72x More Traffic…. 15 Minutes of Work {Here’s How}

Ever published something on your website, hoped for the best, and never looked at it again?

If so, you’re not alone.

Keeping your content fresh can be daunting for even the most seasoned creators.

But let me show you why it’s important to update your older content….

…. and how to do it quickly and strategically.

The better way to manage your content.

Publishing long-form content on your website is different than social media.

It’s not about posting tons of content and hoping something goes viral.

It’s about creating a collection of high-value evergreen content that makes your website the go-to resource for your ideal audience and customers.

This means your content needs to be pruned and nurtured over time, like a garden, to keep it running at its best.

Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Find your falling and underperforming posts

Log into Google Search Console and find the posts that have gotten no traffic or have lost traffic in the last 6 months.

To find the posts that are losing traffic: Adjust the dates in GSC to compare the last 6 months to the previous 6 months. Then sort by “Clicks Difference” to find the posts that have lost the most clicks.

To find the posts that aren’t getting much traffic: Adjust the dates in GSC to show the last 6 months and sort by clicks (from least to most).

Note: Use your best judgment here to consider things like seasonal trends.

Step 2: Decide which posts to update

Once you know which posts are losing traffic or have very little traffic…

… add those to your content calendar for updating!

(Or just delete if they’re getting no traffic, no backlinks, no engagement, and aren’t serving your audience.)

If you’ve been publishing content for at least a year, I recommend dedicating about 50% of your content calendar to updating older content and 50% to new content.

Step 3: Update and optimize

Next, go through your posts, one at a time, and figure out how you can improve them.

This may include:

• Finding a better keyword to target
• Adding or redoing photos
• Updating outdated content or recommendations
• Adding new or more current information
• Moving the most important info to the top of the page
• Formatting the content so it’s easier to consume
• Creating infographics or other new assets
• Including personal stories or anecdotes
• Re-optimizing or even de-optimizing the page (if it was overdone)

Then make the updates to your post and re-publish with today’s date.

This will push the content back up to the front of your blog feed like a new post and show a more recent publish date in the search results.

(Important: Do NOT change the URL and only re-publish with a fresh date if you made significant changes and improvements to the post.)

Step 4: Track your stats

Now you have to be patient and wait!

It will take time (weeks or months) for Google to re-crawl the post and adjust your rankings.

But since you’re only updating content that was already losing traffic or getting very little traffic, you have very little to lose and a lot to gain!

Proof it works

I followed this exact process with a recipe on my old food blog and got 72x more traffic to the post within 10 weeks of updating.

It went from getting 4 visits a month….

… to 289 visits a month from Google search.

With quick changes that took me less than 15 minutes.

Here’s what I did:

• Moved the first image below the introduction.
• Added content to elaborate on how the recipe was made.
• Re-ordered a few sections of the post to flow better.
• Fully optimized the recipe card.

Then I republished it with a fresh date on the same URL.

The effort stacks

Now imagine if I went back and updated the 100+ under-performing recipes currently on my site…

… I could easily get to 50k+ monthly sessions without developing any new content.

Pretty wild, right??

Bottom Line: Don’t let your website become a leaky bucket. Keep your content fresh and up to date to avoid a traffic plateau!

PS – If you want more details on this process, I’ll be opening up my new membership, Search Savvy, in the next few weeks! Stay tuned for more deets.

Thanks again for being a part of this community ❤️.

Founder of The Unconventional RD