If your business is older than a year or two, the content on your website is already outdated. This hurts your search result since your answers are no longer helpful to your audience. Links in old articles may also be broken, which Google specifically doesn’t like. Many brands hesitate to delete content, but the results are often surprisingly positive. The company HubSpot deleted more than 3000 outdated content pieces and in a matter of months, the company saw an improvement in its SEO results. Before you delete all your old content, like HubSpot did consider the following: 

Start with a Web Content Audit

If previous posts are still relevant to your business, go back and improve the writing, grammar, and information. According to Search Engine Journal, your site might see more page traffic and better SEO by refurbishing old content every few months. You can save your brand money in the long run and improve your audience’s experience just by editing older posts. Auditing your content will help find the pieces with outdated information whether in be blog post, tutorials, or interview posts. Contemplate what gives you authority in your field and benefits your target audience. You can start your audit with one content category.

Update and Republish Good but Old Content

Google loves recently published content, so republish old posts that are still accurate and useful content that your audience would most likely view. However, before you publish refresh by adding new paragraphs, updating existing ones, and adding visuals and new links. This will help Google’s search engine algorithm recognize it as new content and worth ranking. According to Databox, a popular dashboard tool for businesses, they saw a 75% increase in website traffic after updating more than 20 old blog posts.

Delete References to Outdated Stats 

Boost the SEO value of previously published pages by replacing those old data points with current ones. Edit any inaccurate data points or references and remove any content with broken links. Hunt online for modern, accurate, up-to-date references to replace each removed link. Additionally, remove sentences from with information older that 5 years, especially if you are a small business. To compete with large business, you need to specialize and provide relevant and accurate information for your audience. This will protect your brand’s authority and audience. 

Review and Refresh Evergreen Posts

Evergreen posts are posts that are supposed to be content that can last forever and still be useful to the end user. However, still check up on those posts and look for references that aren’t accurate or compelling any longer. Consider the state of your current industry, its trends (especially on social media), and what your target audience is searching for. Trim the fluff from old content, add new sentences with new insights, opinions, and more without touching the building blocks of previously published pieces. You’ll spend less time doing this than if you created new content while improving your brand’s SEO. 

Weave in New SEO Keywords and Links

Update old content and improve its search engine optimization value by weaving in freshly researched SEO keywords and links. Google Analytics is one tool that can help you with this. If you’re still posting new content regularly as part of your content strategy, take the keyword research you’ve already done and use it within old content. Swap out or add new keywords to old posts, and consider placing a few fresh, high authority links within old blogs to make them more relevant and more authoritative. 

Need help knowing where to start? We can provide a SEO audit for your website. Call 248.528.3600