Do you have really old information on your website that you haven’t updated in years? It might still be correct, but if your audience sees a really old date, they don’t know that. As users, when we look at search results, we like to know if the information we’re looking at is still relevant. If your audience is searching for core information relevant to your business and comes across an article from twelve years ago, even if the content is all still relevant, they’re likely to navigate away and look for something more recent.
Does your website have pages you haven’t updated in years? Even if the content is still current, if your audience sees an old date, they don’t know that!
Refresh Your Core Content
You might be tempted to just write a new article, but you don’t always have to create new content. You can update the content you have with some new information. If everything is still exactly the same, just update the date of it and let people know that you have validated this as current information. As a matter of fact having multiple articles on the same subject can work against you as you are competing against yourself in search!
Refresh your core content by reviewing and updating the information and then update the date.
How Often Should You Update Your Content?
So, how do you know when your content is starting to get stale and needs a refresh? One thing you can do is look at what you want to rank for, and check the dates of the other top search results. For example, if the top results are all from 2022 and 2023, and your last article on the topic is from 2017, you better update that post. It might depend on how often the info in your industry changes, but at least do an annual review and look at anything that is two or more years old in order to determine what might be good to update.
Annually review the content on your website. You might also want to compare the dates on searches you want to rank for. You want to be as current as the top page results for those queries.
The bottom line is this: review your current content and website and remove anything that is outdated, or that is not central to the business you want more of. Identify what’s missing too, and add that to your content plan.
When was the last time you updated your core information? What will a potential customer think when they see your information? Will they wonder if you are still in business because the latest update to your website was five years ago?
Links in this episode: How Often Should I Update Content for SEO? Free Freshness Distance Calculator
