Any content, no matter how good, grows stale over time. That’s why it’s essential to revitalize your old content.

Updating old content takes less effort than creating new content. When you update old content frequently, you improve your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and increase traffic to your website.

HubSpot, a marketing automation software company, reviewed all their content. They found 76% of their monthly blog views and 92% of their monthly blog leads came from old blog posts.

It was their light bulb moment.

It should be yours too.

Optimize the past to improve the future.

According to HubSpot, updating old blog posts with new content and images can increase organic traffic by 106%, and 51% of companies claim updating old content is one of the most efficient tactics they have implemented.

Freshness is a critical ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm since Google announced its freshness update. Searchers are more likely to click on content published a couple of days or weeks ago compared to months or years.

A fresh date also encourages Googlebot to index your website. A Googlebot can only crawl so many pages every day, so it gives priority to newer content.

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5 things to do when updating old content

Ready to give your older content a new life? Here are five things you should do to revitalize your old content.

1. Look at data and pick content to update first

Content diminishes in value over time. One of the best approaches is to figure out what content is getting the most traffic.

Use tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Ubersuggest to find out what content is performing and not performing.

Single out content that ranks well for the keyword being searched and with the right intent. Go to your Google Search Console to see the average search volume for your targeted keywords. Track your highest-traffic articles and update them at least once a year.

2. Make your old content more helpful

Helpful content is content that readers can act on right away with examples and tools. The bottom line is that helpful content addresses a reader’s needs, problems, and questions.

To make your content more helpful, add interactive elements such as a survey, poll, quiz, assessment, calculator, video, or slideshow. Also, add proof points such as facts, statistics, data, and expert quotes.

Additionally, ensure your formatting lets readers digest your content with more whitespace and visuals to break up the text. You should also simplify your content by removing fluff words, avoiding complex words, and use active voice to help your readers gain a stronger connection to your call to action.

Once you know which articles to update, check for broken links, and update old screenshots and company logos. Also, add a paragraph or two mentioning newer tools and more recent data.

3. Beef up “thin” content

Thin content has less than 300-words. It has little to no value. Make sure your content has depth.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Do you need to add more words? 

If you can tell your story in less than 300 words through images or videos, it may be enough. For example, the right way to Google yourself [infographic] blog post is one of my shortest posts, but it is one of my most popular because it includes an infographic.

Don’t add words just to add words.

Does your article or page add value? 

If you see the content you created a while back provides little to no value now, delete it or create a 301 redirect.

4. Combine old content into pillar pages

The way people use Google search has changed, so this impacts how you organize your content. With Google’s introduction of knowledge panels, and featured snippets, a searcher’s behavior is changing and giving way to the rise of pinball searches.

Since today’s search-results pages are complex, users don’t always process search results sequentially. They move their attention across the page more than they did in the past. This means content creators and SEO professionals need to get better at addressing gaps.

To address gaps, companies are creating pillar pages. A pillar page broadly covers a particular topic.

For example, if you have many topics about SEO, you can bring together your articles about on-page SEO, technical SEO, and off-page SEO into one SEO pillar page. When you have a pillar page, you can connect other related blog posts to it via links.

Since Google is now better at understanding the intent of searchers and the true meaning of a phrase, it’s essential to think beyond the combination of letters and words. Google wants you to cover a topic more broadly.

Find the related phrases connected to the primary one. Answer as many questions as possible throughout your content to that broader topic.

5. Update call to actions (CTAs)

As your content gets older, the chances of the calls to action you included in the content are no longer up to date. When reviewing CTAs, you can add more power words. These are emotional words that go along with persuasion to get your readers to click on your CTAs.

When you update your CTA, include words like my instead of your and apply the I want to principle where you put yourself in the reader’s shoes who wants to get a report, secure a reservation, get a free copy of an eBook, or increase sales.

Other tips when updating CTA include adding trust signals such as privacy assurances to give your readers a sense of security. It will help if you use the language that speaks directly to your audience and your CTAs talk about key benefits, not the features of your offer.

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Bringing it all together

Your content diminishes in value over time, so it’s essential to update old content so that search engines crawl your website more frequently.

To revitalize your old content, you should do these five things:

• Look at data and pick content to update first
• Make old content more helpful
• Beef up thin content
• Combine old content into pillar pages
• Update call to actions (CTAs)

Be aware that some of your content will fail, so it’s essential to revitalize your content and identify what didn’t work well and give it a second chance.

We often get so caught up in creating new content that we forget to review our old content and update it. You can create as much value in updating old content as in developing brand new content.