To put it gently, in 2023, marketers and SEOs have suffered greatly. So how can you make sure your SEO efforts have the most impact? The SEO strategies covered in this article that have stood the test of time to improve SEO continue to be effective despite spam updates, E-E-A-T, and helpful content.
What does E-E-A-T mean?
The acronym E-E-A-T. Google represents experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness and uses these quality standards to assess the authority and pertinence of web pages and websites.
Why you should update your old content?
The foundation of any digital marketing plan is content, but if it isn’t updated frequently, it may easily become stale, irrelevant, or wrong. Keeping your content updated increases audience engagement, credibility, and conversions, in addition to helping you rank higher on search engines.
Updates to older content can be one of the finest methods to improve SEO, but content marketers have been playing the “consistently writing and publishing new content” game for so long that they forget this.
This is among the finest methods for increasing your Domain Authority and improving your SERP (Search Engine Result Page) crawling.
Google and other search engines use bots to crawl and index your content.
You can ensure that search engine bots will revisit your content more frequently by updating it regularly as updated information will seem to them as new. Additionally, as more recent content equates to more searchable content, using this tactic will improve your SEO.
This raises the freshness score of the material on your website, which improves SEO and raises your total rating.
You may experience content degradation if you do not update your content resulting in content decay.
What is the meaning of content decay?
A persistent decline in the organic performance of SEO content, such as blog posts, white papers, and webinars, is referred to as content decay. The word “decay” describes how the decrease occurs gradually over time rather than suddenly in terms of clicks and traffic.
That is, over time, you will see a decline in website traffic if you do not refresh your material regularly. That is especially true for search queries like “how to boost SEO” as well as topics that are updated often, like “the best iPhone accessories” and recurring events like Premier League scores.
A page that ranks among the top 10 search results typically dates back more than two years. So instead of creating a whole new article, updating an old piece of content will help it rank higher.
How frequently should your content be optimised?
When it comes to optimising your content, there is no set guideline. Quarterly content audits, however, can be an excellent place to start.
Look for declining trends in traffic based on how much traffic the content brings to your website. Assume, for instance, that a blog has produced marketing-qualified leads and is experiencing a drop in traffic. If so, updating and optimising it is necessary to boost traffic and lead generation.
Here are ten strategies for upgrading older material to improve online marketing SEO now that we understand the rationale, the kinds of content that need to be updated, and how often it should be updated.
Which articles are you going to update, and which are you going to leave alone?
Not every outdated piece of material on your website needs to be updated.
Content that is contemporary and content that is timeless are not the same. Certain items are difficult to repurpose because they are so topical (business news, for example). Conversely, it is a little simpler to refresh evergreen content. The objective of authoring these articles is to rank well on specific search subjects, and they are meant to withstand the test of time.
So, ask yourself the following important questions:
1. Does my material still apply to my product or business?
Businesses frequently start focusing on a different market or depart from their original offering. Older content may become obsolete or irrelevant as a result.
2. Was the purpose of my article writing to boost natural search traffic for a specific keyword?
Articles are occasionally published in response to specific occurrences (keep in mind: relevant content). Updating such articles is pointless because they will not attract more visitors beyond the event.
3. Is there plagiarism on my site?
The practice of duplicating content from other sources without giving due credit or permission to improve one’s search engine ranking is known as SEO plagiarism. Text, photos, videos, and data can all be examples of plagiarised work. This act can seriously affect your rankings and, in extreme cases, can result in your URL being blocked.
4. Has my material previously been successful in attracting visitors?
Examine past statistics to ascertain whether the material genuinely resulted in more traffic from searches. If not, you might want to consider whether it is worthwhile to update the content because it might take a lot of work to make it function.
5. Does the backlink profile of my content allow it to compete with other listings on the first page?
It will take a lot more work to get your content to the second page of Google search results with 83 backlinks than it will to get it to the ninth page without any backlinks.
Look for any gaps in the keywords. It is possible that you selected the incorrect keyword; in that case, you can retarget it for a more targeted term with a high search volume and potential for more visitors
Write new headlines for your articles.
In today’s digital landscape, where Google search is prioritizing user experience over keyword emphasis, the significance of your H1, H2, and H3 header tags cannot be underestimated.entric than keyword-centric, your H1, H2, and H3 header tags are now more important than ever.
To comprehend your headings and determine the most effective way to organise them, consider how users search for specific content and the best way to arrange them and look at how users search for a specific piece of content.
- First tip: Since the H1 tag serves as the page’s title, it is the most important. It is meant to be used just once. This tag must be unique, and it can significantly improve the content’s SEO optimisation if the focus keyword can be organically incorporated into the H1 title.
- Propose your header tags in a way that will make the greatest sense to your target audience. For instance, if your H2 is titled “How to boost SEO marketing,” your H3s ought to be distinct strategies for conducting that idea.
- First tip: Since the H1 tag serves as the page’s title, it is the most important. It is meant to be used just once. This tag must be unique, and it can significantly improve the content’s SEO optimisation if the focus keyword can be organically incorporated into the H1 title.
- Propose your header tags in a way that will make the greatest sense to your target audience. For instance, if your H2 is titled “How to boost SEO marketing,” your H3s ought to be distinct strategies for conducting that idea.
- Provide clear answers to all questions under each header tag. Did you know that Google Search allows you to easily view the information beneath header tags as highlighted snippets? This feature grants a keyword the topmost position in search results, ensuring maximum visibility.n use Google Search to see the content below header tags as highlighted snippets, which is the highest position a keyword can have in search results.
