13 Steps to a Content Refresh That Boosts SEO

When viewed together, such statistics lead to an obvious conclusion – a content refresh can be the perfect solution for many marketers, helping them drive SEO and improve engagement. Hence, here’s everything you need to know about a content refresh.

What Is a Content Refresh?

To put it simply, a content refresh is a thorough analysis and subsequent edit of all your content, including the content on your website, blog, etc. Essentially, it is a way for you to update old content, but it can also help you repurpose old content into new content more effectively.

Why Do You Need It?

As you can already see, a content refresh has many benefits to it. Even if you can’t perform it yourself, you can always hire professional writers who can help you. Whether you decide to do it yourself or with someone’s help, you need to take into account all the benefits it will give you:

Keep the Brand Relevant

People will continue finding your old content and getting introduced to your brand that way. But if your old content is very outdated, potential customers may get the wrong impression about your competence as an expert in the field. With the help of a content refresh, you can update your old content and keep your brand relevant.

Update the Content with New Findings

Likewise, the fact that you will be updating old content with new findings will already be beneficial to you in and of itself. Your old content includes valuable resources that you can link to in your new content. This is why you need to keep your old articles as up to date.

Save Time on Content Creation

Creating new content while maintaining a high degree of quality is quite difficult and can take a lot of time. However, while performing a content refresh, you can streamline your process of repurposing old content into new content. This can save you time on content creation because you will already have some parts ready.

Keep Up with New SEO Practices

A content refresh can also help you keep up with new SEO practices. You will be implementing these practices in new content, but because you will want old content to perform well too, you will need to update old content with these new SEO practices.

How Can You Implement It?

Now that you know why a content refresh is so powerful, it’s worth discussing the best practices for its implementation:

Select Content for a Refresh

First, you should select content for a refresh. Perform a very thorough analysis of all the content you have published online. Set priorities for the kind of content you want to update (e.g., outdated articles, poorly designed infographics). Select all the content you want to work with and get ready for the next stage.

Correct Factual Errors

When you start working with the content you selected, you will first need to correct factual errors if there are any. This is particularly important for the content that has become factually outdated because of new findings about the topic that the content covers.

Update with New Findings

Once you have corrected the factual errors, you can update the content with new findings. These can be quotes from experts, research results, and important events related to the topic.

Look for a New Angle

If you want to use some of your old content for repurposing and create new content with its help, it’s a good idea to look for a new angle. How can you cover the same topic in an original way? Think about this and create new content. You can also use old content as a foundation for new content (e.g., an old article can be repurposed into an infographic).

Add New Parts

One more way to refresh old content is by adding new parts to it. For example, you can add more entries to listicles. You can also add new findings as a separate section.

Link to Relevant Content and Sources

It is very important to include links to your content. These can be internal and external as long as they are relevant. Make sure to link all the sources you used for the new findings you added. You can also link to your other content related to the topic because it is considered a valuable resource for your audience.

Proofread and Edit

Don’t forget to proofread and edit the content you refreshed. Check the text for factual errors first, and then check it for linguistic errors. You can use a proofreading tool that finds grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. It is also a good idea to use a readability tool to improve your content.

Schedule the Publishing Times

If you are simply updating old content, you can do so anytime. However, if you will be publishing updated or repurposed content anew, you will need to schedule the publishing times in a smart way. Think about the times when your audience is the most active online.

Publish and Track

Last but not least, publish your refreshed content and track its performance. See what works and what doesn’t. When you perform a content refresh in the future, use your experience to do it even better than this time.

Final Thoughts

To summarize, performing a content refresh can be the perfect solution for many marketers who are struggling with content marketing. Use the tips in this article to help you perform a content refresh yourself and improve your content strategy.

Frank Hamilton is an editor at essay review service Writing Judge