When you think of SEO, you may have a few techniques that come to mind. Especially if you are working hard on marketing your business online. These may include keyword optimisation, link building and improving website structure. We often get asked “Do I Need to Update My Website Content Regularly?” In this post we will explain why you should update your website content for SEO.
Why Updating Content Matters
Content Freshness
Search engines favour fresh and relevant content. When you update the content on your website, that signals to these search engines that they should recrawl the updated content as well as seeing the site is up-to-date. This can positively impact you rankings; whereas outdated content may lead search engines to perceive your content as less relevant to user queries.
Improved User Experience
Leaving outdated content on a website can lead to a loss of engagement, because when a user enters a website, they would be more likely to engage with recent and therefore more valuable information. By offering new or updated content, you not only attract new visitors but also encourage repeat visits, leading to further loyalty to your brand.
Semrush carried out a poll, to see how websites have been affected after updating their content and the results show that it is definitely worthwhile. It shows us that 53% of bloggers saw their engagement go up and 49% saw their traffic increase! Some great results here.
Impact on Search Engine Rankings
Higher Visibility
Fresh content attracts search engine crawlers which increases the likelihood of other pages to be indexed quicker. In turn, it can improve your website’s visibility in search results, meaning users will find all your content faster.
Increased Traffic
Updating your website content with the latest and most relevant keywords will also attract more organic traffic. Search engines will recognise your site as a relevant source of up-to-date information. Not only does this mean that your updated content will be ranked higher but all website content will receive a boost in rankings.
If you do a search for anything, you will notice that most of the top results will be recently updated posts. For example here is a search we did for “Best SEO Techniques” and you will see that none of these results are outdated. This post was written in May 2024.
Search Engine Competition
To stay relevant on the internet you need to be attracting the attention of users by making fresh and factual content. Don’t forget, many of your competitors are also doing this, so you need to make sure you do the same to stay at the top of search engines. Some competitors will neglect to keep their content up to date so you should always be above them if you keep on track.
Building Authority and Credibility
You will always want to establish you authority and credibility in your industry or niche. By providing timely and insightful information, you position yourself as a trusted resource; thus earning the trust and loyalty of your audience.
Optimising for Keywords and Long-Tail Queries
Over time a lot of the keywords you have used will start to fade out of the market so being able to go back and adjust the content for fresh and relevant keywords is essential. By making these changes you will be bringing in more organic traffic, so search engines will see your content as fresh and relevant to the specific search queries.
SEO Issues
Regularly updating content also enables you to address technical SEO issues that may arise over time, such as fixing broken links, updating meta tags, and ensuring mobile-friendliness. These technical optimisations not only improve user experience but also signal to search engines that your website is well-maintained and deserving of higher rankings.
The Challenges of Updating Website Content
While updating content is crucial for SEO success, it can bring in some new challenges that you will need to understand and deal with. Common challenges include content overload, where quantity compromises quality and this can cause you to actually lose engagement in a post after updating it! However, by implementing specific strategies and being careful, you can overcome these challenges and reap the new found benefits of fresh content.
Strategies for Updating Your Content
To ensure you are making the most of your content updates, consider the following strategies:
- Perform regular content audits to identify outdated or underperforming content/pages.
- Set a schedule for you or your team to update content based on industry trends.
- Focus on quality over quantity and ensure each update adds value to the old content.
Do I Need to Update My Website Content Regularly?
At Sokada, our marketing team work with many clients, increasing the quality of their web pages, writing new landing pages, blog posts and case studies. If you are struggling with your content, then please get in touch!
In conclusion, if you want to know do I need to update my website content regularly? Then the answer is a big fat yes! Staying ahead of the competition is the most important aspect of keeping everything relevant for your business. By keeping your website content fresh and valuable, you will be drastically improving your search engine rankings and you will be bringing in more organic traffic.