Did you know you’re sitting on a veritable goldmine of content right now that’s just waiting to be rediscovered? You can update old blog posts and get more out of the same content you already have. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of old blog posts could be languishing on your site — still vital but unnoticed. Think about it. You’ve spent hours — maybe even days — carefully crafting these masterful pieces of content and now they’re relegated to the dust heap.
If you’ve been serious about content creation, those old posts probably dovetail nicely with your newer material. In this nutshell guide, we’re going to show you how to update old blogs using just a little bit of TLC to add value for visitors to your site, drive organic traffic your way, and hit your return on investment (ROI) out of the ballpark. For boosting your Instagram followers and likes, check out Mixx. Ready?
How to Update Old Blog Posts — And Why You Should
If your editorial calendar is looking a bit hard to manage, update a few old blog posts and put them back in circulation while you whip up some clean, new information for future visitors Don’t be shy about serving up the older material, either. We’ve always taught that you should focus on producing evergreen content — you know, the stuff that stays around forever because it’s that good?
Evergreen content is meant to be present — and useful — long after you first posted it. And from what industry voices say, this is true:
“When I look at the traffic stats of any of my blogs, the vast majority of traffic each month goes to old posts. They’ve been shared more over time, have attracted more links, and attract a lot of organic search traffic.”
—Neil Patel
“We’ve increased the number of monthly organic search views of old posts we’ve optimized by an average of 106%.”
—Hubspot
Who says old posts don’t have some tricks left in them? This statistic is screaming at you to revamp your old posts — tout de suite! That’s right. Old content means money.
Are you ready for the remodel? We’re going to walk you through a few important points and strategies for how to optimize old blog posts, so it will be intuitive for you by the time you get to the end of this article.
First, before we get into the eleven key points we’ve outlined, let’s jump right into the fire with a discussion on whether or not to use the original date of the post.
Save the Date?
You can find plenty of sites out there that advise you to change the date on a blog post once you’ve renewed it. We disagree.
If you’ve got repeat visitors, they’re going to know your material isn’t really “new” because they’ve read it already — particularly if it’s the kind of impactful, high-quality content we’ve been teaching you to write.
It’s critically important to always be transparent with your audience. Transparency fosters trust and authority — and there’s nothing better than that for creating a strong relationship with your customers. Besides, apparent dishonesty — like when you update old blogs and then pretend it’s brand-new material — can hurt you.
“From our perspective, from Core Ranking perspective, I’d like to believe that in some way that will hurt you. At least from, let’s say, we will not believe your dates anymore.”
—Google’s Gary Ilyes
Besides, our advice is to be transparent and publish with the original date works. How do we know? We’ve updated old content transparently and achieved serious ROI from doing so. We earned nine new backlinks and more than 20 new comments on this piece alone. When we hit publish on the new content, we were transparent both about the new date and the original date we created the piece.
So, when it comes to fudging the dates — let’s not, okay? Be honest, be truthful, and reap the benefits. Alright then, moving on to the mechanics.
Nip and Tuck or Complete Facelift? 11 Factors to Know About How to Update Older Content (Correctly)
Want a handful of ways to update old blog posts like a champ? Choose one or more of these to take your posts from boring to blockbuster in no time.
1. Use Your Metrics
The best way to determine which content pieces will give you more bang for your buck is to take a close look at your metrics using SEMrush. Their Content Analyzer feature will allow you to compare the performance of various posts, so you can choose the most productive content to repurpose.
You might also want to check posts with declining engagement, as these can be updated and remade to increase their performance. Look carefully at trends. Did a post start like gangbusters and slowly lose engagement over time? These are prime candidates for a blog post redo.
2. Improve Your Image
The featured image on your post is the thing that shows up when it’s shared, so make sure it’s relevant, eye-catching, and current. Include alt-tags on images that help define the material covered in the post, too, for extra ranking power.
3. Manage Your Meta
They’re short, then they’re long, then they’re short again. While you have no idea what Google’s going to do next, you can refresh your meta descriptions for improved click-through. Not to mention, refreshing your meta is a fast and easy way to give a boost to your site’s rankings.
4. Nail the Headline
Lots of blog posts have a number in the headline, such as, “5 Tips for Keeping Your Site Relevant” or whatnot. If you’re updating your content by adding tips to your list, make sure you change that number. Also, make sure your title hooks the reader by letting them know you’ve got something they are going to want to read. Adjust the title and character length as necessary for the best results. And, if you’re using a different keyword strategy, then change up your headline with your updated keyword(s).
