Boost SEO and Increase Traffic by Reviving Old Content

Published on September 9, 2016

Your website’s blog should always be updating with new, relevant content. But what about those old articles, the ones you’ve sort of let slip through the cracks over the months? Do they still have value?

Short answer: Yep!

Longer answer: With some tweaks, these old posts can be some of the most effective content on your site.

Think of older posts as veterans with important experience under their belt: They’ve already been indexed by Google and are generating traffic, while also coming in with social shares, proof, and outside links. This makes a difference, giving these older pieces of content a major leg up over a completely new post, which has to start from scratch and claw its way up in Google rankings.

The even better news? It doesn’t take that much effort to refresh and revamp your old content. Whether you’re trying to elevate an underachieving blog post or boost a star article’s search rankings from good to great, here are five surefire strategies that will help you dramatically increase your traffic by reviving older content:

1.) Refresh and Enrich the Content…

The best way to ensure that readers click, read, and share your content is to make sure that it’s clear, well-written, and informative. Take a good look at your blog copy and make sure it’s easy to read, accessible, and, most importantly, still accurate.

Let’s say you’re taking another look at an article you posted on how to best use images on social media, originally published in 2012. In addition to fixing any typos or clearing up some iffy language, that post is going to need some major updates, as Twitter and Facebook have changed dramatically since then – and meanwhile, newer platforms like Snapchat and Instagram have ascended to the upper echelons of popularity and changed a lot of the rules.

In order for this article to remain relevant and valuable to your audience, you’ll need to make some major additions to your content. But the uptick in search result – and the improvements you’ll likely see in bounce rate and conversions – will be worth taking the time to do some thoughtful writing.

2.) …And Consider Adding More Value

And while you’re taking a fresh look at your written text, consider all of the other forms of multimedia that you can use to really help this piece stand out. Adding some worthwhile, user-friendly elements to an old post can make a huge difference in how this piece of content appeals to your audience – and, by extension, to Google’s algorithm.

Just think about all the advancements in media we’ve made since you first clicked “publish” on that blog. The possibilities are endless. Maybe you can expand on the text in the form of a podcast, or accentuate your talking points with an embedded slideshow, infographic, or video.

You might be surprised – a small multimedia element may make a huge impact on your traffic. The one thing to keep in mind? Make sure you don’t weigh down your site with code bloat, a surefire audience turn-off and SEO killer.

And with that in mind…

3.) Make Sure Your Post is Fully SEO-friendly

SEO is an ever-changing game, and it’s a safe bet that the rules have changed a bit since you first published your post. Make sure all of the elements are optimized, including:

The Alt- and Title-Tags on Your Images: Help crawlers understand your image’s purpose and assess the content around it by providing these helpful labels
The URL: Keep it short, focused on relevant keywords, and separate words with hyphens
The Meta-Description: Make sure it’s snappy and appealing, encouraging users to click through from the search rankings to your great content
Keywords: Search has shifted from a primarily keyword-focused process to one that emphasizes context, relevance, and specificity. Do some keyword research with Google’s free tools in order to update your headline, URL, and keywords to better capture “long-tail” searches.

4.) Bring It Up to Your Brand Standards

Web design and development are dynamic, and there’s a good chance you’ve updated at least a few elements of your site since first posting that content.

Make sure that all of the elements on your page line up with your current standards, so that it fits seamlessly into your backlinking efforts and social media queue. You may need to update the image on the post to bring it up to line with your current best practices; add relevant (and SEO-friendly) internal links to keep it on pace with the rest of your site’s architecture; take a look at some of the text elements to make sure they’re all in line with your current font, color, and style standards; and take a look at the code to make sure that it’s optimized for mobile responsiveness, as all elements of your website - and marketing - now need to be.

And once the content looks great, is SEO-optimized, and is running well…

5.) Share It On Social Media

Slot the article back into your social sharing schedule! Boosting the referral traffic from social media will be a great way to add a jolt to the piece; this spark will be a great tool for, in turn, boosting your search ranking and promoting increased organic traffic.

Have any more questions? Still curious about just how much benefit creating content can have for your bottom line? Geek is here to help set you on the path to SEO success. Drop us a line today to get the conversation started!