How to Revive an Old Blog Article for SEO

博客不是像西斯汀教堂那样的主要艺术品，但是有一种使您的博客成为杰作的艺术。博客是及时和常绿内容的结合。

Timely content focuses on trends, news articles, and pop culture events, while常绿内容保持相关并提供长时间的价值。仅仅因为它是旧消息而更新及时的内容，很少是及时的内容。bob官网官方网站但是，更新和复兴旧的常绿内容具有价值。

Leveraging old blog postsand their established place on the web can extend the life of your best content. It is especially beneficial when your content has reached a traffic plateau — a period where您的增长率停滞不前。

John Bonini,the Director of Marketing at Databox, says, “Your best opportunity for increasing organic traffic short-term is in updating the content you’ve already published, not (exclusively) publishing new stuff.” Updating this content can boost your ranking on search engine page results (SERPs) and drive more traffic to your post.

你也来自反向链接。它takes time to acquire backlinks to new content. Alternatively, old content is less likely to receive new backlinks because the information is outdated. Updating old blog posts can help you keep the backlinks your page has already received and acquire new backlinks by reinforcing the value and authority of your content with current information.

Imagine a years-old blog post listing “Minority-Owned Restaurants in Charlotte, North Carolina.” Looking at this post today might have some use, but overall, this post is severely outdated. Consider how fickle the restaurant business can be, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s a chance that some of the restaurants on this list are no longer open. Other minority-owned restaurants could have opened up in their place. Updating this blog post with current information will immediately increase its value and improve its standing with users and search engines.

Reviving an old blog post for SEO isn’t a one-and-done process. Let’s take a look at how you can update your content with a few key steps.

How To Revive An Old Blog Post

Let’s turn your blog post into a masterpiece. Before reviving an old blog post, how do you choose which posts are worth bringing back to life? To hit short-term growth goals, John Bonini recommends updating the following content:

• The Biggest Losers: Content that’s decayed (lost organic traffic) at a high volume over the last 3-6 months.
• 几乎著名的：目前在第2页上排名的内容。
• The Nobodies: Content that’s targeting high-intent, high-volume keywords that are not ranking at all.

Bonini suggests that updating old content can drive organic traffic to previously successful but declining posts, and boost the ranking of content sitting on page 2 of the SERPs. For blog posts that are not ranking at all due to high-volume keywords and keyword difficulty, consider a complete overhaul to rewrite and restructure the content.

To revive an old blog post, you should:

• Target new keywords.
• Update the on-page SEO.
• Update the body content.
• 内部链接到新内容。
• Add and optimize new images and videos.
• 修复格式。
• Correct typos and improve readability.
• Update the blog post with a new date.
• Reindex your blog post with Google.

1. Target new keywords.

How old is your blog post? Depending on its initial publish date, one of two things could be true. One, you were targeting keywords based on keyword difficulty and search volume at that time. Two, you didn’t have the SEO knowledge to implement keyword research.

Search volume indicates how many people are entering a keyword into a search engine. This metric, commonly referred to as Monthly Search Volume (MSV), anticipates how much traffic is available for that keyword. Evaluate search volume with keyword difficulty. Keyword difficulty is a measure of how difficult it is to rank on the first page of a SERP for a specific keyword. Neither keyword difficulty nor search volume can solely determine your target keywords.

If your blog post is from years ago and you knew about SEO and keyword research, the keyword difficulty and search volume for your target keywords have likely changed. If you were unaware of the importance of SEO, your content is likely missing keywords altogether. That is why targeting new keywords is crucial.

您如何找到新的关键字？您将需要：

• Identify industry-related terms in your niche.
• 利用关键字研究工具to produce long-tail keywords.
• Select keywords based on search volume and keyword difficulty.

让我们来完成整个过程。想象一下，您是一位时尚博主，更新有关雌雄同体服装的文章。“雌雄同体”将是一个行业术语，是您目标关键字的基础。

接下来，使用关键字研究工具。Google关键字计划者是博客作者和营销人员中流行的工具。但是，其他资源包括AHREFSbob体育苹果系统下载安装关键字Explorer，Semrush和Soovle。将“雌雄同体”一词输入这些工具后，它们将产生长尾关键字。例如，Google关键字计划者搜索此术语会产生长尾关键字，例如雌雄同体的风格，雌雄同体的服装，雌雄同体的替代方式，还有大约50种选择。一旦您有一个要使用的关键字列表，请评估其关键字难度和搜索量。

Search volume is directly related to how many people are searching for that target keyword. While high search volume can mean more visitors, it is directly affected by keyword difficulty. That is why it is best to evaluate both at the same time.

