What are the benefits of revisiting and updating old blogs?

• The first reason you should be updating old blogs
• More than links can get broken—check them too
• “Out of sight, out of mind” is a dangerous strategy
• I dunno about you, but some of my first blogs were in need of some serious work
• Updating old blogs can help you boost your SEO and rankings
• Should you edit your current blog, publish a new post or use the “Rewrite and Republish” feature?
• Updating old blogs is a fantastic opportunity to review your SEO strategy
• Work smarter, not harder
• Updating old blogs provides various benefits—do it today

You may feel that once you’ve written a blog, posted it, and shared it—that’s it. All you can do is sit back and see if it takes off or fades into oblivion. That’s one option. But it would be such a shame. There’s so much more you can do with previous blogs. Updating old blogs is one of the most effective ways to boost your website’s performance. Bloggers often overlook it.

The first reason you should be updating old blogs

The first reason is just general upkeep and housekeeping. When revisiting your old blogs, one of the first things you should do is look for anything “broken.” That begins with checking that all links still work—both internal and external. This is also an opportunity to create redirects for any internal broken links. While you can’t create redirects for external links, you can either remove broken links or find new ones.

You’ll need a plugin that allows for redirects—I use Redirection. Creating redirects for content that’s moved on your site offers a better user experience. You’ll also get another boost—more about that later.

Here’s another thing you can do when reviewing links on your site. Ensure that all internal links open in the same tab while external links open in a new tab. That ensures your site stays open, increasing the likelihood that readers will return to it. If external links open in the same tab, readers may go down a rabbit hole of clicking links. They may never return to your site.

Finally, ensure that you mark any affiliate links as such. Also, be sure to mark them as a “no follow” link in your editor.

More than links can get broken—check them too

After you fix all the broken links, look for formatting errors. When you started your blog, you were likely just getting used to your website editor. But after posting several blogs, you’ve learned how to use various options. Utilize formatting that helps things stand out, like bulleted lists, quotes, and columns. 

While you’re at it, ensure that your formatting looks good on both desktop and mobile views. A table may look great on a desktop, but on mobile it may be cut off or appear too small. It may be more common for people to write blogs on their computers. But it’s not uncommon for about 50% of views to be via mobile devices.

These changes don’t just improve the viewer’s experience. They can also help boost your SEO (search engine optimization). Something I wouldn’t have realized unless I was in the habit of updating old blogs.

“Out of sight, out of mind” is a dangerous strategy

Do you know one of the pitfalls of posting a blog and forgetting about it? You risk not realizing when something breaks. I write a new blog each month, but I revise my old blogs during the other three weeks. Through this process, I recently uncovered a significant issue with several posts. If not for my reviews, I would’ve been oblivious to these issues.

All my posts looked great when I originally published them. All the special blocks I used functioned as expected, but that doesn’t mean that will always be the case.

I occasionally embed Instagram posts in my blogs. When I originally posted those blogs, the embedded posts showed up in the blog without any issues. But while reviewing a blog recently, I noticed a broken block. Instead of displaying the post as expected, there was a message to “View this post on Instagram.” That’s not what I intended. When initially published, it worked. But no longer.

I’m unsure if it’s a change in Instagram’s permissions or WordPress functionality. But for whatever reason, I needed to update it. I decided to fix the problem by using the image from my Instagram post. I included part of the Instagram post in the image caption and linked both the image and the caption to the post. 

Not as good as what I’d initially done, but much better than an ugly box telling readers to “View this post on Instagram.” I wouldn’t have discovered this issue if I hadn’t been reviewing and updating old blog posts. The downside? I need to review all my other posts to update any embedded Instagram posts. 😉

I dunno about you, but some of my first blogs were in need of some serious work

While I worked hard on my first blog posts, I was just getting started. I didn’t know nearly as much as I know now about how to use WordPress. I didn’t know why readability scores mattered or what SEO keywords were.

After fixing anything that’s obviously broken, I look at what Yoast SEO is telling me about my blog. I ensure I have a good keyword phrase and that my SEO score is “green.” If not, I look at the suggestions provided by Yoast. I make edits until the traffic light turns green.

I also review my readability score. I’ve always used the Hemingway app (affiliate link) to help keep my writing clear and simple. But the Yoast readability score checks for a few other things. I ensure that sections separated by headings are each less than 300 words. I shoot to minimize the number of passive sentences. Also, I try to ensure I have enough transition words. Many of my first blogs didn’t pass the Yoast SEO readability test, but after some simple edits, they all do now.

Again, no guarantee that green lights across the board will ensure your blog is a hit. But it’s a great place to start.

