I think all of us can agree that our initial blog posts sucked.* In two months, you might feel that a post you published TODAY sucks. At least, I’m sure I would. All of us become better the longer we do something, and it is VERY clearly seen in blogging.
Most of us (including me) simply continue on blogging while changing our style, becoming better and soon there is significant difference between our current and old posts. We usually hope that it’s never seen and let it be, buried under the new posts.
But that is precisely what you SHOULDN’T do. And I’m here to tell you why.
*Unless, of course, you’re a badass blogger and your posts have always been awesome. HOW. TELL ME.
[1] Search engines are more likely to showcase old blog posts
I wouldn’t be saying this if I haven’t noticed it with my own blog posts as well. My posts which were published in April 2016 got more views in August 2017 than the whole of 2016 because it appeared in one of the first links for a Google search.
There are a lot of factors which tie in with search engine results, but it is proven that the more backlinks there are, the more likely the blog will appear in search engine results. Older posts would have been linked more in other websites and have been viewed more—making them more “trusted”.
Since they’re bringing in views, you want those posts to have as good content as your current publishing, and also tie in with any new colour themes/information updates.
[2] Changing your theme may cause your blog posts to not look spectacular anymore
Every time I change my theme, I have this problem. In some themes, the font size is too small and in some it’s too big. Some show the featured image twice, making it look redundant while some may show only the featured image or only the graphics IN the post. I go around changing all the settings in SEVERAL posts when I change my theme. This also applies to font changes.
Different choices have different setting requirements.
Every time you make a change, either you have to make sure it is suitable for all the content that is already up, or you have to go around changing the settings.
[3] Your content’s quality might have not been as good as it is now
We continuously grow in every way, and this applies to blogging as well. As we learn more, our posts reflect our experience as well and it might almost be as if another person wrote that old post.
You might have also acquired more knowledge on the topic and you could update it to make it more helpful. Therefore, when readers view it they receive more out of it. Updating old blog posts also means updating the content to reflect what’s up NOW. You don’t want your content reflecting a thing of the past.
[4] You should be able to link back to old posts
As I said above, links matter. Linking to other blog posts, whether yours or someone else’s shows that you’ve done your research and that you’re giving more reference elsewhere. It drives traffic to your linked posts as well.
Therefore, when linking you will definitely think about how that post looks. And if it’s not of the same standard, you might not end up linking it at all. I know I wouldn’t.
What I end up doing is that I spend extra time modifying the old post then, and then linking it to the new one. You could do it this way, but it’s just better to update it in the first place, right?
[5] Link up new posts in the old ones
If your old posts are receiving traffic from search engines or links, update them and link NEW posts which are relevant. This would drive traffic to your recent posts as well. Use those views you’re getting. Internal linking is always good as long as it’s relevant.
This would, of course, increase the trust in your old post as well because it has more links.
Due to all the reasons I’ve mentioned above, I highly recommend updating your old blog posts. You could make it an ongoing process and do it slowly (as I do). Don’t worry too much to sit down a whole day and do it all at once. Update and change at your own pace, but do think about it.
Do you update your old blog posts? Are do you let them be buried and hope no one ever sees them again? Do you agree with the points I’ve mentioned? Are there any others you can think of? Let me know in the comments!
Haha, yessss! This is something I’ve been meaning to do FOREVER…but I’m lazy. Still, you’re right—it’s SO important. I know I’ve grown so much as a blogger within the last year, let alone before. I didn’t think about increasing traffic to new posts, but you’re right—it totally would.
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Haha I totally understand that! When I say it’s an ongoing process for me, it’s that I do it once in 4 months when I have no inspiration to blog but want to do SOMETHING for the blog XD
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Ooh—I might try that next time I want to blog but lack the inspiration. Good thinking!
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Haha thanks 😅
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These are such great tips!! I never thought about linking my new posts on my old ones! Thanks for writing this! -Ashley
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Thank you so much! You’re welcome! 😊
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I’ve been toying with this idea for a while. Part of me thinks I shouldn’t since then posts are already live and they show growth, and part of me agrees with everything you just said in your post…maybe I’ll do it over Christmas…
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If you want to show the growth, you could keep it, but I’m not sure readers really care about growth. They just want to see your content, right 🤷
I think you should definitely do it 😊
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Ahhh… I need to do this, seriously. My old posts make me embarrassed and although they reflected me as a person back then, some of them are horrible and don’t even reflect how I actually felt. Thanks for this post, Sumedha! I love your blog by the way and I can’t wait to catch up!
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But, your posts might actually be fine because they’re personal? Topics that will be useful to the reader outside of the blog should be updated more, in my opinion. But you do what you want to 😊
Thank you! 💕
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I only learnt the importance of backlinks recently. I’ve even deleted some of my first blog posts.
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Yeah they’re pretty important
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Couldn’t agree with these points more! Yep, I update my old blog posts. But I do it in two different ways: if, as you mentioned, the post does well with ol’ Google and I could see new traffic coming to that specific post regularly, I update the post to be at par with my current blog post format as well as add in some new ideas.
But if the old post isn’t exactly doing well traffic-wise but I think it’s an awesome topic, I’d do an overhaul of it and “republish” it so to speak 😄
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You’re the only blogger I know who does this! And you do it without procrastinating like me 😂 those are good ideas!
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I’ve only been doing it this year though I’ve been thinking about it since last year 😄 Oh gorsh, I also procrastinate about it especially when I’m feeling lazy 😂
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I’ve only been blogging for almost six months so I definitely understand this post as the difference is already pretty darn obvious in my own posts, haha. Nevertheless, I think I’ll wait a bit longer before investing time in redoing my old posts, simply because I haven’t noticed any traffic heading that way – YET.
*Okay, this sounds so bad and like the procrastinating queen I am..*
Maybe I should make some time for it during my time off after all, haha. :’)
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Actually, you’re right. Maybe wait for another few months, during which you will definitely improve more, and then update. I hadn’t exactly found my blogging voice until at least a year in. Only now am I properly settling into it, and it’s been almost two years. So who knows 🤷
And don’t worry we all procrastinate 😂 every time I find a little while, I end up reading or binge-watching
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Sounds like a plan!
I can definitely imagine it takes time to not only find your voice but also get used to actually incorporating it everywhere. It’s so easy to fall back into old habits.
Haha, I know.
I was supposed to be cleaning up a bit yesterday but ended up reading and reading and reading and “Oh, look at the time! Bed-time!”
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Thanks for sharing this. I’ve been so focused on just writing that I never stopped to think about what I have written so far.
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No problem 🙂 I’m glad it helped!
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nice work!, your post are always helping the world. Keep up the nice job. will be back again
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