Old Content and SEO
Writing takes time and energy. You’re probably proud of the blog posts you’ve crafted, but should you hold onto all your content or wave goodbye to the stuff that’s no longer relevant? How does deleting articles affect SEO and is content management really necessary? Let’s delve deeper.
Sorting awesome content
Deleting articles that are awesomely written, loaded with facts, up-to-date and interesting to your target audience is a big no-no. Especially if they’re still getting plenty of traffic. That said; it’s important to note that there are only a limited number of spaces on Google’s results page. Google will only show a couple of results from the same domain. So, if you regularly blog about the same topics, using the same keywords, you may end up competing with yourself for those limited spaces.
That doesn’t really make sense does it? But there are things you can do to keep your content as organised as possible, while utilising the work you’ve done in the past. Here are some ideas.
- Update content of value
One of the best ways to kick off your content management strategy is to look through your blog posts and update any articles that are out-of-date, but of value. This will improve your credibility and ensure you’re a go-to brand for all the latest information. For example, if you’ve an article that currently reads “Top 10 Marketing Stats for 2018”, it’s well-worth updating it to 2020 and republishing the article to your site – especially if the article has garnered plenty of traffic. When using WordPress, you can change the Publish date ensuring your post will pop up at the top of your blog.
Top tip: When republishing an article, don’t forget to delete any old article comments so you don’t confuse your audience.
- Repurpose content
If you’ve a blog you really liked and want to make the most of, why not repurpose the content and post it on other channels? That way, you’ll bring dated work to life in a fun an interesting way. Stats from a blog, for example, can be turned into an interesting infographic for Facebook or be tweeted as a Gif on Twitter. You could also turn article content into a video for Instagram or your YouTube channel. When updating content, also remember to share the links on social channels for maximum outreach.
- Delete and redirect
You want your very best content to appear on the Google search engine results page. So, it’s a good idea to delete content that may compete with your more recent work due to the keywords used. This is important if you feel your more recent articles are of a higher standard.
Top tip: Always redirect content you don’t want to a page you think your audience will want to see. Redirecting to similar content is ideal. Or, the homepage.
- Give your pages a hierarchy
If you want one page to stand out over another, you can link dated content or less important pages to the one you want to shine. This will give your site some hierarchy as you’ll be telling Google which article you want to rank highest – without having to delete any content.
Content is really important for organic outreach. But if you don’t have time for a spring clean, why not contact Whitefish Marketing, a digital marketing agency, Kent specialising in SEO services in Kent, PPC and more…
