Increase Traffic to Your Website by Updating Old Blog Posts.

As a blogger or apart of your business blog you may be wanting to increase traffic to your website. There may be several ways to do this, but one great tip is to update old blog posts. Creating new content is important but also checking, proofreading, editing, and updating old blog posts can help drive more traffic to your site.

What blog posts should you update?

A great way to see what blog posts you should update first is with Google Analytics. If you do not already have Google Analytics set up here are the steps to do so. In Google Analytics you can select Behavior, Site Content, All Pages, and see the blog posts that have had the most views in the past. Select a list of the posts you would like to update.

Add new Pinterest images to most popular past posts

Having new content on Pinterest is a great way to drive traffic to your website. This does not necessarily mean writing new blog posts and sharing on Pinterest, this can also mean simply creating new optimized pin images for old posts. The ideal Pin image includes color, photos, text overlay and a great eye-catching design. Here are some great statistics and tips:

Images with medium lightness are repined 20 times more than dark, dramatic images. Images that have a lot of contrast stand out. Keep your fonts clean, large, and readable.

Add keywords

Research keywords that correspond with your blog post and will likely convert to search engine hits. This can also be long tail keywords, which are truly phrases that may be searched less often but have a higher conversion rate when they are searched. This can be three to four words such as ‘best protein powder’ or ‘writing business plan.’

Add related posts

Link related posts within your blog post. This can and should be both internal links and external links. Find blog posts of your own that are relevant and posts of others. This can be within the post as you speak about certain topics or at the bottom just as reference and more information for the reader.

Rework old titles to be more SEO-friendly

Analyze keywords of the article and use the main target keyword within the title of the blog post. Utilizing power words in your titles can make titles more interesting and clickable.

Update and reuse

Use the same posts and keep the URL the same. Add an editor’s not for transparency. Make note of changes and last updated. Update content for accuracy. You may find months later that there is new research about a specific topic. Remove information that is no longer relevant.

Lengthen posts

Most blogging experts recommend blog posts be 300-600 words. 750 words is standard for professional journalists. It is recommended for newspaper and magazine articles. 1000-2000+ words is key to successful SEO ranking. If you’re seeking to write posts that will have wonderful SEO it will be good to write longer posts, however do not include unnecessary filler.

Increase blog traffic by deleting spam comments

Go through any blog posts and delete spam comments that distract from your credibility.

Proofread for mistakes and dead links

Improve the writing of the old blog posts. This can be improving grammar, sentence structure, and readability. Also make sure to go through any links and verify they still work.

Share refreshed and reused blog post on all social media including Pinterest to help guide traffic.

Sarah