Keeping your blog content up-to-date is essential for staying competitive. As information becomes outdated and user preferences shift, refreshing your content can make a significant difference in how your blog performs in the search rankings.
In this guide, I'll take you through a step-by-step content refresh process to renew your content effectively. I've included expert advice from leading SEO specialists and content marketers to ensure you're getting the best strategies.
Step 1: Gather all your content data
Before you can refresh your content, it's essential to understand what you have and how it's performing.
Gathering all your content data is the first step to identifying which pieces are effective, which need improvement, and which might be outdated.
Compile your content inventory
Begin by listing all the relevant content on your website, including blog posts, landing pages, product descriptions, and other significant pages. Tools like Screaming Frog and Sitebulb can help you crawl your website efficiently, collecting important data such as:
- URLs
- Page titles
- Meta descriptions
- Word counts
- Last modified dates
This comprehensive inventory will give you a clear picture of your content landscape.
"Comprehensive data collection is the cornerstone of any effective content refresh. Focus on key metrics like rankings, traffic, and conversions to identify priority areas for updates.
Thorough analysis ensures you make strategic decisions that maximize impact."
— Leanne Dempsey, Head of SEO at Logic+Magic
Collect performance metrics
Use both Google Analytics and Google Search Console to find out how each piece of content is performing.
Key metrics to consider include:
From Google Analytics:
- Page views: The number of times each page has been viewed.
- Bounce rate: The percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page.
- Average time on page: How long visitors stay on a page.
- Conversion rates: The percentage of visitors who take a desired action.
From Google Search Console:
- Impressions: How often your content appears in search results.
- Clicks: The number of times users clicked through to your site from search results.
- Click-through rate (CTR): The ratio of clicks to impressions.
- Average position: The average ranking position of your content in search results.
- Top queries: The search terms bringing users to your pages.
Collecting this data will help you understand how users interact with your content and how it performs in search results.
To streamline the auditing process, consider using Surfer's Content Audit tool. By connecting your Google Search Console account to Surfer, you can automatically analyze your website's content and receive actionable insights on low lying results.
Organize your data
Having all your information in one place makes it easier to analyze.
- Use a spreadsheet: Create columns for all the data points you've collected.
- Include notes: Add observations or ideas for each content piece.
- Prioritize: Begin thinking about which pieces might need immediate attention.
"A content refresh must start with a comprehensive audit. Evaluating how your content is performing is essential before making any decisions to rewrite or update.
Without this step, you risk wasting effort on changes that don’t deliver results."
— Patrick Langridge, SEO Director at Screaming Frog
Step 2: Identify content to refresh
With all your data gathering completed, it's time to analyze the data and determine which pieces of content should be updated, overhauled, consolidated, or removed.
This step ensures that your efforts are focused on content that will deliver the highest return on investment.
Analyze data to spot opportunities
Begin by reviewing the performance metrics collected to identify content that offers the greatest potential for improvement. Focus on the following:
- Pages with declining performance: Look for content that has seen a drop in traffic, engagement, or rankings over time. These pages may have outdated information or face increased competition.
- High-impression, low-CTR pages: Identify pages that appear frequently in search results (high impressions) but have low click-through rates (CTR).
Optimizing titles and meta descriptions or adjusting the content to better match user intent can improve CTR. - Pages ranking just off the first page: Content ranking on the second page of search results (positions 11–20) can often be pushed to the first page with minor optimizations.
"Google Search Console is an excellent tool for identifying 'quick win keywords' — those ranking just off the first page of search results.
By focusing on optimizing these pages, you can often push them into the top positions and significantly increase site visibility."
— Sarah Mackenzie, Blogger at My Veggie Travels
Categorize your content by action
After identifying potential pages for improvement, categorize your content to determine the appropriate action for each piece:
- Keep as is: High-performing content that remains relevant and requires no changes.
- Update: Content that could benefit from minor tweaks or updates.
- Overhaul: Underperforming content needing significant revisions.
- Remove: Outdated or irrelevant content that no longer serves your audience.
"Before you start any rewrites or optimizations, check if the existing content meets the current search intent. If needed, don’t be afraid to change the content type completely to suit what users are now looking for.
