Your blog’s content may be a bit stale and in need of some improvements. But a website redesign or other extensive overhauls are not always necessary.
Your blog posts have the potential to snag that coveted Featured Snippets spot. They’re almost entertaining enough to draw more eyes. But a little something extra is missing.
Update your blog with these eight tricks that don’t involve massive chunks of your time or money.
1. Revamp Post Titles
If you’re in love with the body of your blog post, but it’s still not ranking well, this could indicate an issue with the title. Make sure you include relevant keywords from your post in the title.
If the title already has keywords, but it still feels “blah,” freshen it up with something more exciting. Just make sure to keep the keywords in there.
2. Update Statistics And Information For Accuracy
Content written a few years (and sometimes just a few months) ago may still have relevant advice, but the statistics or advice are out of date. Take time to comb through these pieces and update any information to reflect accuracy. If information is no longer relevant and there’s no way of correcting it, cut it out completely, then replace it with more current advice.
3. Add More
Some posts don’t capture the traffic they deserve because there’s not enough on the page. For example, if your 500-word post is competing against a 1,000-word blog post, it’s likely readers will go to the more extensive post for all the information they need. In situations like this, all you need to do is spend thirty minutes to an hour adding more details to your blog posts.
Additionally, while you’re thinking of adding more to your posts, be sure to include relevant internal links to newer content. Since posting the blog initially, you may have written on a supporting topic that readers would also find helpful. For example, say you wrote about why pet insurance with a dental policy is essential. Then, a few months later, you wrote about ways to clean your dog’s teeth. Dog owners interested in pet dental insurance will likely want information on how to keep up with a dog’s dental hygiene. You could boost the value of these two posts by linking them to each other.
4. Freshen Up The Post’s Meta Data
Some bloggers and businesses forget to write unique meta titles and descriptions for their posts. If you’re guilty of doing this, go back and add this vital meta information!
Perhaps you already included this information. If so, still review it. Maybe you updated a blog post, and the meta description is no longer relevant. Perhaps the title and description aren’t enticing enough. While the meta information doesn’t affect the rankings of a post necessarily, it can impact the clickthrough rate.
5. Include Images
Images, especially thumbnails, can attract readers to your blog posts. They add additional appeal and can help support any claims you make.
If your post already has images, consider replacing them with newer, fresher ones. Maybe you have posts with the same stock images. Consider updating the photos on one of these blogs.
6. Combine Similar Posts
When you post a lot of content, you risk writing about the same topics. This can affect the rankings of the original post due to keyword cannibalization.
Check which post is ranking the best, then merge the information from the other post with that one. This will give you one long post that is more complete and of higher quality. Plus, longer pieces of content rank better than shorter pieces. According to a study done by Buzzsumo and Moz, content with word counts higher than 1,000 words were more likely to be shared and had a higher number of backlinks than content with less than 1,000 words.
7. Salvage What You Can Of The Bad Stuff
Sometimes there isn’t anything you can do to save old blog posts. If this is the case, it may be best to delete them. However, before you do, consider re-using some of the information by adding it to an existing blog post or writing a whole new piece around these usable chunks.
Once you come up with your game plan and create or update a piece, delete the old blog post, and 301 redirect the URL of the old post to the URL of the new content. This way, you will not completely lose out on the ranking juice you’ve built up for the original post.
The best way to get more eyes on your blog is to promote it to your readers. Social media is your blog’s best friend. Promote your new stuff, even if it is a blog post you’ve shared in the past. Your readers will enjoy the new content as well as the refresher on the original information. To ensure the right messaging, work with a social media agency to help you leave an impact.
Also, be sure to categorize your blog posts (old and new) so that they show up as related content to the blog posts your readers are currently viewing. This is a great way to keep readers and customers on your site.
Freshen Up Your Blog
Don’t feel discouraged when it seems like your blog traffic has become stagnant. Instead, take a couple of days to update your blog in a few key areas. In this way, you’ll strengthen your blog’s SEO and make your posts more compelling to readers.
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