Once your business website is live, it’s tempting to step back and think ‘job done’. The reality, though, is that maintaining your business website is just as important as getting it up and running in the first place.
While adding fresh, new content regularly is a vital part of site maintenance, making frequent updates to your older articles, blog posts, and web pages ensures it stays relevant an continues to perform for you.
Still not convinced? Here are five reasons why you need to update your old website content.
1. Improve SEO
Several factors affect SEO; among them are the accuracy and helpfulness of your website content. If your site contains out-dated facts and figures, not only is it potentially misleading for users, but Google also recognises this and will not serve it up in search results.
Your pages full of old content will slowly get pushed down the rankings in favour of more useful, up to date content – which could well be on your competitors' websites. So, taking the time to go back into older posts and pages to update old information is well worth the effort.
2. Inspire trust and build loyalty
Besides satisfying search engine requirements, your website must also continue to fulfil the needs of your customers. An outdated website offering old information, advice, and products isn’t addressing your customers’ current problem or offering them a relevant solution – and they will soon start looking elsewhere for a company that is answering those needs.
Outdated information also makes visitors to your website mistrustful of your business as a whole – how can you be a recognised authority on a subject you clearly don’t have a handle on? By updating your website content you’ll cement your place a leader in your field, inspire customer confidence, and win loyal fans.
3. Catch errors and improve readability
Revisiting old website articles and blog posts is a great way to catch any errors that might have crept in there the first time around. Typos and the like are always much easier to spot once you’ve had some distance on the content; this is especially true if you are the original author.
It’s also a good opportunity to tweak your website content for readability – another thing Google likes to see in written articles and landing pages. Short sentences, regular paragraph breaks, bullet point lists of information are all helpful when it comes to making your article, posts, or web page easier for the reader to digest. Update the formatting of your website content and put a big tick in the readability box for search engines.
4. Fix problems
Let's talk about broken links and 404 errors. These aren’t good – for you or your website visitors. 404s occur when a link a user has clicked on is no longer active – it's effectively a ‘dead end’. This could be for several reasons including the page has been taken down, moved, or the link is broken.
Whatever the reason, 404s scream ‘neglect’ and are a concern for website visitors, acting as a red flag that suggests your business operations could be sloppy or even in jeopardy.
By revesting old pages to update your website content, you can perform an audit on any external and internal links to ensure they are all still working, both for users and SEO. While you’re at it, be sure to also amend the copyright year on your site so it’s up to date. A site that’s not been updated since 2001 will also put visitors off.
5. Save time
It may seem like an obvious one, but tarting up old content is a quick win for your website when you compare it to the amount of time it takes to create new content. That’s not to say new content isn’t important, but why let all the hard work you’ve already put into your site go to waste just because it’s got a bit old and dusty?
This year, get January off to a good start. Put some time aside each day to spend reading your old articles, blog posts, and web pages. Update your website content so that it’s relevant, informative, and aligns with your customers’ current needs and see the SEO benefits pay off.
Website content not your thing? We get it. Whether you’re looking to update your old website content or want a fresh new website creating, the team at Formation can help. Get in touch with us here.
