We all know publishing new content helps websites perform well in search engine rankings, but did you know that republishing old content has its own rewards?
Updating old articles takes less time and fewer resources than creating new ones from scratch and leverages your existing library of content.
“Republishing older content makes your articles more attractive to readers, who are more likely to pick stories with the latest information in their search results,” said Assemblo’s founding director Steve de Niese.
“Google and other search engines also prioritise currency of content, so websites that regularly update their content tend to perform better.”
Additionally, SEO specialist Rand Fishkin, of Moz, noted that republishing remains an underused tactic in SEO and content creation.
Moz also suggests there are a few different ways you can republish your existing content effectively, however employing all of these techniques shouldn’t necessarily be done simultaneously. Choose one activity to implement at a time before moving onto the next one.
Here are some tips for republishing your old content so that it performs well in SEO and search engines:
Create a follow-up article
The first approach is to create a follow-up piece to an existing article, keeping the main points from your original piece but making changes to key words and the article structure.
For example, the first article may be a straight-forward explanation of your topic and its benefits, while the second follow-up article may be a listicle numbering benefits or tips.
Update old posts
Let’s say you have a really informative article that performs well in search engines, but it has been a few years since first publishing it and a few pieces of information within it are no longer relevant.
Updating this article rather than publishing an entirely new article works well here because you get to keep all the existing SEO mileage while making it look fresher and more relevant for readers.
Keep in mind, you will have to manually update the publish date in your content management system (CMS) when republishing the article.
Redirect old content to new content
If you want to totally overhaul an old piece of content, you can always create a new post and redirect the old URL to a new one.
You can use a 301 redirect to forward visitors who click on the old URL directly to the new article while passing all the link equity or ‘link juice’ through to the new article.
The redirect will transfer all the ranking signals, links, and traffic to the new article, so just remember to keep the old article accessible.
Need help with your content?
Republishing content is a smart way to take advantage of existing articles and improve your SEO, however be mindful to choose the right technique.
If you need help republishing your content or want some advice on your content marketing strategy, the team at Assemblo have the skills and expertise to help.
Assemblo is a full-service marketing agency based in Melbourne, with digital marketing and content marketing experts who are experienced in republishing content effectively.
To find out more, give us a call on (03) 9079 2555 or drop us a note via the contact form below.