Creating an effective content strategy is fundamental to your marketing efforts, but it’s usually about creating new content. Yet, your existing content may be even more important than creating new content because existing pages already have unique data, including rankings and on-page engagement. It’s much more effective to use your own data than relying on third-party numbers that your competitors have the same access to as you.
On March 15th, I was honored to be the guest host of the #VCBuzz marketing Twitter chat for the second time! Our discussion was focused on the benefits of updating your existing or older content and how to go about doing it. So, how do you create a content updating strategy or include updating your current content in your content strategy? Let’s discuss!
Why Updating Existing Content Is So Important
Q2 Why is updating old content so important and why do so many brands fail to do that?
Creating quality content is challenging and time-consuming, so you want to extract as much value out of it as you can. Your older content is a gold mine of benefits, which you’ve already spent time, energy and resources on, so don’t forget about it.
Updating your older content delivers a better user experience, so visitors find value on your site or blog, stay longer and show interest in your products and services. This includes visitors referred by backlinks, which will help boost your site’s SEO.
Updating older content and fixing broken links will also strengthen your site’s SEO by welcoming search engine crawlers and helping them index your site, boosting your rankings. Dead links stop search engine crawlers in their tracks.
Our society tends to focus on what’s new, which is why brands often fail to update older content. Once content is published and initially distributed, it’s put on a back shelf and forgotten about. Don’t do this and lose so many benefits!
Updating older content will also give you fresh ideas for new content! Approach a topic you previously blogged about from a different perspective, or explore a previous topic more in-depth by creating a series.
How To Identify Content That Needs Updating
Q3 How to identify content that needs updating? How to get better organized with content updates to turn it into an on-going process?
Use a tool like DeadLinkChecker to find broken links that may be damaging your rankings and usability. There’s a free tool, Multi Check (for multiple websites) and Auto Check (which runs on a regular basis and emails you reports).
Also, visit your website regularly! Before you create new content, look at older content you’ve already published on the same topic. Check popular posts to see if they need updated or can be enhanced with fresh information. Check pages before sharing!
Moving forward, include your older content in your content strategy. Dedicate time and resources to updating older content, refreshing your blog/site and cleaning up broken links on a regular basis. Make it an equal priority with creating new content!
Key Elements of a Successful Content Update
Q4 How to update content? What are the key elements of a good content update?
First, check for broken links, missing videos, corrupt images or loading issues. Are your images optimized or are they slowing down the page from loading? Have you used images without permission? Get permission, or replace them with appropriate ones.
Next, look at the copy. Is the headline drawing traffic, or can it be improved? Reread the article and captions. Is the content still relevant or does it need to be refreshed? Add any new information that will bring the content up-to-date.
Make sure your content is readable (and skimmable) with appropriate visuals, short paragraphs and different sections, or headings. White space and proper formatting are your friends on screen. Add relevant videos, GIFs, polls or other media!
Recommended Writing & SEO Tools
Q5 What are your favorite writing and SEO tools?
My favorite writing and SEO tools are Headline Studio and Email Subject Line Tester by CoSchedule, Microsoft Word, Evernote, WordPress.com and DeadLinkChecker.
Review the entire How to Update Your Old Content chat, and join future #VCBuzz marketing Twitter chats on Tuesdays at Noon ET.
Tweet Us (Or Leave Your Feedback in the Comments)
How does updating your existing content currently fit in your content strategy?
Do you delete content from your blog, or is everything worth keeping?
What are your favorite writing and SEO tools?
CCC’s Chief Content Marketing Officer,
Jaime
clearly conveyed communications 