Want To Increase Your Blog Traffic?
As bloggers, we often focus on creating fresh content — but some of your biggest traffic opportunities are already sitting in your archive. If you’ve been blogging for a while, you may have hundreds of older posts that could be revived, refreshed, and re-used to bring in new readers.
Updating older posts is one of the quickest ways to improve SEO, boost engagement, and make your content more appealing for sponsored links and brand partnerships. Here’s how to identify which posts are worth revisiting and the best ways to upgrade them.
Disclosure: The FTC Disclosure Provision is a law that requires influencers to disclose when they are being paid to promote a product or service. So please know that if I'm not making money through affiliate links/sponsored content on the post you're currently reading, it's an oversight on my part and will be corrected soon. Read the full disclosure about all the legal stuff here.
Why Updating Old Blog Posts Matters
Refreshing older posts helps you:
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Improve search engine rankings
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Provide a better user experience
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Keep information relevant and accurate
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Increase the value of your archive
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Create stronger opportunities for sponsored content
Brands prefer working with bloggers who maintain high-quality, up-to-date posts — so regularly updating your archive shows professionalism and boosts your earning potential.
How to Choose Which Posts to Update
If you've been blogging for a while you might have hundreds of blog posts in your archives. How do you figure out which ones are worth updating?
A good place to start is by looking at your traffic stats. Posts that bring in the most traffic are a good place to begin. Updating these 'Evergreen' posts will ensure that new visitors to your blog get the best first impression (especially if these posts were from a year or more ago).
Look at your analytics:
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Posts that bring in consistent or high traffic
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Evergreen content that remains relevant over time
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Posts with declining traffic that could be revived
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Articles ranking on page 2 of Google (easy wins!)
These posts already attract readers, so updating them helps you make the most of the audience you already have.
You might also like: Exploring CTA’s: Different Types of Calls To Action To Use in Your Blog Posts
Ways To Upgrade Old Blog Posts
1. Update the Graphics
By updating the graphics on an older post you instantly give it a fresh look. If you use visuals when sharing your posts on social media (which I hope you do), then this is an easy to share the same post again without your followers getting bored of the same old same old. e.g. they might have pinned your old graphic to a board on Pinterest. By giving them a new, fresh, image, they can pin it again to a different board and share your content again with their followers.
Your branding may have changed since you did the original post too, so by updating the graphics you can make sure that your best posts have a consistent look.
You might also want to think about adding additional graphics to the post e.g. if your post only has a horizontal image consider adding a vertical image too. Vertical images work better on Pinterest.
2. Fix Broken Links
Any blog that has been going for a while is bound to have a broken link or two somewhere.
Broken links are links that do not reach their intended destination. This could be because the page you linked to has been removed. Too many broken links on your website will mean you lose credibility.
Negative effects of broken links:
Use a link-checking tool to scan your older posts and fix or remove any links that lead to a 404 page. This is also an excellent opportunity to add sponsored links or affiliate replacements.
3. Add or Update Keywords
Keywords are incredibly important for SEO. When updating an old post, check that:
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Your target keyword appears naturally in the title, introduction, and headings
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Your meta description includes relevant keywords
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You’re answering search intent clearly and directly
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You’re using related/key phrase variations
Reworking your posts title can be a great way to increase traffic to an older blog post. If your original post had a random title like "Recent Musings" it's not doing anything for your SEO. Change the title to something that includes your keywords and makes people want to read your post.
4. Add Additional Links
Since writing the original blog post you may have written more blog posts related to the topic. Add your newer links to the older blog post. A simple way to do this is by adding the text "You might also like: INSERT LINK HERE'.
You can also add external links to trusted sources, which helps build authority and offers more opportunities for sponsored placements.
5. Refresh the Content
Typos and outdated information can slip through — it happens to all of us. Give your older posts a careful read and:
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Fix spelling and grammar errors
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Update out-of-date information
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Add extra tips or examples
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Improve clarity and structure
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Add a stronger call to action
If the post needs a complete overhaul, consider rewriting it as a brand-new article and redirecting the old URL.
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38 comments
I definitely have some old blog posts that need updating. Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteWe often get so caught up working on new posts that we forget about the content we've already put out there. It can make a huge difference to traffic too.
DeleteThank you for the tips!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure :)
DeleteThanks for the ideas!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. It's so easy to forget about posts once they've been published. Updating older posts can really help drive traffic to your blog though.
DeleteI never thought of any of these - thanx!
ReplyDeleteA lot of bloggers don't think to update older blog posts. It can make a huge difference though so it's definitely worth the while doing it.
DeleteI'm slowly (very slowly) updating my old blog posts to match my new formatting on my blog. I share one old blog post (updated) a week to my social media platforms. Great idea to pin the new imaging to Pinterest too though!
ReplyDeleteThanks Bentley. It's a long, on-going progress to update older blog posts. It really helps with keeping branding consistent, as we all evolve over time. Great idea to do a weekly update and share it on social media.
DeleteI have a lot of updating to do and was just thinking about this the other day. What a timely post for me to read.
ReplyDeleteGlad I could help :)
DeleteI've been doing this to old posts for a while. It's taking its time as I have over a thousand but it is slowly getting there. One of the things I've noticed since doing it is that my DA score went up too.
ReplyDeleteI have the same issue. I've been blogging for years and so have a LOT of blog posts in my archives. My Domain Authority score improves with each update I do too. Quality content makes a big difference. All those little changing to improve each post don't go un-noticed.
DeleteThese are some nifty things everyone must do on their blogs. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteGayathri @ Elgee Writes
Glad you liked the post. Yes, updating older blog posts is a good idea for all bloggers for do on their blogs.
DeleteGreat ideas. I should definitely do some of these for my blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks Allie. Let me know if you see a difference in your blog traffic and DA score once you've updated some of your posts.
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