Going deeper, shifting formats, or creating a pillar page can ensure your refreshed content remains relevant and keeps paying off in the long run."
— Annika Haataja, SEO Director at Seeker Digital
Prioritize content for refreshing
With insights from your analysis, prioritize the content that will have the most significant impact:
- Pages with high potential: Those ranking on the second page of search results.
- Quick wins: Pages with high impressions but low CTR.
- Declining performers: Previously high-ranking pages that have dropped in position.
"I like to visually see how individual pages perform over time. A simple grid of weekly clicks per page can show you patterns—like a steady drop-off or a sudden decline—and help you focus on what needs attention."
— Philip Gamble, Head of Performance Experience at Zenith UK
Utilize Surfer's content audit tool
Surfer's Content Audit tool can help you efficiently prioritize which content to refresh.
- Seamless GSC integration: Surfer pulls data directly from your GSC account, providing up-to-date metrics.
- Content scores: Provides a Content Score for each page, indicating how well it's optimized compared to top-ranking pages.
- Prioritized recommendations: The tool highlights pages that offer the best opportunities for improvement.
- Actionable Insights: Receive specific suggestions on how to enhance each piece of content.
Step 3: Analyze your competitors
Understanding what your competitors are doing can help you gain valuable insights into how to improve your content.
By examining their strategies, you can identify gaps in your existing content and find new opportunities to engage your audience.
Identify your top competitors
Start by figuring out who your main competitors are in the search results for your target keywords.
- Surfer's SERP Analyzer can help you see which websites rank for your target keywords.
- Conduct searches in Google for your main keywords and manually find your competitors.
- Look at both direct competitors in your industry and those who rank well for the content topics you're focusing on.
"Analyze your competitors to understand how they achieve higher rankings. Identify opportunities to enhance or differentiate your content by focusing on unique value propositions rather than simply expanding content length.
Moving away from the traditional skyscraper technique."
— Katherine Anstey, Senior Content Marketer at Resource Guru
Analyze their content strategies
Examine the content your competitors are producing to understand why they might be ranking higher.
- Content depth and quality
- Is their content more detailed or in-depth?
- Do they cover topics that you haven't addressed yet?
- Format and presentation
- Are they using videos, infographics, or interactive elements?
- How is their content structured?
- User engagement
- Look at comments, shares, and other engagement metrics if available.
"When refreshing content, I use AI tools to analyze guidelines and competitors. I compile PDFs of Google’s content guidelines, my existing article, and top competitor pieces for the target keyword.
By uploading these to the AI, I gain insights and tailored suggestions for improving my content’s quality and relevance."
— Samantha North, PhD, Content Strategist
Identify content gaps
Find areas where your competitors are providing value that you aren't.
- Topic gaps: Are there subjects related to your industry that you haven't covered?
- Keyword opportunities: Are there keywords your competitors are ranking for that you could target?
- Format opportunities: Could you present information in a new way, such as through a video or podcast?
Learn from their strengths and weaknesses
Use your findings to develop your content strategy.
- Emulate strengths: If competitors have successful strategies, consider how you can adapt those ideas to your content.
- Avoid weaknesses: Identify areas where competitors' content falls short and ensure you excel in those areas.
Analyze search intent
Search intent plays a crucial role in determining the effectiveness of your content. When analyzing competitors, focus on whether their content aligns with the specific needs of searchers.
Ask yourself: what is the user looking for when they search this term? Are they seeking detailed information, a quick answer, or a product/service recommendation?
Understanding the intent behind each keyword allows you to adjust your content to serve user expectations better, ensuring it remains relevant as search trends and SERPs evolve over time.
"When refreshing blogs, be sure to monitor the SERPs for the terms people are using to find them. Put the user’s intent at the heart of your process. I like to ask: when the user searches this term, what do they want to find?
Where are they in the customer journey or sales funnel? Is this content giving them what they want? Search intent evolves over time, as do the SERPs, and you want to make sure your content continues to meet the searcher’s needs and expectations."
— Jo Furnival, Marketing Manager at Sitebulb
Step 4: Refresh your pages
With your content priorities set, it's time to update your content. This step involves making changes that improve the quality, relevance, and performance of your articles, blog posts, or web pages.
