Ever heard the term historical optimization? It’s where you update old blog content and generate more traffic and leads in the process. This is great news for those whose goal is to improve SEO, grow and scale the results they get from their blog!
Imagine being able to generate value from content that you have published in the past? And being able to double your monthly leads with old posts that you have optimized? One real-life example of this is a man by the name of Gaetano DiNardi, currently Director of Demand Generation at Nextiva.
What is historical optimization?
Historical optimization is when you optimize your old blog content by updating it so that it can bring in more traffic and conversions to your website. If you’re not sure if you want to include this in your SEO efforts, you should know that getting recurring lasting value from old content is one of the main benefits of blogging.
Where to begin
1. Find a way to get more leads from high traffic but low converting blog posts
You first need to be able to identify which posts generate the most leads and which ones don’t. Using traffic data, you can determine which posts get a high amount of traffic but have low conversion rates. Then potentially generate more leads by optimising those posts.
2. Find a way to generate more traffic to your high-converting posts
Stop focusing on only brand new content and find a way to improve SEO and get more traffic and leads out of the content that you already have. You can do this by optimizing your past content.
Why optimizing your past posts is important
There is a lot of content on the internet today, mostly because more businesses are realising the impotence of content marketing. As supply increases, however, so does the competition for getting your content found on Google. But the problem isn’t that the supply of content is growing, it’s that the demand is static. In other words, people are only going to consume so much and no more. The result, most content goes completely unused.
So for bloggers who have been blogging consistently for while and want to grow and scale their blogs, the answer can’t just be to keep churning out more blogs. This is why optimizing your past posts is so important. Not only is it a way to get more value out of the content you produce, but it’s also a way to gain a competitive edge.
If people find your old content on Google, even though it’s mostly still relevant, it delivers more way more value if it has been updated.
4 ways to optimize old blog posts to improve SEO
1. Focus on blog posts that perform well and on ones that need the most attention
Republish blog posts that are already doing well and help them to become even better. Some signs that a blog post is eligible for republishing:
- The post is more than two years old
- The post is already on the 2nd or 3rd page of Google
- The post has been shared multiple times on social media
- The post is directly related to the product or service you sell
- The bounce rate and time spent on the post is above average
Oppositely, you should update or even remove any posts that contain information that has been disproven or that is incorrect. To find out which ones these are, use Google Search Console together with Google Analytics. Then compare impressions with the CTR (click-through rate).
Blog posts that have the highest amount of impressions and CTR are the ones you should focus on and improve for republishing. That goes for blogs with the lowest amount of impressions and CTR as well. These low performing blogs will require double-checking and making sure that they aren’t missing any of the SEO fundamentals.
When to update your post or leave it alone
- High impressions and high CTR = The blog post is already great!
- Low impressions but high CTR = Update the content
- High impressions but low CTR = Update the title or meta description
- Low impressions and low CTR = Delete or rewrite the entire post
If you come across a post that looks like it can’t in any way be salvaged, just delete it using a 410 redirect.
2. Replace outdated references or information
Once you have decided which blog posts to update, there are some things you can do to immediately improve them. These include:
- Removing references to businesses that have closed or have become problematic
- Any outdated memes and pop culture references that prevent content from being considered evergreen
- A specific time or date
- Outdated statistics and/or irrelevant links
3. Add and update images and videos
Humans are naturally more interested in visuals, so having images and videos in between your blog copy will help to break up the monotony. It will also keep readers on your page for longer. An average rule of thumb is to include an image or video every 350 words.
Also, don’t forget to optimize old images for SEO by making sure that they have properly formatted alt text and file names with keywords. The keywords should appear naturally as if they are being used in a conversation and shouldn’t be stuffed just to meet the criteria.
4. Remove broken links
Broken links really hurt SEO efforts and are guaranteed to lower your ranking on Google. Fixing these links however is relatively easy with free tools like Broken Link Checker. Once you have identified the broken links, find a suitable replacement. If you can, use your other blog posts as a replacement.
If you don’t already link back to your own content, then begin doing so to create topic clusters. Topic clusters are a group of interlinked web pages that are built around one piece of pillar content, targeting a broad topic that is linked to many related but more narrowly focused pages. Topic clusters help to keep people on your blog because the links all link back to your content.
When looking for links, don’t link to pages with a low domain authority or a page that isn’t completely relevant to the blog topic. For example, if your blog post is about pizza, then link content related to pizza, don’t just give examples.
Consistently maintain your content and watch your rankings soar!
The best blog relies on a balance of good SEO and quality content. And the success of your blog relies on a balance between creating new posts and updating old ones. So it’s still important that you create content if you want to have something to update and re-publish in two years.
If your business requires high-quality blog content on a monthly basis, get in touch with us to see how we can help you!
