Does Updating Old Blog Posts Improve SEO?
Lately, I’ve been sifting through old blog posts and updating them. When I say updating, I mean:
- Adding new content and boosting word count
- Sprinkling LSI keywords throughout the post
- Updating / Adding new images with detailed ALT text.
Why Update Instead of Writing New Content?
This all has to do with the skyscraper technique. I heard about this technique about a year ago. Ever since then, I’ve seen it pop up in the marketing community.
The skyscraper technique is where you go back and refurbish old content. With all the same techniques I mention above.
But why?
The idea is behind the skyscraper technique is to boost your organic traffic. Because you’re focused on improving SEO, and the blog URL already has link juice.
So, does it work?
The Results of Updating Blog Posts
Eight days ago I republished one of our top posts after an extensive update. I took a look at the Google Analytics data, and what I saw was surprising…
… It worked.
Positive performance trends across the board.
Have a look for yourself.
So the results show our efforts paid off. Because of updating the content, I saw:
- +22% more impressions
- +27% more organic clicks
- A +4% bump in CTR
- A +13% drop in average position. But there’s a caveat here. For my top performing keywords (e.g. keywords generating high impressions and clicks) I saw better average position. Which aligns with all other performance trends. Rank can go anyway it wants as long as I’m seeing more traffic to the site.
- 71% more sessions
- And +15% more pages / session
…Wow. I can’t complain about those numbers. Also, it’s worth mentioning this post targets a competitive keyword. So these numbers were music to my ears.
But it wasn’t a walk in the park. I had to work for these performance upgrades. So here’s how I did it.
Updating Old Blog Posts Improve SEO
First, I went through the posts keyword data. This is an important step. Because I saw LSI keywords I could sprinkle throughout my post to optimize.
Then, I went to work. I rewrote a lot of content. And added in new content. I also reached out to a few other marketers and got them to contribute.
After that, I replaced the dated images with new images. Increasing the blog post’s appeal.
Finally, it was time to promote the blog. More eyes, more shares, better SEO.
And you know the rest…
Keeping your Blog Fresh
You’ve seen the results. You know the strategy. Now it’s time to test out this technique for yourself.
Make sure your Google Analytics and Search Console accounts are connected to see your results. And don’t forget to let us know how your updating went in the comments below.
