The following article will show you a new strategy of “updating old blog posts”, which can increase search engine natural traffic by 260.7% in a short period of time. This strategy has also led to a large number of visitors from Twitter, Facebook and blogs.
I totally have to try this.
The HubSpot blog published an article called “the blog Strategy that nobody talks about: optimizing Old content.”
In that article, HubSpot revealed that they had updated and republished the old blog post.
This approach increases the natural traffic of HubSpot by 106%.
So can we also copy this strategy, try it, whether it is right or not.
The result of “content rerelease”
For example, in the following case, the content was revised and released through this article:
Two weeks later, natural search engine traffic on the page soared by 260.7%.
It also gets a lot of traffic from social media and blogs:
Because “old article update” makes my content appear in front of a lot of people.
… This page has accumulated a large number of new backlinks.
Needless to say, these fresh backlinks improve the ranking of the site.
In fact, the ranking of the target keyword (“white hat SEO”) jumped from 7th to 4th:
Now that you have seen the results, it is time for me to guide you through the process I used step by step.
The process of getting higher rankings and more traffic through “old article updates”
There are three steps to republishing content:
Step 1: identify underperforming content
Step 2: improve and update the content
Step 3: republish your article
That’s why this strategy is so effective:
First of all, new readers will see your old content.
Chances are, more than 90% of the people who might benefit from your content have never seen it.
However, when you republish content, you create another opportunity for people to benefit from your content.
Second, you make your content better.
I bet there are at least a few outdated or mediocre articles on your website.
Republishing the content gives you the opportunity to update and improve the content.
Better content = more traffic.
Third, your content has built-in social proof.
When you repost a blog post, you have social proof on the first day.
For example, my article has received a lot of comments, and Facebook likes the day I repost it:
With this, let’s take a closer look at the step-by-step process.
Step 1: identify underperforming content on your site
Your first step is to find the content you want to republish.
That’s what it is:
1. Ranked # 7 Mustang 15 pages
You probably already know that the top three Google received the largest share of traffic (source).
(in fact, , Google’s top 5 position got 67.5% of all clicks.)
That’s why you want to push the page ranked # 7 Mustang 15 into the top 5.
But first, you need to find these pages.
To do this, go to the Google search console and click “Search Analytics”.
Then, click “number of presentations” and “location”:
Finally, skim through the results. Pay attention to those pages that make a lot of impression. But the ranking is between # 7 and 15.
These pages can be significantly improved from the content restart.
two。 Pages with natural decline in traffic
If you see a decline in the natural traffic on the page.
… Content restart can get it back on track.
3. Underperforming content
We’ve all been there…
You will devote yourself to the content with all your heart.
But when you start it?
Crickets.
Sometimes it’s just bad luck (or timing).
In fact, the following article was first published in 2014:
The effect is really good. But much lower than expected.
When this article was republished using content reprocessing, traffic to the page soared:
4. The content is very good. But it might be better.
The White Hat SEO case study is OK.
…… But there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Later I will explain in detail how I can improve my article.
However, in order to let you know why my article is missing, please take a look at the screenshot in the article:
Yes, Twitter hasn’t done this for a long time.
Step 2: double your content (and update more)
Now that you have found a piece of content for republishing, it’s time to improve it.
This is how to (at least) quadruple the content:
1. Update pictures and screenshots
As I mentioned earlier, my article has some very old screenshots:
These old images will make visitors feel that the article is out of date.
Therefore, we should replace the old screenshot with the new one:
Simple… But it works.
two。 Improved the structure of the article.
There is an unnecessary section at the top of the old article, called “wait a minute.” What is skyscraper technology? ” .
This part is an unnecessary backstory. So I decided to give up this part and skip directly to the result:
3. A new case study has been added
This is a big one.
I realized that my content was reliable, but it had a huge loophole:
This case study features people who run SEO blogs.
This led to comments like this:
I have witnessed the application of skyscraper technology in dozens of different industries.
But I need to prove it.
So I added a new case study of people from boring niches (workplace health).
4. Solve common reader problems
Whenever you publish an article about SEO, you will inevitably get “what is the return on investment?” problem.
This is a good question.
So I added a section to the article that outlines the return on investment of Emil:
5. Tell more stories.
The original article is almost zero storytelling.
It doesn’t matter to list the articles.
… But it’s not a case study.
After all, the story is the most compelling part of any case study.
So I added a background story to explain why Emil needs to get more traffic.
Well, this story may not make you turn off Game of Thrones.
But still: any story is better than none.
6. Add supplementary content
The original article is comprehensive.
Realize that the comprehensiveness is not comprehensive enough.
That’s why I added step 0.
… And some professional tips:
In this way, the article becomes an one-stop resource for people who want to perform white hat SEO activities.
Step 3: it’s time to republish!
Now that the revised article is twice as good as the old content, it’s time to share it with everyone.
This is exactly what I do for publicity:
1. First of all, I let the blogger know that I have a new case study.
If you are reading this article, you already know that you need to promote your content.
What’s the best way?
Targeted email outreach.
For this article, I am looking for people who are interested in skyscraper technology.
How? I Googled “skyscraper technology”.
(clever, isn’t it, ?)
When I found out that someone had written an article about skyscraper technology.
… I sent them a friendly email:
Because my emails are ridiculously targeted, most people are happy to share my articles:
two。 Second, change the release date in WordPress.
This is very important.
When you change the “publish” date of an article, your article appears at the top of your blog feed.
To change the date, simply go to the article and click the Edit link below the article date:
Then change the date to today.
… Then click Update.
Like magic, your article will appear at the top of your blog feed:
3. Next, share this article on Twitter or other social media.
Here is:
As you can see, there is nothing special.
That is, you may have noticed that the article highlights new case studies.
The article also recommends that you do the same thing for content restart.
In other words:
When you promote a republished article, please put the new features of your content in the first and central position.
Did you add an infographic? Emphasize this point.
Did you write a new part? Emphasize this point.
Did you shoot a video tutorial? Emphasize this point.
When you emphasize new content, you will attract new and old readers to view your article.
4. Finally, I email the subscription mailing list.
It’s huge.
If you want more people to read your content, you need to start building your e-mail list.
Then let your subscribers know about your new stuff.
An example:
The above tweet received a total of 111 hits:
What about the email subscription list? Seven thousand.
(to be fair, email subscribers are twice as likely as Twitter followers. But you understand).
When all is said, the natural traffic of the page increases by 260%, thanks to the content restart:
By now, you may understand why this has quickly become one of my favorite search engine optimization techniques.
Write at the end
Since the above cases are real and effective, why can’t we follow suit? Fried cold rice is an extremely effective white hat SEO technique.
