While it is true that fresh content is very important, you will also need to know how to effectively manage and update your old content so it stays useful and actually services a purpose for you. Google announced that they will be implementing Panda 4.2 over the following two months, which has quite a few webmasters and internet marketers nervous. Even those who know that their content is high quality can still get a bit anxious because of Google’s Panda updates. A lot of people find “dead” content of theirs, which is essentially old or outdated content that was useful to users at a certain point but is not anymore.
“The amount of old content you have on your website could actually be slowing it down, which is why you will need to know what to do with it.” Data Start technical team
Optimizing your old content instead of deleting it
Although a lot of people’s first instincts is to simply delete their old or dead content, optimizing it is a much better alternative. When you are re-optimizing your content, you will need to keep in mind that it’s a good idea to avoid creating a new URL. While you may feel like creating a whole new page to replace your outdated content is a good idea, you should simply update the existing article and keep the same URL so all of your authority stays intact.
Find new keywords
You will also want to consider doing new keyword research when updating it so that your website will rank better in Google. If your content is really that outdated, then you should definitely at least consider plugging in some new keywords. This can actually make quite a bit of difference when it comes to how your website ranks.
Optimize your Call to Action
Every good website should have a call to action and it is extremely important that you optimize it so that you can get the best possible results with it. Take the time to think about exactly what you want those who visit your website or blog to do so you can create a call to action that is very concise and effective. Your call to action will ultimately determine how likely your visitors will be to purchase whatever it is you are trying to sell.
Know when to Delete your Content
Although updating and optimizing your old content is usually preferable to deleting it entirely, something it will be necessary to just scrap it altogether. If the content that you have on your website mentions products or services that you no longer offer, job listings that aren’t available, or there are similar blog posts, you will most likely want to just delete it. The last thing you want is content that is no longer relevant at all, so it is important that you know when to just delete or update it.
Work on promoting your content
Once you have updated your old content to make it more relevant and useful to those who visit your website, you will need to work on promoting it so you can gain maximum exposure. Whether it is creating a new post on Facebook or hitting Twitter to let people know about your new content, you will definitely have to promote it as effectively as possible. Even if you have the best quality text in the world, it won’t matter if nobody sees it. If the article is important enough, you might want to consider putting it on your home page or another section of your website so lots of people will see it.
It is extremely important that you know how to effectively manage and update your text, because otherwise you will have a much more difficult time succeeding when it comes to ranking high in the search engines and selling your products or services. Old content can be shined up and promoted so that it is useful to you once again, but it’s crucial that you know how to go about doing this so you can get the best results. In the end you will be glad you took the time to polish up your old content.