Do you have old blog posts on your website that aren’t performing as well as they used to?
Maybe the topics aren’t relevant anymore. Maybe the SEO strategies are out of date. Maybe they’re just… well… old. Google tends to prioritize new, fresh content over older articles. Eventually, older posts with less contemporary relevance will start to lose their rankings compared to newer, more current articles.
The best way to combat this is to keep the content on your blog as “evergreen” as possible by updating old blog posts so they stand the test of time.
Benefits of evergreen content
So what is evergreen content? Simply put, it’s any type of online content that maintains its value over time. Evergreen content doesn’t rely on fleeting trends, contemporary humor, or anything else that could hurt its long-term relevance and performance.
Of course, even the most evergreen content can benefit from a refresh every now and then. But since evergreen blog posts tend to hold their value longer, frequent updates aren’t as necessary.
Here are a few benefits of evergreen blog content:
- Drives more consistent traffic to your site
- Helps generate leads and conversions
- Saves you the time and effort of regular blog refreshes
- Helps establish your authority and competence
- Provides long-term sharing and linking potential
How often should you update old blog posts?
There’s no hard and fast rule when it comes to refreshing old blogs. Some people prefer to stick to a set schedule. For example, you could plan to allocate 80% of your publishing schedule to creating new content and 20% to updating existing posts. So for every four new posts you write, you update one outdated blog.
At the end of the day, you should update an old blog if it needs to be updated. But if it’s still performing well and doesn’t have outdated or irrelevant information, it’s generally best to leave it alone.
How to revive a dead blog
1. Consider the format
When updating an old blog, you need to decide if you’re doing a “refresh” or a “rewrite.” If the format or writing style is outdated, it might be worth rewriting the blog in a new format.
Evergreen content comes in many formats, but some tend to stand the test of time better than others. Some of the most popular formats for evergreen content include:
- Tutorials and how-to guides
- Case studies
- FAQ-style posts
- Infographics
- Listicles
- Industry-expert interviews
2. Refresh outdated information
Carefully review the existing blog to ensure the information is still relevant and accurate. Look for errors, inaccuracies, and references to outdated statistics and trends.
Remove anything that’s no longer helpful to readers. A good rule of thumb is to replace any information taken from a source that was published more than two years ago. For example, referring to economic data that was published seven years ago should be replaced with current figures.
3. Update links
Scour the post for dead links and replace them with working ones. Then, carefully work through the entire blog, replacing any outdated internal and external links. Also look for places you can include new internal links. Link building is an effective SEO strategy, so adding links to blogs you’ve published more recently can help boost traffic to your site.
4. Review SEO strategy and add keywords
Take a look at your keyword metrics and determine whether you need to update your target keywords. One of the main reasons to update old blogs is to optimize them. Optimizing evergreen content can help your older posts rank higher on SERPs and encourage more and higher-quality traffic to your website.
5. Cut any fluff
Readers prefer simplicity. Writing that overuses big words and industry jargon rarely works, especially in a short online blog post. Evergreen content should be free of unnecessary fluff. As you update old blog posts, cut out any extra content that doesn’t engage the reader and serve the overall purpose.
6. Add visuals
Incorporating eye-catching visuals like infographics, images, or even embedded videos into your blog refresh can transform the reader experience.
For example, if you’re updating a blog about interior design ideas for dining rooms, insert an image for each idea featured in the blog. If the post is about trends in consumer behavior, try making an infographic to display the statistics in a fun and easy-to-read way.
7. Update the title tag and meta description
The title tag and meta description of a blog is how you make your first impression on potential readers. They need to be both optimized and intriguing. If you’ve changed any target keywords, you should also rewrite your title tag and meta description in order to accommodate the new keywords and accurately introduce the blog content.
8. Keep the future in mind
It can be tempting to update as little as possible when working on a blog refresh. But if you just switch out a few links and update some keywords, you might be missing a major opportunity.
The goal of a blog update isn’t just to make it feel current. The goal is to make it feel timeless. By transforming your blog into content that’s truly evergreen, you’re future-proofing that article. You may be able to go years before needing to do another update, which saves valuable time and resources.
9. Try to keep the same URL (unless you have a good reason not to)
When you update old blog content, it’s generally best not to change the URL. There are a couple of reasons for this:
- Keeping the same URL allows you to maintain the authority and ranking potential that the existing URL has accumulated.
- If other websites have linked back to your blog post in their published content, changing the URL can lead to broken backlinks, which can harm SEO efforts.
If the existing URL has a confusing or outdated format, you may want to change the URL for SEO purposes. If you do this, you should always set up 301 redirects to link the old URL to the new one.
10. Republish with the new date
In order to reap the full benefits of a blog update, you should always republish the refreshed evergreen content with the new date. There are many reasons to do this:
- It shows readers that the content is current and up to date.
- It builds trust, because readers will see that you want to make sure you provide relevant, accurate information.
- People searching are more likely to click on articles with recent publication dates, which can increase the Click-through rate (CTR).
What not to do during a blog update
One of the main reasons to refresh an old blog is because it’s no longer performing well. But you never want to get so focused on SEO and analytics that the content suffers and you forget about your audience.
As you work on refreshing the content, here are a few things to avoid:
- Keyword stuffing – Google penalizes websites that do this
- Aggressive or pushy calls to action
- New sections of content that don’t match the tone of the original content
- Difficult-to-read sentences – check the reading level of your blog post with Hemingway
Hire freelance writers to update old blogs and optimize your evergreen content
At Pitkin Writing & Editing, we love working with businesses big and small to improve their digital presence, meet their objectives, and bring value to their readers. As experienced content writers and copyeditors, we have what it takes to transform those long-forgotten blog posts that aren’t making an impact anymore.
We’ll work with you to achieve your content goals, whatever they may be. From writing new evergreen content that will maintain its value over time, to refreshing and rewriting old content, we’ve got you covered.
Contact us online and let us know how we can help!
