SEO Maintenance: How to re-optimize your old content?
<div style=”transition: none 0s ease 0s; display: block;” data-rss-type=”text”> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n To keep your blog growing, you add more and more content doing your best to market everything you write. It’s a long and challenging process and it’s well worth going through.n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <br/> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n But while doing that, you may be missing a low-hanging fruit, something that may boost your blog traffic considerably over time, that is go back and optimize your old content.n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <br/> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Here are 5 tools to do that, without any help or expensive audits.n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <br/> n </span> n </p> n <h2 style=”line-height: 1.2;”> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n Re-optimize for easier keywordsn n </span> n </h2> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <br/> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n It all starts with keywords. Often when I see good content struggling to generate some consistent traffic and go back and re-optimize it for easier keywords. It never changes the meaning of the content: All I do is find out how others put it when searching for questions and answers to my articles.n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <br/> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n The easiest tools to do that are Serpstat and Ahrefs. You don’t have to be an SEO to use it, nor do you need to register an account. The free open version is enough to feel comfortable and decide whether you need to use it more. For keyword research, I use two sections of the site:n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <br/> n </span> n </p> n <ul> n <li> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n Content marketing -> Search questions (To find out which questions users type in Google’s search box when researching my topic)n n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n SEO research -> Keyword researchn n </span> n </li> n </ul> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <br/> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n This could also give you some great content ideas for the future too!n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <br/> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n In Ahrefs my favorite section is Content Gap showing you some keywords your competitors are ranking but you are not:n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <br/> n </span> n </p> n</div> n<div> n <img src=”https://irp.cdn-website.com/d4f2c851/dms3rep/multi/ahrefs-content-gap-9bdef9db.webp” alt=”Ahrefs Content Gap”/> n</div> n<div style=”transition: opacity 1s ease-in-out 0s;” data-rss-type=”text”> n <p> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n The tool has many more features you’d want to look into if you decide to give it a try. You can find which keywords are missing from your site, compare yourself to competitors, monitor your rankings and more.n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <h2> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets: Stand Out in Searchn n </span> n </h2> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Do you know what a rich snippet is? It’s a chance to stand out in search and thus get a higher click-through even when your content is not as high as #1-#3. For content-based projects, the most important rich snippet one can get is Ratings and Reviews as well as FAQ schema. Here’s what the latter looks like in search:n n </span> n </p> n</div> n<div> n <img src=”https://irp.cdn-website.com/d4f2c851/dms3rep/multi/rich-schema-markup.webp” alt=”FAQ Rich Schema Markup”/> n</div> n<div style=”transition: opacity 1s ease-in-out 0s;” data-rss-type=”text”> n <p> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n [FAQ Schema adds a quick Q&A right inside your search snippets making it much more noticeable and hence much more clickable]n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets is an easy to use WordPress plugin. Whenever you write a tool or a product review, just select the “Review” schema and provide the review author and the average score you give. You can go back and edit your older reviews too!n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Yoast plugin supports a lot of schema types as well!n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Don’t forget to use then n </span> n </span> n <a href=”https://validator.schema.org/” target=”_blank” style=”display: initial;”> n n Schema Markup Validatorn n </a> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n to make sure Google is able to see your code.n n </span> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <h2> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Find SEO and Usability Errorsn n </span> n </h2> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n There are quite a few SEO crawlers out there that help you catch errors on your existing pages that may be preventing those pages from ranking higher. These include Netpeak Spider and Screaming Frog.n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n An SEO crawler helps you easily diagnose your site or page SEO health:n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <ul> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Find which error pages your blog is linking to (You don’t want your readers to click broken links!)n n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Find pages with missing internal links (This means your readers will have no other choice but leave your site)n n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Find broken images (Make sure your site is appealing) or too huge images (Those slow your site down)n n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Find pages with too little content (Those are weak pages that may drag your blog down)n n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n … And much more.n n </span> n </li> n </ul> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n You’ll understand much more about your site when playing with the tool.n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n The two less advanced, but still useful alternatives:n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <ul> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Broken Links Checker: I am using this WordPress plugin to get rid of broken links in my old articles as well as old comments to those articlesn n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Check My Links: This is a simple Google Chrome extension that will signal of any issues with on-page links while you are browsing the webn n </span> n </li> n </ul> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <h2> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Make Sure You Rank in Mobile Searchn n </span> n </h2> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Way back inn n </span> n </span> n <a href=”https://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/” target=”_blank” style=”display: initial;”> n n 2014n n </a> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n mobile usage of the Internet has reached and surpassed desktop usage. These days mobile digital media time in the United States is higher at 51% compared to desktop (42%).n n </span> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Moreover, search is the most common starting point for consumer research on mobile devices, which means people do search from mobile and your blog needs to rank there!n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n That being said, if your blog is not mobile friendly, it will be hit in two ways:n n </span> n </p> n <ul> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Users won’t be able to find it (Google is now only showing mobile-friendly websites for mobile search users)n n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Users won’t be able to use it (for obvious reasons).n n </span> n </li> n </ul> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n It’s crucial to make sure your site is mobile friendly.n n </span> n </span> n <a href=”https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly” target=”_blank” style=”display: initial;”> n n Mobile-Friendly Test tooln n </a> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n is provided by Google and it lets you quickly see how your site renders on a mobile device.n n </span> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n It is also a smart idea to play with your site on your own mobile phone and make sure all calls-to-action work the way they are supposed to.n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <h2> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Find Which Keywords Send You Clicksn n </span> n </h2> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <a href=”https://search.google.com/search-console/about” target=”_blank” style=”display: initial;”> n n Google Search Consolen n </a> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n is a must-have for many reasons:n n </span> n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <ol> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Currently it’s the only way to find which keywords are sending you some search referral trafficn n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n It signals you of any critical issues with your site: Primarily, if your site has been hackedn n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n It shows you overall site health and how often Google bots come to visit.n n </span> n </li> n <li> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n It gives you an idea how Google sees your site (navigate Google Webmaster Tools select “Fetch and Render”)n n </span> n </li> n </ol> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: initial;”> n n Search Console is also a great tool to find your most powerful pages to re-optimize:n n <span> n n n n </span> n </span> n </p> n</div> n<div> n <img src=”https://irp.cdn-website.com/d4f2c851/dms3rep/multi/google-search-console.webp” alt=”Google Search Console”/> n</div> n<div style=”transition: opacity 1s ease-in-out 0s;” data-rss-type=”text”> n <p> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n Old content gives you a huge opportunity for improving your organic visibility. Instead of creating something completely new, you can rely on already existing data. It does take a lot of time and you can never really mark this task as done. You will need to go back and re-optimize your existing content on a regular basis.n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n If you have no time for this time-consuming task, consider hiring a high-qualityn n </span> n </span> n <a href=”/what-we-do/seo-services-sydney” style=”display: unset;”> n n SEO servicen n </a> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n .n n </span> n </p> n <p> n <br/> n </p> n <p> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n Are there any other SEO tools you are using for your blog? Let’s discuss on Twittern n </span> n </span> n <a href=”https://twitter.com/urdigitalau” style=”display: unset;” target=”_blank”> n n @urdigitalaun n </a> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n <span style=”display: unset;”> n n orn n </span> n </span> n <a href=”https://twitter.com/pulkitseo” style=”display: unset;” target=”_blank”> n n @pulkitseon n </a> n </p> n</div>