More than likely you’ve been blogging for years now. Furthermore, you probably have core content on your website that has been around for quite some time.  Many of our industries are fast paced with some of your best content starting to look stale after only a year or two. How are you supposed to keep up?   The secret is in NOT having to re-do all of your content every couple of years. Most of your existing content can still serve your company and brand very well with just a little refresh.  But is it worth refreshing old content?

Yes

First, it keeps your brand relevant. Just because you haven’t looked at your content in a while, doesn’t mean that people aren’t finding it. Good content will keep getting attention, but is it making the right first impression for your brand?

The second reason why it’s worth cleaning up is that it’s possible that your content is slightly out of date with old stats, references that are no longer relevant, or even products that you no longer offer. Refreshing your content allows you to keep “producing” relevant content, without having to start over.

Which Content Deserves a Makeover?

Which pieces of content should you refresh? It can be tricky to know which pieces to tackle, but we’ve pulled together some indicators to help guide you:

1. Look at your statistics or facts that may need to be refreshed. It’s evergreen… a lot of your content is probably just as applicable today as it was when you wrote it. Best practices and nuances in some industries change, but the big-picture concepts and strategies remain true.
2. The numbers tell you what to do.  Utilize google analytics to tell you which page get views and which do not. And just because they don’t get views doesn’t mean the information isn’t’ valuable.  Spruce it up and promote it all over again.
3. Do some keyword research. Google your top desired keywords and make a note of what is ranking in the top 2-3 pages.  That content is clearly already performing well, but a refresh will likely help move up your content in search results.

How to Refresh Old Content
Once you’ve determined what needs to be updated,  you need to have a plan to make sure that you’re refreshing them strategically.
Here are 7 steps to follow:

1. Add your content updates to your editorial calendar. Don’t have an editorial calendar?  Then time to start one. Consider elements as timing and relevancy, as well as new content that you plan to create in conjunction.
2. Review your current top ranking keywords and update your buyer personas. Then, use those items as a guide to what your content should look like when you’re finished.
3. Update sections where recommendations are outdated or irrelevant.
4. While you’re at it, update the aesthetic of your site. Modern web design is often simple and clean.
5. Make sure it’s mobile-friendly. Look at each page on a mobile phone to see what the user experience is.
6. If needed, re-date it.  You may also want to consider removing the published date altogether.
7. When you’re ready to relaunch your content, or when you get stuck, check in on your competition or favorite brands. Is their content feature something you didn’t think of? Is it more engaging than your site? Anything they can do, you can do better.

On-Page SEO Considerations for a Content Refresh
If you’re freshening up a blog post or a landing page, you might as well take some time to polish your on-page SEO while you’re there. Get your title tags in place, good meta descriptions, and keywords in your content but, do NOT change the url of any of your pages.

To recap, cleaning up your content is less of a burden than you may think.  Plus, the benefits of doing so far outnumber any reasons to stay put with your current content. So get out your content calendar, identify what needs to be refreshed and get to work.