Updating old content on your website
If you maintain or update a website for more than a year, you need to go back to your old articles and pages from time to time to check if everything is still in order. And whether it can be improved. In this article, we will discuss how best to do this for your website hosting. And why it is important to fully update it at regular intervals. Let's get started!
Why update old content?
Information, opinions, facts, and links sometimes change during the life of a website. It's up to you, as the webmaster, to make sure that the content of the website is of high quality and achievable. After all, if the content contains a lot of factual errors or other incorrect information, it can quickly cause a visitor to drop out for those reasons.
If you only add new content, you will be left with a lot of old content that may account for a large portion of your website's traffic on Google or other search engines. If you only add new content, you may miss opportunities for content that you already score quite well with. A little improvement here and there can help you rank even better with your existing content. Below are all the tips you can use to boost your existing content again!
Update links
Links to sources inside and outside your website can change from time to time. For example, once you change the location or name. Or the party you link to moves or changes something here. With a website scan from Screaming Frog, Ahrefs or Semrush, for example, you can easily see this in a report. In it, you can see exactly what status codes certain links are displaying. From there, you can then create new links to other sources.
However, not every link will display a unique status code, such as a link to a partner product that is out of stock. You can check here yourself if all links are still correct and simply check all pages. For a website that has been around for a while, this can be a lot of work. This is why the tools mentioned above are so popular. And you can catch a lot with them already. If you want to check this further, a sitemap is also easy for this, to be able to check which pages are on your site. And then check this to look for old links.
It is also advisable to add new links to existing content when you are covering more about a particular topic. This way, you create what's called a content cluster that links to each other as needed. And you build more page authority for specific topics. That, in turn, can help you rank for the new articles as well.
Add and update images
Images can also change over the life of a website, such as when new products are launched or when images become outdated. Therefore, it is advisable to check from time to time to see if they can be updated.
Your images may also change in format or size. With a new theme or layout you create, they may not fit in completely. Therefore, you need to fine-tune the image size in this process. Not to mention, the file type of your images doesn't always just stand still either. With the new development of WebP images, you should convert your images to this format. This can have an impact on your overall site space usage and speed. Smaller images mean easier loading on mobile networks.
Evergreen content - what does it mean and how do you write for it?
Evergreen content is what many website owners strive for, meaning content that, if all goes well, can last for many years without needing to be updated. Or at least requires minimal effort after publication. A good post or page that will bring visitors to your site for years to come. That, of course, is the dream of many website owners.
Evergreen content is an art in itself, and it can take more effort to figure out the keywords and write the content for them. Once you have achieved high positions with these pages and posts, you can be at the top for many years if you are lucky. So it's ideal not only for content sites like blogs, but also for businesses, web stores and more.
Read our previous article on evergreen content to learn more.
Better positions
So, one of the main reasons to update old content is to make sure you're moving up in the results you've previously achieved and that you can serve your visitors even better with that previously written content. Of course, it's tempting to just think about stats and results, but at the end of the day, your content should best fit the question a visitor is asking.
Of course, this has its pitfalls, as you have to consider more than 200 factors to even show up in Google. Need more help for your business? Then take a look at our services at MijnWebdesignPartner.nl, we can help you and make sure that your business rises in the search results.