Let’s compare the keywords “androgynous style” and “androgynous clothing.” Google Keyword Planner shows MSV results at 1K-10K searches for both keywords. Because the search volume is the same, the deciding favor comes from each term’s keyword difficulty. Using the Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, “androgynous style” has a difficulty score of 10 versus a score of 34 for “androgynous clothing.” Remember — keyword difficulty is a measure ofhow difficultit would be to rank for a particular keyword. Androgynous style has the lower difficulty score, meaning it would be easier to rank for this term.

Keyword research is a significant part of SEO; however, updating other on-page SEO factors can improve your content’s ranking.

2. Update the on-page SEO.

Updating andimplementing your SEO strategyon an old blog post takes place in a few key areas. You will need to update and optimize your:

• SEO Title Tag
• Meta Description
• 文章标题
• 子标题

SEO Title Tag

TheSEO title tagis often the first thing noticed on a SERP. It is the clickable name of the webpage that leads to the post. Update this title to reflect any new target keywords. Be mindful that while there is no limit to the length of SEO title tags, Google search results only show the first 70 characters. To maximize your post and its perceived relevance, include the keyword at the beginning of the title.

Meta Description

You can find themeta descriptionon a SERP as the featured text beneath the SEO title tag and URL. This text should include your target keyword and clue readers into the purpose of your content. Make it good! An eye-catching meta description could be what causes readers to click on your content or keep scrolling to another result.

文章标题

一些博客作者没有意识到您的SEO标题YAG和文章标题不一定是相同的。当标题标签出现在搜索引擎结果页面上时，文章标题出现在目标页面上。还使用任何新关键字更新此标题。

子标题

小标题充当您的内容的大纲。在读者决定投入您的博客文章之前，许多人会浏览它，以确定是否值得他们时间。将关键字添加到内容的主要标题中。它将增加内容的感知相关性，并帮助提高您的排名。

After you make changes to the title tag, meta description, article title, and subheadings, it is time to move on to where the most changes happen — the body content.

3.更新内容。

The bulk of your updates will happen in the body content. Begin by rewriting your introduction. Continue by updating the rest of the content as needed. It will be done in two steps — removing out-of-date content and adding current information.

删除过时的内容时，请先从不再适用的信息开始。让我们从前重新访问关键字“雌雄同体”。想象一下时尚博客作者，这一年，这一年的雌雄同体的风格及其风格的偶像。他们可能会写有关王子和大卫·鲍伊的文章。几年前，两位音乐家都去世了，他们的信息将不再适用于此博客文章的未来更新。

Removing out-of-date content also includes removing old sources from your post. How old is too old?新罕布什尔州南部大学（SNHU）推荐使用在过去十年中发表的艺术，人文，文学和历史的来源。对于快速节奏的领域，例如在线营销和技术，旨在使用过去2 - 3年以来的资源。bob体育苹果系统下载安装

When removing old sources and content, your goal should be to replace them with new information. As you update your content, remember to build your internal links.

4. Focus on links.

Using links to revive an old blog post is a significant way to boost SEO. Links can boost your ranking on a search engine results page and increase the credibility of your post. Update your links in two steps.

首先，搜索断开的链接。断开的链接是死胡同that take visitors to a 404 error page. If a reader clicks on a link, it’s because theywant更多信息。如果他们发现一个断开的链接，它会立即降低内容的质量和信誉，并增加他们的挫败感。删除，修理或重定向任何断开的链接。

Second, refresh internal links. Interlinking is when you链接到您网站上其他相关博客文章。This practice keeps users on your site longer, boosts your content quality, and improves SEO. As you update your content, add new links to existing content on your website.

5. Add and optimize new images and videos.

High-quality blogs have high-quality visuals. Adding images and videos brings us back to the two benefits of reviving an old blog post — providing a better user experience and increased opportunities for SEO.

Adding and optimizing new images and videos can:

• Increase user time on your page.
• Drive more traffic to your post.
• Break up solid text.
• 鼓励社交媒体分享。
• 使你的文章更容易理解。

Comparatively, a lot more goes into image SEO than video SEO. Here are the steps you need to take to revive your old blog post with images.

