Adding fresh, relevant content on your website is incredibly important for your website to perform well in the search engines. However, according to neilpatel.com, older blog posts can be very beneficial in driving traffic.  In fact, in one article, Patel writes,

“The value in a blog post isn’t the few thousand visitors you get right away, it’s the tens or hundreds of thousands of visitors that you get over the next few years from search results.

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.”

HubSpot reported similar findings, stating that 75% of their blog views and 90% of blog leads come from older posts.

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What Happens to Traffic When You Update an Existing Blog?

According to Search Engine Journal, updating an old blog can drive 15-30% more traffic. That’s a huge increase in traffic when you consider most of the hard work in creating the traffic is already done.

What To Update in an Older Blog

Images

According to jeffbulas.com, blogs with images receive 94% more views. If your older post did not contain an image, or the image was a very large size, it’s a good idea to add quality images.

It’s also important to use the correct number of images in your post. Buzzsumo.com ‘s research revealed using an image in your blog for every 75-100 words results in double the shares of blogs with less images, and 30 more shares than blogs with more images.

It also doesn’t hurt to link your images back to product pages on an ecommerce site, or use the image for internal links.

How to Choose Quality Images for Your Blog

The Title

According to HubSpot’s findings, titles with 6-13 words generate the most traffic. Your title is the only part of the article your reader is guaranteed to read, so make sure it’s relevant and attention-grabbing. The  title should also include at least one important keyword which best describes the content.

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The Meta Description

A well-crafted meta description can draw users in and entice them to read your article. Writing a strong meta description will clue your readers in to what the article is about, thereby increasing click through rates and decreasing the bounce rate, both factors which play a role in search performance. Ideally your meta description should be around or a little less than 160 characters.

Internal Links

It’s very important to first ensure you don’t have broken links on your website. If you have broken internal links in your blogs, make sure to remove those. While editing your old blog posts, it’s a good idea to add new, relevant internal links. For example, if you’re writing a blog about a similar topic you’ve published about in the past, you can add links to those blogs with additional information. You can also link back to products or services on your site to encourage your readers to  see more valuable content and increase the chances of getting an online conversion.

The Date of Publication

When you re-publish an older blog with updated relevant content, readers feel more confident they are receiving the latest information. It’s a good idea to add in the copy you’ve made edits to the post, to ensure you are being as transparent as possible with your audience.

Content

Lastly, but importantly, make sure to update your content to provide the most up-to-date information on the subject matter in your blog. This is a good time to give the blog a thorough  reading to ensure there aren’t any grammar or spelling mistakes as well.

After Updating, Get the Word Out!

Once you’ve made your blog updates, share the content across your social channels! Make sure you include an image with your post when you share your blog to get 2-3 X the engagement!

For more on how you can improve your online search presence, check out 5 Reasons Your Website Isn’t Performing Well in Search.

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By Amara Young