5. Update SEO
Updating SEO is a great way to breathe new life into those old posts. When learning how to update old blog posts for SEO, consider redoing a keyword search on your post to make sure your old keywords are still ranking.
Perhaps your old post ranked for a short-tail keyword and a long-tail version suits your purposes better. Rewrite your content to reflect this change and give yourself an SEO advantage with more targeted content.
6. Make It a Series
A great way to update old posts is to make them the first in a series, following each up with high-quality new information that packs a punch. Serializing posts also lets you reuse your original title (with “Part 2” added) to build momentum on your old, evergreen content sources.
7. Grab ‘Em with Graphics
Has your company been rebranded? You might need to change your color scheme or logo on your old posts. Do some of your graphics look, well, vintage (and not in a good way)? Sharpen them up with a quick makeover using up-to-date techniques.
Or, take the whole article and turn it into an infographic for a fantastic redo that’s not only attention-grabbing but useful for visitors who want snackable content. And if you want to be remembered, infographics are the way to go. It must be why they’re shared three times more than other content on social media.
8. Leverage Video
Statistics show people love embedded videos — and so does Google. Blog posts that include video can garner three times more inbound links! And you don’t have to shoot your videos — just embed them.
This chart confirms that 88% of the videos for pages with Google rankings 1-10 come straight from YouTube. This is an incredibly easy way to boost your ranking and update old posts at the same time.
9. Internalize the Info
You’ve created a whole lot of content since you first wrote your old posts. Add some internal links to other, relevant info in your blog or updated site pages to keep readers engaged with your other content.
10. But Be Outgoing, Too
Did you use new research or information in your update? Link to it to refresh your connections. Above all, make sure your content doesn’t have any broken backlinks in it that can hurt your Google ranking. There are several free tools to help you correct this issue on your site. There’s also a free broken link checker tool you can add to your Chrome browser to help you find and correct these links.
11. Reconfigure Text
Depending on how long ago you wrote your post, you might want to break up long blocks of text that make it harder for visitors to read.
12. Charge Up That Call-to-Action (CTA)
Now’s the time to amplify your CTA or at least be sure it’s still relevant. You may have created new gated content since the blog was first published, so this might be an opportunity to feature it. When we revamped one of our blog posts, we added our new CTA at the bottom. Choose a graphic element that sets off the CTA even better and grabs interest as well.
The One Thing Not to Change: The URL-y Bird Gets the Worm
Now that you’ve updated that content, should you change the URL? We typically recommend not to, just because you don’t want to inadvertently create any broken links anywhere. However, here’s what you should know.
If your post drove lots of traffic, you can benefit from leaving the URL as it is to retain the SEO advantage. But, if your post views are low, a new URL could rejuvenate traffic, as a shorter URL tied to stronger, high-volume keywords can be beneficial.
How Often to Plan on Republishing Old Blog Posts
Every site has those rock-star posts that drive engagement. But even if they’re still flying high, it’s important to keep old blog posts updated if the material begins to lose relevance. That means revisiting posts yearly to keep your data shiny and new.
Don’t go crazy, though. You want to have a nice mix of seasoned and brand-new material online to give visitors a feel for your site’s longevity to bolster authority.
Be smart about the ratio of republished blogs versus original blogs. There needs to be a balance of new and updated posts, so don’t stop publishing original content while you update your old blog posts. It’s still critical to publish posts frequently to get the most out of traffic, so remember to keep your posting frequency high for the best results.
What Can You Expect from a Blog Post Makeover?
Learning how to refresh old blog posts is the perfect way to squeeze even more ROI from your high-performing posts and evergreen content. Not only that, but revitalizing your old content helps keep your site up-to-date, on-trend, and in plain sight of Google’s site crawlers.
Keeping your content evergreen by updating facts and figures helps establish authority, and being transparent about your publishing date fosters trust — letting your visitors know you’re a safe, knowledgeable source of the information they want and need. And remember, updating old posts isn’t just a chore — it’s a vital part of content strategy, so don’t ignore it.
And hey, if you need some help coming up with new keywords or breathing some life back into your old content, we’ve got a crazy-good team of content professionals standing by.