Updating old blogs can help you boost your SEO and rankings

In addition to boosting your SEO with a tool like Yoast SEO, revising old content can help your SEO in other ways. When Google recrawls your site, it likes to see fresh, accurate, up-to-date content. Revising older blogs with updated statistics, fresh links, and alt text in images can improve their visibility. You’re signalling to Google that your content is still relevant.

Remember when I mentioned fixing broken links? In addition to providing a better user experience, you’ll get an SEO boost with fewer 404 errors. Google states that it doesn’t penalize 404 errors. But higher bounce rates can still negatively impact SEO. Fewer 404 errors also indicate to Google that your site is regularly maintained. This boosts your site’s authority and SEO scores. 

Better SEO scores can lead to better search rankings and more organic traffic.

Should you edit your current blog, publish a new post or use the “Rewrite and Republish” feature?

If you’re just fixing a few typos and updating a few links, you can likely go in and edit the current post. Once you’ve previewed the changes, clicking “Save” will update your live article. But if you want to make more substantial changes over several days, “Rewrite and Republish” lets you save your changes. But nothing goes live until you click “Republish.” Republishing your posts maintains the original URL, publish date, and SEO continuity. You reduce the risk of duplicate content or ranking resets. 

But if you want to update your “Top Songs of 2024” post for 2025, you’re better off just creating a new post. You may opt to duplicate the post to keep the structure so you only have to update the content, URL, and metadata. But you want to keep the original blog content and not update it. You can add a link from the old blog to the new one with something like, “Check out the 2025 list here.” I’ll explain why that’s important shortly.

If you make substantial updates, it’s best practice to add a note near the top of the post. Clearly indicate that “This blog was updated on XX/XX/XXXX.” But for minor fixes, such as updating formatting and broken links, “Rewrite and Republish” is acceptable.

Updating old blogs is a fantastic opportunity to review your SEO strategy

If you haven’t already, as you review old content, set up a keyword tracking sheet. This will help you keep all your SEO keywords in one place. This makes it easy to see which keywords you’ve covered and to identify holes in your keyword strategy. You can also review which blogs are performing well. Now you can create more content related to those keywords. Search for “SEO keyword tracker spreadsheet template.” You’ll get lots of hits—choose one that makes sense to you.

While reviewing your content, you can also address another issue—orphaned pages. These are pages that aren’t linked to. That means, aside from organic search, there’s nothing else directing traffic to that blog or page. But without any links to the page, it’s not likely to rank very high.

Older blogs are more likely to have links to them from newer ones. But once you’re aware of this issue, you can look for opportunities to link to new blogs from old blogs. That will help drive traffic to your latest content. That’s why linking from your “Top Songs of 2024” post to the updated 2025 one is a good idea.

I didn’t use to do it, but now I track which blogs are orphaned and then identify opportunities to link to them. As mentioned, this is especially important for new posts. It’s easy to identify orphaned pages in WordPress. Ensure “Received internal links” is checked under Screen Options. Next, review the column and identify any posts marked with a “0.” Then, look for opportunities in other blogs to link to that content.

Work smarter, not harder

The final benefit is that once you’re done updating old blogs, you can reuse them. Once they’re updated and republished, you can share them again. You’re very familiar with your content. But your followers are likely less familiar with it. You probably have followers now who weren’t aware of your existence when you started out. They may really appreciate you sharing an old blog post they weren’t aware of.

I’m not suggesting you spam your followers with old blogs daily. But there’s nothing wrong with resharing old content. This is particularly true if a significant amount of time has passed. There’s no reason you should limit your content to one opportunity for success. Clean it up, tweak it, and share it again. It takes a lot less effort than writing a new blog from scratch. This still holds true when you make significant updates to an old blog. That includes updating stats, links, and examples. It helps you stay relevant and builds trust with your audience. It can reignite interest and drive new traffic from your existing audience.

Updating old blogs provides various benefits—do it today

Besides improving user experience and SEO scores, updating old blogs ensures accuracy and builds trust. Facts, prices, trends, and links can change fast. Outdated or broken information erodes reader trust. Refreshing your content helps ensure it stays factually correct and credible. This reinforces your reputation as a reliable source. It shows your readers you’re invested in your blog.

Improving old content increases engagement. Updated posts often perform better with readers. They spend more time reading, share more often, and are more likely to click links. For example, you could rewrite an old “How to” post with clearer instructions or better visuals. This can dramatically improve user engagement.

Whatever the reason, you should definitely be updating old blogs. It takes less effort than writing a blog from scratch. Often, just a few minor tweaks are all it takes to turn your blog from zero to hero. Take some time to revise your older blogs. Look for opportunities to reuse existing content. You’ll be glad you did.

What’s your favourite tip for updating old blogs and reusing old content? Drop me a comment below. 👇

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