Did you know that updating old content can help improve your search engine rankings?
That’s right – republishing old blogs is a great way to refresh your content and drive traffic to your website from search engines.
There are all sorts of benefits to updating old content on your website. It takes a fraction of the time it would take to create new content, and it can significantly help increase your online visibility.
So, how does it work, exactly?
Firstly, Google loves new, fresh content. The more a website pushes out valuable, relevant, and updated content, the more likely it will rank.
Republishing old content saves you the time and effort it would typically take to create brand
new content.
If you’re not republishing old blogs, it’s time to start. Here’s how updating old content can improve your search engine rankings.
5 Ways Updating Old Content Can Improve Your Search Engine Rankings
Google loves “fresh” content. The newer, more up-to-date, and current your content is, the more likely your content will appear in search engine rankings.
If you have lots of content on your website and need an extra boost in your search engine optimization efforts, it’s time to start republishing old blogs.
Here’s what else you need to know about updating old content.
1. The Newer, the Better
So, why does Google love new content so much?
Well, because things are constantly changing. For example, blogs about SEO that are more recent are more likely to rank higher.
That’s because when it comes to SEO and digital marketing, things change all the time – and very quickly. Information and best practices change month-to-month, week-to-week, and sometimes even day-to-day.
And that’s true for most other industries too. The fact is that people are more likely to click on content published in 2022 than, say, in 2011.
Take a look for yourself – most top-ranked web pages include content published within the past year. Wouldn’t you prefer to read an article published in the last 12 months rather than one from seven years ago?
More people are likely to click on your webpage if the content is new and relevant.
Remember: click-through rates are a ranking factor in Google’s algorithm. The more people click on your page, the higher you will rank.
2. Fix Errors
Old content that has been sitting untouched for years on end tends to have errors, out-of-date information, broken links, and more. Many website owners don’t review their old content – and web pages with errors or incorrect information rank lower on search engines.
One of the biggest errors that occur on older pages is broken links. At one point, the link was likely a helpful resource, but the link may have changed over time, or the web page may have been taken down, resulting in a broken link.
Google doesn’t link broken links, which can hurt webpage rankings. Update your old content to remove broken links and update incorrect information.
3. Crawlability
The more often you update your website, the more often Google crawls your website.
Google doesn’t just crawl updated articles. It crawls an entire website. So, whenever you update an old article, Google will crawl the whole website to see recent updates – improving your chances of appearing in search rankings.
When Google starts to recognize that you update your website regularly, it will increase the frequency with which it crawls your website.
Remember: the more Google crawls your website, the more likely your website will appear higher in search engine results.
4. Promotion
Once you update your content, you’re free to share it across your social media platforms. Not only will this help more people see your content and improve your online visibility, but it can drive more traffic to your website and improve your rankings.
5. Old Content Ranks Poorly
Not only does new content get higher rankings, but it also improves the authority of your website.
Old and outdated content ranks extremely poorly on search engines.
Why let old content sit and affect your rankings? Why not republish that old content? It’s a simple, foolproof way to double your website traffic.
When you update your content, Google will crawl the website again, and you’ll see increased search engine traffic.
All it takes is updating the content itself. And if the content is out-of-date, you can also update it to be relevant today.
When Google notices that a website isn’t regularly updated, your rankings will take a direct hit.
So keep on updating!
Moral of the story? Updating old content is a great way to increase your visibility on search engines, drive traffic to your website, and help your blog become more relevant. If you’re not republishing old blog content, it’s time to start!