Powerful Benefits of Updating Old Content | Orlando Digital Marketing Blog

Content marketing offers many advantages like brand awareness and free organic traffic, however, old content can lose effectiveness over time. The technical term for keeping content fresh and up-to-date is “historical optimization.” And in today’s competitive marketplace, it’s not enough to simply create content, it must be maintained to continuously reap its benefits.

Find out when you should update content and the powerful benefits of historical optimization to achieve better results.

There isn’t a hard set rule for what is considered “old” content – it can be something that you wrote, designed, filmed, or recorded just last month or several years ago. Here are some tips to determine if your content needs updating:

• The information is outdated
• New advancements have occurred
• Low engagement (e.g. high bounce rate)
• Target audience has evolved
• It’s missing important keywords
• Branding has changed

It’s important to mention that not every piece of old content needs to be updated. Be strategic with updating content so you don’t waste time and resources on content that will produce a low ROI regardless of what you do. Consider starting with “low hanging fruit” like content that used to rank high in search results or generate a lot of engagement.

Historical optimization is crucial for making sure your content performs well on Google and with your audience. Check out the top four benefits of updating old content below.

Google rewards freshness which is why updating and republishing old content can increase its ability to be found online. When your content ranks higher in Google search results, it’ll drive more free organic traffic and expose your products or services to potential new customers.

Updating content with new information, quality images, easier to read format, etc., adds value which will make your audience more willing to learn about your brand or offerings.

Not only does updating content add value, but it also provides a better user experience. This elevates your brand’s image and makes your message memorable.

A glaring sign of low-quality content is a high bounce rate and low conversions. With historical optimization, you’ll be able to transform old content into a conversion generator whether it’s a “hard” conversion like purchases or a “soft” conversion like newsletter signups.

People like to share great content and when they do, it produces what’s known as a ‘backlink’ which is simply a link from another web page that points back to yours. Backlinks are another ranking factor because they show Google that your content follows its “E-A-T” (expertise, authority, trust) search quality guidelines.

Creating content is an investment which is why historical optimization is important for getting a higher return. You don’t always have to be pumping out new content to reap the benefits of content marketing. Updating old content can take less time and resources than new content, yet produce as many results – or more.

At Sales & Marketing Technologies, we’ve helped businesses in Orlando and across the country drive growth through content creation, optimization, and strategy services. Call 407.682.2222 or contact us below for a free 30-minute strategy session!