Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition — 3 Reasons Why You Should Be Refreshing Your Old Blog Content Right Now

I want to tell you a story. 

I have to warn you though — it’s a sad one. 

This is a story about a blog. It was born as a simple idea, yet through creative thinking, analysis, and strategizing, it became a well-researched piece of content, brimming with promise and potential. This blog could have done anything it wanted to: become a lawyer, a doctor, or even the next President of the United States. The possibilities were truly endless. 

So, with great expectations, you put that blog — so full of life and joy — on your website. And then — nothing. Sure, for the first day or two, you might check in with your blog to see how it’s doing and make sure everything’s okay. But soon or later, you forget about it. You don’t call it, you don’t write it any letters, and pretty soon, the blog is all on its own in a big, scary world. 

The next thing you know, that blog is hanging around seedy joints and in dark alleyways, up to who-knows-what. You get word that the blog is associating with shady characters in the bad part of town. Then finally, the sad news comes —  your blog died a slow, painful, and lonely death. And the worst part? The worst part is that no one even recognized or remembered who that blog was.

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. 

Millions of blogs across the country, just like yours, suffer this same fate. However, there is hope. 

With the proper support, nourishment, and TLC, your blog can realize its full promise and potential and enjoy the fruitful and successful life it deserves. 

It’s called a blog update, and here are some of my secrets on why you should refresh and revive your old content, giving it the support it needs to go from zero, to hero, to position zero.

First, we are going to take a brief look at blog updates and why you should be investing your time in capitalizing on old content instead of fixating on merely producing new content for content’s sake. Then, you and I are going to try a little experiment of our own. So sit back, relax, and let’s learn how you can make your blogs work for you — not the other way around. 

The Goldmine Approach

Throughout recent updates to Google’s algorithm, we’ve seen a significant shift towards using true Content Marketing — not just merely content production — with an emphasis on quality over quantity. The good news is, you probably already have a sh*tton of blog content on your site. Using what I call the goldmine approach, you scour your existing content, find old posts that you can refresh, update, and revive, and ultimately, drive more traffic to that blog and get more potential customers’ eyes on your site. 

1. So Fresh and So Clean — Keep Your Blog Content Up to Date

This isn’t your grandfather’s SEO. Search engine optimization best practices and trends are constantly shifting and ever-evolving. What worked yesterday might not necessarily work today, and it almost certainly won’t work tomorrow. Not only that, but Google likes to see that your content is up-to-date. In fact, they even have a name for it — the Freshness Factor. Updating your blog allows you to add fresh, current information, all while including the latest SEO techniques to get the most bang for your buck. 

2. Crosstown Traffic — Boost Your Blog Engagement With Readers

Do you want more people to read your blog? Do you want more eyes on your website? While these are rhetorical questions, some people are legit not stopping to ask themselves these questions — mostly because they are so concerned with producing more, more, more content. The sad news is, in some cases, that may be a waste of time. By investing your time updating your current blogs — instead of drafting new, useless ones — you can boost blog engagement and increase traffic to your site. Think about the journey this way: Updated blogs>blog engagement>site traffic>conversions>profit.

3. Sgt. Pepper — Increase Your Blog’s Search Ranking

Ok, maybe I’m stretching the song references here a bit. But you get the point, right? With a blog update, you can dramatically increase your blog’s ranking. But here’s the best part: SEO performance tends to be integrated with so many facets of your website and your overall campaign. So, in this case, if you update one of your blogs and increase its search ranking, the effect can be cumulative, helping to boost your entire site’s performance as well.

The Experiment — Blog-Ception 

So, what I’ve said here merely scratched the surface of understanding the true power of blog updates. There is so much more we could talk about: why blog updates are the future of SEO, when you should update each blog, or even how to do it — but that’s all intentional. 

You see, what I’d like to do, now, with you, is conduct a little experiment — updating a blog that is itself about blog updates. I call it “Blog-Ception,” but you can just call it damn fine digital marketing. 

After I publish this blog to the 1SEO Digital Marketing website, I will begin tracking it. In a month (or two, or three), you and I will return to this blog to examine its ranking and see what additional information we can add to it and breathe new life into the piece. Once we complete that update and refresh the content, you and I will once again check its rankings. With any luck (ahem, I mean skill), this blog’s ranking will have increased noticeably. From there, we can see what specific keywords it’s ranking for, as well as being able to see and analyze my competition’s blogs in the search results for similar keywords. 

Once we have all this information, you and I will revisit this blog to include any new data and findings, adding updated and refreshed content, making it a more robust and complete guide for web content writers everywhere to reference. If this sounds like a lot of work and research, that’s because IT IS. However, it’s worth it; more does not equal better. Better = better. 

Welcome to the new world of content: Blogs 2.0 — Stay tuned.

Coming Soon: The Great Glow-Up — How to Update Your Blog, Increase Traffic, and Boost Search Ranking

Like I said, checking the performance of your blogs and updating them to make them the best that they can be is a lot of work, and it can be challenging to figure it out on your own. That’s where having the right marketing partner makes all the difference. For more information on our SEO and Content Writing Services or any of the other services in our full digital marketing suite, contact us today.