What do I do about old content on my blog?

[HeatherBakerTopLine]

I run a blog: www.b2bsocialmediaguide.com. It's been going for 2.5 years and some of the old content is, frankly, dated! What do you recommend I do about it?

1. Update old articles with new, more relevant content and change the date?

2. Write new articles with the relevant content and forward the URLs from old articles to the new ones?

3. Do nothing.

4. Just add links to new content from old posts?

I don't want to lose link juice!

[KeriMorgret]

Thumbs up if you agree this would make a great YouMoz post. We'd love to see you other there too, if you're ever inclined.

[RepLoc_Tim]

Keep your old posts.  There is nothing wrong with having a historical account of your topic.  I can't stand everyone freaking out about old content and simply getting rid of it.  Aren't there any historians still out there that enjoy examining where we've been?

Do this:

• Create new updated post that is current and represents how you want to present the info today
• Go to your old post and add a IMPORTANT Notice box at the top of the article that explains that things have changed since the original posting and visitors can find all the latest and greatest at the new URL (link).

This also protects your credibility and demonstrates how long you have been following your issues in your niche - golden!

[EGOL]

I don't want to lose link juice!

Absolutely!  And wasting content is even worse.

I would do #5.

5.  Assess the content to determine it's value.   Value to me includes....

-- are there links pointing to this content?

-- is there traffic arriving through these pages?

-- are visitors who arrive at my site through other pages consuming this content?

-- the quality of the content

After I assess the items above I will take different routes depending upon the findings.

A.  If content does not have links, does not pull traffic and is not being consumed I will probably delete the content and redirect the page to index.html

B.  If content has links, traffic and consumption then I will decide if it merely needs a few edits.  If that can be done I will keep the page.  And, if that can be done I will look to add improved images, special interest boxes, "Did you know?" boxes, links to other relevant pages on my website.  KICK IT UP A NOTCH!

C.  If content has links, traffic and consumption, AND THE SAME TITLE IS STILL A GREAT CHOICE...  but the article is really outdated then I will rewrite from scratch and post on the same page, always trying to kick content, images and message up a huge notch on  this successful page.  Then I will promote this major rewrite on my homepage, in feature boxes around the site, in my RSS feed.

D.  If content has links traffic and consumption, and the old title is no longer a good choice, then I will rewrite from scratch, publish on a new page and create a boldface roadblock link to it in the first few paragraphs of the old article... and do the full onsite promotion.  Eventually when traffic to old page starts dying then I will redirect.  I want to keep the traffic from that old title flowing in because some noobs, old farts and out-of-date people will still be searching for those out-of-date terms.  Conversion rate on these people can be good because they are looking for help or a book or someone (like you) to be their guru.  Also, with this choice you now have TWO pages pulling traffic for different search queries.

You see, there is no generic answer to this question.  You must assess on a case-by-case basis.  Be careful not to abandon the noobs, old farts and out-of-date people.  They can be valuable traffic.

[MichaelYork]

Hi Heather,

Rand had an article on just this topic for a Whiteboard Friday, well worth a read:

http://moz.com/blog/how-to-move-rankings-up-on-older-existing-content-whiteboard-friday