Creating New Content vs. Optimizing Old Websites: Which Is Better for SEO?

should your seo efforts cognizance extra on growing new content material or updating present content?

in my opinion, you need to spend approximately half of of your search engine optimization efforts updating vintage content and the alternative half developing new content material.

right here’s why.

web sites create cost through the years

The content on your internet site can live relevant for years to come.

Pages which have been posted for a while have supposedly generated hyperlinks and visibility. This creates plenty of page price.

this means that these pages can still appear in seek results for the queries your target market makes use of these days.

Up-to-dateness is commonly much less important for evaluating page quality. “Stale” pages can have high page great ratings.”

Google’s suggestions for evaluating search nice

What does that imply?

Older content material can also nevertheless be applicable and taken into consideration excessive satisfactory.

suppose: American Civil war facts website.

however, different styles of legacy content can simplest remain applicable if the fabric is considered “evergreen” and up to date.

over the years, any internet site can have masses or hundreds of outdated web pages.

Google might not believe a website wherein -thirds of the pages are, say, three years vintage or older and incorporate old information. Specially if those subjects are refreshed via your competition.

you can speedy check your older content material and notice for your self. Whilst you published your site years ago, did it rank on the first page of search results? And is it on page 2 or lower now?

commonly, refreshing the content material can return to web page 1.

lately i’ve been asked about the price of a internet site – especially how to expose value as an asset. Ordinary things get inexpensive over the years and that i believe that’s what takes place to web sites. If they are now not maintained, they eventually rot and emerge as useless. However, well-maintained ones continue to be a bonus.

If a website is designed and researched, mentioned and written, edited and optimized – and collaborative objects which include photos and movies are added – it is able to take 8 hours for satisfactory work. This time comes at a great fee.

you could ignore it and essentially write it off, or you may maintain it sparkling. We choose the latter to great strategy and techniques.

What Google sayes

Google says you have to spend time preserving your website to make sure first-class:

… unmaintained/abandoned “vintage” websites or unmaintained and erroneous/deceptive content material are the purpose for an extremely low web page high-quality rating.

Google’s search high-quality assessment guidelines

Findings:

• An vintage or unmaintained website can be taken into consideration low pleasant. This is particularly real for “your cash or your life” websites – those which could affect someone’s fitness, finances, etc.
• A internet site that includes inaccurate facts is low fine, duration. Relying in your topic, you can want to update your web pages often just to preserve your statistics up to date.

inside the 2019 office Hours consultation, Google’s John Mueller pointed out evergreen and sparkling content:

” … we are attempting to find a balance among showing evergreen content this is been round and seeing extra reference content and more energizing content material, in particular when we will inform humans are seeking out fresher content.”

you could concentrate to that solution right here:

Mueller is in all likelihood referring to the concept of “a query merits freshness”—the kind of search query whose outcomes should replicate new content material. You can read greater about it in a 2011 Google weblog submit right here.

In every other legit hours video from 2021, Mueller addressed a way to deal with old content:

” … if there’s some thing that you think is good content material that you want to position out with your website, together with your name on it, then i’d preserve it. Just as it’s vintage does not imply it is horrific. However if you have a look at it and say, oh, i am embarrassed now, I do not want it on-line. It is that terrible. Then i might say we improve it or take away it.”

you could concentrate to that solution right here:

What to do? Content revision

similarly to creating new internet pages to your seo application, an internet content audit might be key to prioritizing how you refresh vintage pages.

A content audit identifies weak and ineffective content material in your site so that you can improve it.

the usage of Google Analytics and tools like Screaming Frog, Semrush or our SEOToolSet, you can get all the statistics you need to recognize the pages in your site.

as soon as you’ve got accrued the necessary information, you will divide your internet pages into three classes. Those who:

1. Get the maximum rankings and visitors (eg the ones on web page 1 of seek consequences).
2. they have the ability for higher scores and site visitors (eg those on web page 2 of seek effects).
3. They work poorly and are not in any of these classes.

Then you could:

• recognition on strengthening the content material within the first two classes.
• determine out what to do with the leftover, underperforming content. A few web sites may additionally need content material refresh, others might also need optimization. Some content material may additionally just need a 301 redirect to a greater cutting-edge URL on the equal topic.

expand and maintain your content material

The splendor of seo is that your internet pages create fee through the years via visibility and hyperlinks. That manner, all of the difficult paintings you placed into them can keep to pay off in site visitors and with any luck revenue.

however, you want to hold your internet site for the duration of its lifestyles cycle.

to enhance your seo application, make certain you spend 50% of your content-targeted time growing new web pages and 50% of a while fresh vintage ones.

As a final nudge… Your website online may additionally already have hundreds or even thousands of out-of-date pages and dealing with this will be a massive mission.

build refreshes into a everyday schedule, similar to you do when developing new content.

Get into a rhythm of identifying current pages connected to every new page and updating or merging them as part of your content material introduction process.

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The opinions expressed in this text are the ones of the guest creator and now not necessarily those of seek Engine Land. Group of workers authors are mentioned here.

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