If you’re doing business on the internet then chances are you’ve written a lot of content over the years. Some people like to think of their old, outdated content as a graveyard, letting their old posts and pages rest there forever. We think it can be so much more than that, and can actually bring some value back to your website and business when fixed up Content Archives properly.
If you have too much old, or outdated content you can actually be doing damage to your rankings and your authority. In this post we uncover how and why you need to update your old content archives.
What Is Outdated Content?
Outdated or expired content includes any old product pages, sales pages, about me pages, and even old blog posts that are no longer relevant. You may be aware of some of these pages, but others may come as a surprise.
Make sure you take time to browse through your archive of pages to find content that needs to be upgraded or trashed.
Why You Should Fix Broken Or Outdated Content
You may think these older sections of your website are doing no harm. However, in some cases they can be doing more damage than you think.
For instance, these extra pages may be making your site too large, which will increase loading speeds. It will also make your website seem out of date, both to the search engines and any users that may come across your site.
Steps To Fixing Your Broken Content
You’ll have several courses of action you can take to either improve this content, or get rid of it entirely.
1. Keep It
In some instances your old content will be fine just as it is. If the information isn’t outdated and it still contains crucial information, then you can leave it unchanged.
Sometimes older pages may still be getting a ton of traffic, or the page may have gained a lot of links over time. By deleting it you’ll lose all of these benefits. However, if it’s an older page chances are you can improve it slightly and doing so increase your conversions.
2. Delete It
Deleting it isn’t always the best course of action. For instance, if there are still links coming to the page, as well as visitors, then they’ll simply end up on a 404 page. Instead of deleting it you can redirect the page to another similar page, or consider improving the content which we suggest below.
3. Improve It
Improving your content is going to take the most time, but it will provide the most positive results. Sometimes you’ll just need to make sure the information on the page is still up-to-date, while other times you’ll need to re-do it entirely. For instance, you could update an old outdated product page with a suggestion to purchase a different, yet similar, product.
Keeping your website up to date takes time, but it’s time well spent. If you have any other questions regarding your content strategy, or your entire website then reach out to our team today.
by Calvin Bryant
Digital Marketing Geek
