Old Content: Handling Guide For SEO

In this article we will show the ultimate old content handling guide, learn how to improve it for huge benefits in traffic, and optimize SEO

By Claudio Pires
SEO
Updated on January 3, 2024
Old Content: Handling Guide For SEO

Could old content be dragging down your website’s overall SEO and “authority”? Think about it. You have an important decision: should you improve or remove your content? If you make the right decisions, you can reap considerable benefits in traffic, organic search visibility (rankings, featured snippets, etc.), links, conversions, and engagement. In this article, we will show you a handling guide on how to improve your old content for huge benefits in traffic and optimize SEO.

How To Deal With Old Content?

Old Content SEO Problems

Even if your content is excellent, you need to do some cleaning. Otherwise, your chances of ranking on Google will remain the same. You see, there are only so many places on the Google search results page. Google only displays one or two results from the same domain in the search results for a given query. If you have a high-authority domain, you may get three results.

Suppose you write three articles on the same topic. Or, using very similar keywords, you’re competing against yourself for a limited spot in the search results. You’ll confuse Google. This is why you can’t endlessly write the same content on your blog and leave it at that. You need to do some content management.

What to Do With Old Content

There are three things you can do with your old content to optimize and improve your SEO with this handling guide. You can keep, delete, or merge it. Don’t know what to do? It all depends on your content.

Add Value With Content

Is an item still valuable? Does it get a lot of traffic? Is this article still appropriate for your website and company? Of course, old, valuable content should remain on your website. Please make sure to update this content regularly. 

The most important articles should contain relevant information. If you remember to update these evergreens occasionally, you can ensure that your content is always up to date.

Structures To Improve Old Content and SEO

Keeping content on your site comes at a cost, especially if you write many articles on similar topics. Be sure to add structure and hierarchy to your site. If one of your pages or posts is more important than the others, you should treat it as such.

Place this significant page higher in the hierarchy. Link from less important pages to the most important pages. This way, you tell Google which article you want to rank highest, and you can keep both articles.

Old Content Handling SEO- Mixing It

Have you written multiple articles on the same topic? Are they nearly the same? Do they rank on the same topics? These types of articles should be combined. Turn two (or three) articles you’ve written into one excellent article. Then delete the old articles (but don’t forget to redirect). I write new merged articles on the URLs that attract the most Google traffic.

Outdated Clean-Up And Redirection

Are articles with old content outdated? Does it contain invalid information? Does it contain information that is no longer helpful? Now and then, you write or announce something new. After a while, these items become almost useless. Delete such articles. Make sure to redirect the article to similar content (or the home page if you can’t find an alternative).

Don’t know how to create a redirect? Do you want to add this task to a developer’s never-ending to-do list? Get Yoast SEO Premium for old content handling! Reposting has always been challenging. If you delete a post or change the URL, it will even ask you where to redirect it!

Update The Content To Republish

Updating and merging old blog posts is a good use of time. However, if you want to benefit from the revised content, you can republish it on your blog, republish it on your social channels, and mention it in your newsletter. This will ensure your content is not forgotten and may even attract new visitors to your site.

You can also click the “Update” button if you have made minor changes to a recently published article. WordPress’s last modified date will change, but the published date will remain the same. You can change the publication date if you’ve completely merged or rewritten the content. 

This will make your post appear at the top of the blog again. Share it on your other marketing channels, too, and it’ll surely get the attention it deserves! So, if you choose the latter, remember to delete old comments on the article! Posting an article with comments from five years ago might seem strange further down the page.

Conclusion About Old Content Handling SEO

Remember that SEO is not just about search engine rankings but also about providing valuable information and a great user experience. We hope this guide helps you learn how to optimize your old content for considerable benefits in traffic and improve SEO.

Claudio Pires

Claudio Pires is the co-founder of Visualmodo, a renowned company in web development and design. With over 15 years of experience, Claudio has honed his skills in content creation, web development support, and senior web designer. A trilingual expert fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, he brings a global perspective to his work. Beyond his professional endeavors, Claudio is an active YouTuber, sharing his insights and expertise with a broader audience. Based in Brazil, Claudio continues to push the boundaries of web design and digital content, making him a pivotal figure in the industry.