If you’ve got content sitting in the far corners of your website, gathering dust and getting buried under tonnes of more recent articles, you could miss making the most of some golden, relevant content. 

Although it may seem tempting to ignore this content because it seems like it has served its purpose, there is actually a huge benefit to updating older articles and reworking them to suit your current situation. 

There are many reasons why you should revisit your old content, and Infoserve wants to show you exactly how this can benefit your business. 

Why you should update outdated content

Google likes it

Updating old content is more than just a last minute trick of the trade; it is a genuine SEO and marketing tactic that Google will acknowledge and reward. 

The reason for this is simple: 

It is a well known fact that Google likes fresh content. Which means that, whilst strong web pages do stay relevant for a long period of time (sometimes known as ‘Evergreen Content’), the older web pages that haven’t gained much traffic are likely to keep dropping positions. 

But, if you refresh the content, expand, improve keyword relevancy, and delve into the finer SEO details, you will have created a fresh piece of content in Google’s eyes. 

It will have new rankable HTML and a new publish date - and let’s not forget that Google rewards small, consistent SEO updates over large sporadic ones. 

It saves you time

SEO is a long-winded, time consuming area of marketing that can take months to come into effect. Which is probably why so many businesses believe that when you make a single change to the content on your website, it will take around 6 months to take effect. 

This is true - but only if you are making consistent changes, and not occasionally updating a single web page and expecting to see results. 

SEO takes a lot of work, and we are under no illusion that creating fresh content is one of the most difficult areas of website maintenance. 

So, instead of spending hours curating and crafting brand new content ideas, you can easily save time by revisiting year old content and finding new ways to help this content resonate with your audience. 

Updating content is a quick win that leads to fast growth. 

The internet is changing 

Web design, web development and even SEO are constantly developing, changing and growing which means it can take a relatively short amount of time for your website and its content to become outdated. 

You may have previously spent time applying certain SEO techniques to a piece of content that are no longer Google’s priority when it comes to ranking strength. 

But if the content is already ranking, you can refresh it simply by updating areas that need SEO updates.

When to update content

You can update content at any time but we would recommend choosing either of the following scenarios: 

1. Your content has peaked 

Whilst content has a relatively lengthy lifecycle, it can have a peaking point. 

This is because, as we have mentioned before, Google likes fresh content. 

Your article could be sitting at the top of the search results page for weeks, maybe even months, when a competitor creates a completely fresh blog that is more informative, has more information or is simply more SEO friendly than what you’ve created. 

No matter how trustworthy your website is, or how trustworthy Google deems you to be, there is always the possibility that a fresh piece of content will outrank you. 

This is why we recommend consistently updating this piece of content before it drops in the rankings. Keep it strong, fresh and relevant at all times. 

2. Your content isn’t ranking 

If you’ve had a website up and running for a while now, then you’ll be familiar with content that isn’t shifting. 

This could be for any number of reasons; you’re operating in a highly competitive industry, the keyword has a high difficulty score, or maybe the content isn’t up to scratch. 

You might be tempted to scrap it because it’s not helping your website, but a page is almost always salvageable, as long as you’re following Google’s guidelines. 

You just need to look for ways to improve. 

But what are these? Let’s take a look. 

How to update outdated content

1. Check the content volume 

Google likes long-form, highly informative articles that give your audience an in-depth insight into your chosen subject. This is because it wants to give its users the best possible answer to their search query, and avoid showing them flimsy or spam-like content. 

If you’ve got a blog that has a very low content volume, it might be time to bulk it up. You’ve already got the bones of the article mapped out, you simply need to expand on the subject. 

Add additional headings to create structure and answer more questions in relation to that search query. 

For example, if you were a tea merchant, you might have a blog entitled ‘the health benefits of tea’, which you could easily expand by discussing the history of tea for medicinal purposes, which types of tea are known to soothe which ailments, and give examples of your own products that would fit into these categories. 

For more information, take a look at our guide on Why Long Form Content Matters Today. 

2. Inspect the SEO 

There are so many factors that impact SEO rankability, so it can be easy to miss a few of them the first time you write the content. 

Double check that: 

• Your images have alt text 
• All links have anchor text (website managers will give you the option to add a ‘link title’ or ‘display text’ to any text links within your content) 
• Your chosen keyword is explicitly shown in the URL, title text, H1 heading and body text 
• You structure your content with clear headings and subheadings 
• You include clear CTAs (call to actions) 
• You have included both internal and external links, including at least one link back to your homepage

3. Update the data 

Sometimes, you only need to update the small things in an article to make it relevant today. 

If you have statistics in your content that could be considered outdated, change it to data that you’ve found in a more recent study that was conducted this year. 

For example, if you have put the statistic: 

‘There are 3.5 billion social media users worldwide’ - 2019 

In your article, Google will recognise that this fact is outdated. All you need to do is change this one sentence to: 

‘As of January 2023, there are 4.9 billion social media users worldwide’ - Demand Sage

This one tiny change can make a huge difference to how Google sees your content. 

4. Adapt to searcher intent 

Consider how you can make your blog more equipped to perform its function; to give your viewer what they want. 

Even when you’ve hit the searcher’s intent the first time, there are always ways that you can do better. 

For example, if your user is looking for instructions on how to perform a certain task, and you’ve written an in-depth guide, consider whether adding a short video to the page could improve your ability to guide them through the process. 

5. Go mobile friendly 

In 2020, Google announced that they were switching over to mobile-first indexing across the full scope of the web. This means that any content created before then that hasn’t been optimised for mobile has probably slipped down a few places in the SERPs (search engine results pages). 

Even some content created after this date might not align with the new ranking algorithm. 

Try skimming through your old articles on a mobile phone and figuring out how you can make them more user friendly. 

For example, you could: 

• Increase the size of CTA buttons 
• Make headings shorter, clearer and more concise 
• Use photos to break up the text 
• Opt for short, snappy, easily digestible paragraphs 
• Transform listed content into a bulleted or numbered list
• Remove pop-ups that interfere with user experience 
• Use bold/italics to make information stand out 
• Use clear language over clever or lengthy phrasing 

By changing any one of these content elements, you’ll be able to give Google a fresh perspective on your content and improve your search visibility. 

Not sure where to start? 

At Infoserve, our SEO and content writing team work closely together to update, refresh and rework your website’s content to improve your search visibility. If you’re interested in discovering what we can do for your business, please feel free to contact us today.