Update meta descriptions
Adding updates to the meta descriptions of your previous content can assist in improving its click-through rate (CTR) when it appears in a Google search result.
Advice: If you are running Google Ads sponsored search campaigns for the same term, you may evaluate which of your ads receives the highest click-through rate (CTR) over, say, a week by using the meta descriptions as the description for your ads. It is a more rapid approach than waiting for results from organic traffic.
Update content headlines
While 20% of people who see the title also read the content, 80% of people read the headline. Because of this, content headlines play a crucial role in upgrading older information.
What therefore constitutes a great headline for content?
• Update the content headline with the current year to make it more pertinent. For instance, “What are the major trends for SEO in 2024?”
Clickbait headlines can be an intriguing experiment to try, but it must be emphasized that they should always deliver the promised content and not deceive readers. As an illustration, consider “Great tips to boost your SEO”.
• Listicles consistently yield excellent content headlines. Take “Top 10 ways to boost SEO in marketing,” for instance.
Look for and correct spelling and grammar mistakes
Have you ever read a blog post and noticed a spelling mistake? Inaccurate spelling and poor language can negatively impact the users experience. Furthermore, since Google is switching from a keyword-centric to a user-centric paradigm, it is detrimental to your SEO. Therefore, remember to run a grammar and spell check and fix any mistakes when you edit your work.
Optimize images for SEO marketing
Making minor adjustments to your photos might have a significant impact on your SEO.
Search engines operate by “crawling” websites, as we previously stated. Images, however, are not crawlable by Google’s bots. Content marketers include image titles and alt captions in their images so that Google may “crawl” them. Here are some pointers for image optimisation for search engines.
- Make sure that your images are not slowing down your website for full optimisation. It is important to note that Google search results are heavily influenced by website speed, so make sure your photos are optimised for quick loading times. Both the file size and browser caching—which can help shorten the time it takes for a picture to load—are crucial.
- Ensure that the filename for your image is correct. Rather than labelling the file IMG0001, give it a name like, woman applying pink lipstick, that will guarantee that Google bots and users grasp the purpose of the image better.
- You can provide additional context for the image by using alt text to describe it. To enhance SEO, keep the alt text brief—no more than a few words—and consider organically including the main term in one of the images.
Increase the accuracy of your content
Things change, and so should your content.
To ensure the utmost relevance for today’s audience, it is highly recommended that you carefully examine the text for any outdated references and substitute them with recent, accurate, and captivating information and engaging information.
Information that is out-of-date or erroneous is useless. The top content calendar of 2023, for instance, is quite different from the one you made in 2021.
To accomplish this, look for fresh and current information on the material you’re upgrading, then incorporate it. To demonstrate that you have updated the article to enhance the user experience, include the most recent revisions in the original article.
Remove or update broken links
Broken links can have a variety of effects on SEO. Site quality: Google aims to suggest current, helpful websites. An excessive number of broken links may indicate that your website is not well-maintained or updated. Errors in the crawl: Google’s “bots,” or site crawlers,” search the internet by clicking on links. After deciding to change a piece of content, you must make sure that none of the internal or external links point to a 404-error page.
You have three choices if you come across any such links.
1. Take down the connection
2. Replace the broken link with an active one.
3. Add an update with a pertinent link that discusses the same use case.
Add internal links, external links, and backlinks
Your article needs links to rank.
When links to your posts and pages come from other websites, Google finds them more easily. In addition to connecting your content, internal links help Google understand the organisation of your website. They enable you to create a hierarchy on your website so that higher-value pages and posts have greater link value than lower-value pages. Thus, you can improve your SEO by using an effective internal linking strategy! This post will go over the value of internal linking, strategies for doing it.
The types that are required for great SEO are-internal links, external links, and backlinks. A picture or document on the same website or domain can be accessed by an internal link, which is a specific kind of hyperlink on a web page. Depending on where they lead, hyperlinks can be classified as “internal” or “external”. Any connection on your website that takes users from one page to another is considered an internal link. Links are used by both search engines and your users to locate material on your website. Links are how users move around your website and locate the material they are looking for. Links are another way that search engines navigate your website. If no links are pointing to a page, they will not see it.
Internal links come in various forms. You can include links inside your content in addition to links on your menu, homepage, post feed, and so on. Contextual links are what we name those.
A backlink is formed when one website points to another. There are other terms for backlinks, such as “links,” “incoming links,” or “inbound links.” Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and user navigation on the internet depend on backlinks. These are slightly harder to obtain.
Improve the quality of your content
Getting the best result for a specific search term is Google’s main objective.
You must publish top-notch content if you want it to yield the finest results. Furthermore, it must be far superior to all previous works on the subject. Arefs refers to it as 10X content.
This implies that you should determine whether your content is the same as everything else on the internet (1X), slightly better (2X), or the best accessible on that subject (10X).
The longer material remains at the top of the search results, the better.
How then do you enhance the quality of your previous content to make it ten times better?
• Quality might include things like a well-designed website, content that is easy to read, and usefulness of the content.
• Uniqueness: Does your updated material provide value to the audience and stand out from anything else on the internet?
• Authority: Are you an authority on the subject or a subject matter expert?
Final Thoughts on How to Boost SEO
Once again, you can ensure that search engine bots will revisit your material more frequently by updating it regularly. Updated information will seem to them as new. Additionally, as more recent content equates to more searchable content, using this tactic will improve your SEO.
But, if you need the experts on board, you are in the right place.
We are One2one Digital, and we are here to help you with your SEO needs. So get in touch now and let’s see what we can do for you.