We all know that blogging is important. We should be consistently posting. Blogging is an essential piece of successful digital marketing strategies. But, why is blogging important?
You have a 434% higher chance of being ranked highly on search engines if you feature a blog as part of your website (Tech Client).
Businesses using blogs as part of their content marketing mix get 67% more leads than those who don’t (Hubspot).
It’s 2018. If you aren’t blogging now, this should convince you to get started. But, most pet sitters are so focused on creating and publishing new posts, that they forget about old blogs posted months and years ago. Many old blog posts contain relevant and useful information, but some content also becomes outdated. For best search engine optimization (SEO) results, review old blogs regularly to ensure they remain high quality and valid. It is time to make those old blog posts new again!
High-Quality Content is King
Create and maintain high-quality content on your website that is relevant to your target audience. Build trust with Google and potential clients by focusing on answering your target audiences questions and concerns. Just writing a blog is not enough. It needs to be amplified and shared through multiple different channels like Facebook, Instagram, Email Marketing, Social Ads, Newsletters etc.. Continue to share your blog weeks and months in the future with your community. High-quality paired with a successful marketing plan is a recipe for success! Add a task for a few months down the road to review your old blog post to ensure the information remains correct and up-to-date. When you make updates, share again!
How to make your old posts new again?
Update or remove any information that is no longer relevant or accurate. Add any new information that has become relevant since the initial post date. Rework old blog titles if the blog isn’t performing well in the search engines. If the post is a few years old, you may need to do some re-formatting. Add subheadings to break-up paragraphs by using keywords to enhance your blog for readability and indexing. Check links to make sure that is still relevant and not broken. Link old blogs to any new blogs that are related and link new blogs to the old blog. If your blog article is short, add more content and make the post more information-rich because Google does not like thin content. Don’t forget to proof-read the old blog for any mistakes that were missed originally!
Check with Google
Google is your friend and offers users many free tools. Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to analyze blog posts. Learn which posts are performing well and which are not. Google will tell you which keywords are producing clicks to each page/post. Use this data! Review and re-write any meta descriptions and title tags of poorly performing blog posts. Naturally, add any related keywords that may help enhance the content of the post.
Improve your “Almost” Posts
What the heck is an “almost” post? These are the posts that are almost on page one in Google. These have the potential to reach page one with a little bit of TLC. Use Google Search Console to find your “almost” posts. (Acquisition » Search Console » Queries report) Set an advanced filter to show only those keyword phrases that, on average rank higher than 10, or page two. Improve the quality of content on these blog posts by adding more details, stats, quotes, examples and more in-depth explanations to questions. Make it awesome, so it becomes page one worthy! If your blog is already ranking well, don’t make any huge changes that may affect the current position.
Spice it up!
Switch up the photos. Find new images to replace any old photos that look out-dated or overused. If you notice your photos are low-quality, swap them out for high-resolution. Re-write and optimize titles and alt text for all images. If your blog includes stats, graphs, or charts, do your research to make sure you have the most recent information. Want to take your blog to the next level? Add a video!
High-quality content is so important for SEO. Review your blog posts regularly, about a few times per year. It is now up to you to take action and put these SEO tips into action. SEO is not a one-and-done. SEO is like a car; it requires ongoing care and maintenance. Your car won’t last very long if you don’t keep it gassed up with regular oil changes. Your website and blogs won’t make it far in the search engine without ongoing love and care either! Make old blogs new again to get the most out of your website!
Erika Godwin is the President of Barketing Solutions and the Co-Founder and CMO of ProPet Software, an industry-leading kennel management software. Erika has over 8 years of experience with WordPress and graduated from Elmira College in 2009 with a BS, Business Administration- Marketing and Management.