincare face masks to anti-COVID face masks early in 2020. Consider whether you have covered all the possible subtopics that could be relevant for a piece of content, or whether you can add additional information like new discoveries or expert quotes. You can update references to current events or to the current year, as well as old statistics. Refresh seasonal pieces in time for the season to start, and make sure to update any references to the current year.
Refresh Your Content
Refreshing content often means remixing it into something newer and better. What exactly does refreshing a piece of content entail? That really depends on the content and what it needs. At the very least, old content should be given a proofread and issues with readability and formatting should be corrected. You can add more information to a blog post; add new media like videos, images, or podcasts; or convert a post into an infographic or into a video. You can even remaster multiple pieces into one.
Repromote Each Piece
Content will need to be promoted again once the refresh is complete. Use social media to promote your refreshed content. Pin it to the top of your blog archive. Add links to other relevant pieces on your website. Send it to your email list, to anyone you’ve quoted, or to anyone you’ve referenced. You can even put up a banner promoting it or buy ad space promoting it.
Refreshing your website content can really bring in a lot more web traffic, and it can free you somewhat from the obligation to keep cranking out tons of fresh content. Content refreshes allow you to make the most of the content you’ve already created instead. You should start planning a content refresh for your website as soon as possible.