找到正确的图像

您要做的第一件事是优先考虑原始图像if这是您的手段。通常，聘请摄影师的成本通常还带来额外的成本。如果这笔费用不超出您的预算，请使用免费和付费库存图像的组合。在为您的帖子选择正确的图像时，请选择坦率的图像与上演图片。

Let’s use an example with two images we took from the free stock websitePexels。一般来说，大多数摄影是上演的，但是上图上有明显的差异。坦率的照片是当受试者不知道他们正在拍照时。左侧的图像不是坦率的，但它看起来很坦率。将其与右侧的图像进行比较。尽管此图像比大多数过量的白色背景图像要好得多，但该图像仍然比左侧的图像更自然。选择合适的图像时，您希望它感觉尽可能自然。

Finding the right image also means making sure they are relevant. Revisiting our fashion blog idea of androgynous style, it wouldn’t make sense to include examples of distinctly “masculine” or “feminine” styles unless they were tools for comparison. Make sure your images are relevant and match your content.

一旦拥有正确的图像，就该命名了。

Choose the Right File Name

文件名of your image is another way to improve SEO. Google indexes images found in blog posts. For them to understand what the image is about, the file name needs to do two things. It needs to include your keyword and describe the picture.

假设您在戴维·鲍伊（David Bowie）的标志性Ziggy Stardust巡回演出中使用了图像。该文件的名称可以是雌雄同体风格的Ziggy标准tour.jpg。您可能想知道为什么使用Ziggy Stardust代替David Bowie。简而言之，这还不够描述。大卫·鲍伊（David Bowie）花了数十年的时间巡回演出，因此在文件图像中包括他的名字非常广泛。由于Alter Ego（Ziggy Stardust）在互联网的每个角落都与他相关联，因此Google将毫不费力地将图像与他联系起来。

用alt文本增强图像

Alt text有两个目的。第一，这是图像的描述性文本，以防它无法显示。如果用户遇到技术问题，可能会发生。包括图像的Alt文本可确保读者不会丢失任何关键信息。

Two, alt text serves to help when your image cannot beviewed。And yes, there is a difference. Accessibility is necessary for those who are blind or have other visual disabilities. Even when pictures appear in your blog post, the alt text will describe the image for those who can’t see it.

利用your keyword in your alt text, but focus your efforts on a good description of the image.

6.修复或更改格式。

Fix your format to match SEO best practices. As previously mentioned, online marketing is a fast-paced industry, which means the best practices often change over time. Current SEO best practices for format changes include adding a definition of your target keyword, adding numbered lists near the top of the post, and using headings and subheadings to strengthen your keyword.

7.纠正错别字并提高可读性。

First, let’s correct the typos. Tell me who and when. Who wrote the original blog post, and when was it written? The answer to this question can dictate how many typos you’d expect to find in the original post. It depends on the strength of the writer at that time.

Years ago, it felt as if we would live and die by the corrections provided by Microsoft Word. Now, there are options. Grammarly and Ginger are two popular proofreading tools that instantly identify grammar and punctuation errors. They also help improve readability.

Why is readability important? Readability directly connects to user experience. Readers will “bounce off” or exit the pageif they decide that your blog post is too hard to read. High bounce rates negatively affect SEO. It sends a message to search engines that your content was irrelevant to users and that users are unlikely to read the content.

可读性衡量阅读内容有多容易。更高的分数意味着内容易于阅读。您帖子中使用的单词和句子会影响此分数。提高内容的可读性：

• Writing shorter sentences.
• Breaking up long paragraphs.
• Avoiding passive voice.
• Removing filler words.

Previous tips on this list that improve readability including using headings and subheadings, bulleted lists, and images.

8. Publish the blog post with a new date.

它is one of the easiest ways to revive an old blog post for SEO. To emphasize it again, people do not gravitate to out-of-date content. Make sure your updated blog post reflects the current date. Another common practice is adding the current year to your SEO title tag.SearchPilot conducted a case studythat demonstrated a 5% increase in organic traffic for a blog post with an SEO title tag that included the date versus one without. Adding the date to your title tag will show that your content is new — which users and SERPs prioritize.

9. Reindex your blog post with Google.

The whole point of updating your blog post is to get it noticed. Make sure it does. After you’ve republished your blog post, reindex it with Google. If your site is set up in Google Search Console, paste the URL of your blog post in the URL Inspection tool and request indexing. While Google will eventually reindex your content on its own, using this tool will speed up the process, allowing users to find your updated blog post as soon as possible.

复兴要活着。

Online marketing, which includes SEO, is a fast-paced industry. Its best practices are constantly changing. To keep up with current SEO practices and craft a great user experience, it is necessary to perform regular updates on your content. Use the steps and tips in this post to revive your blog posts and keep them alive in the eyes of your users and search engines.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in January 2008 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.