Update outdated information
Begin by refreshing any outdated content or inaccurate information in your content:
- Revise statistics and data: Replace old statistics with the most recent data to ensure accuracy.
- Fix broken links: Check all internal and external links, and repair or replace any that are broken.
- Refresh examples and case studies: Update examples or case studies to reflect current trends or recent events.
"Content refreshes are essential for maintaining a strong online presence.
By regularly checking links and resources, you can fix broken or outdated links, improving user experience and preserving, if not improving, your SEO rankings."
— Stella Hulott, Director at Speedie Consultants Ltd
Enhance content quality and depth
Improving the depth and quality of your content makes it more valuable to readers and can boost your search rankings:
- Add new sections: Include additional information that addresses user intent more thoroughly.
- Integrate keywords naturally: Seamlessly incorporate relevant keywords into your content without overstuffing.
- Include multimedia elements: Add images, videos, infographics, or interactive elements to make the content more engaging.
- Check spelling and grammar: As part of the refresh process, run spelling and grammar checks to improve readability and professionalism.
- Target long-tail keywords: Focus on specific, longer keyword phrases to attract more qualified traffic and improve your content's performance.
"Once we’ve identified our target keywords and seen what top competitors are covering, we rewrite our page to ensure we address all those topics, plus any they’ve missed.
After updating, we add unique visuals and promote the page to relevant industry players. In the following weeks, we keep an eye on rankings and traffic to make further tweaks as needed."
— Oliver Sissons, Search Director at Digital PR Agency, Reboot Online
Optimize on-page SEO elements
On-page SEO is crucial for improving your content's visibility in search engine results:
- Update meta titles and descriptions: Craft compelling titles and descriptions that include target keywords and encourage clicks.
- Optimize headers (H1, H2, H3): Use header tags to structure your content logically, incorporating keywords where appropriate.
- Improve internal linking: Link to relevant pages on your site to guide users and help search engines understand your site's structure.
- Enhance external linking: Link to authoritative external resources to provide additional value to readers.
Check out Surfer's Automated Internal Linking Tool which finds internal linking opportunities by connecting to your search data through Google Search Console. The tool will automatically select anchor text and insert 5 to 10 internal links into your article.
Improve click-through rates
Updating your content enhances its relevance and improves its appeal in search engine results. Fresh content often results in higher click-through rates (CTR) because users are more inclined to click on links that appear current and up-to-date.
Incorporating recent statistics, dates, and timely information in your titles and meta descriptions can make your content more enticing to potential readers.
Ensure E-E-A-T
Demonstrating EEAT(experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness) in your content helps build trust with your audience and can positively impact your rankings:
- Add Author Bios: Include information about the author to showcase expertise and experience.
- Include Case Studies or Testimonials: Provide real-world examples to demonstrate authority and trustworthiness.
- Implement Schema Markup: Use structured data to help search engines better understand your content.
- Incorporate expert insights: Adding external quotes from industry experts or including outside perspectives can set your content apart from others.
"Maintaining accuracy is a cornerstone of establishing trustworthiness in your content.
Regularly update information to ensure its relevance and reliability, especially in fast-changing industries."
— Crystal Carter, Head of SEO Communications at Wix
Use Surfer
Surfer’s Auto-Optimize tool can help you refresh existing pages by identifying content gaps in your articles, and filling them in at the click of a button.
"I like using Surfer SEO to refresh content because it highlights opportunities within content that could be better optimized based on who is already ranking."
— Remi Audette, Founder & Director of Sunday Best
Use interactive tools to enhance engagement
Refreshing content isn’t just about updating text—it’s about creating a dynamic and engaging user experience.
Interactive features such as calculators, quizzes, polls, surveys, and infographics can capture attention and encourage users to spend more time on your page.
These tools enhance engagement and provide valuable insights into your audience’s preferences. Tailoring these elements to your users' needs ensures that your content remains relevant, interactive, and memorable, ultimately strengthening its impact.
Check out Jotform or Woorise for an easy way to build forms, quizzes and other interactive assets.
“Interactive elements like quizzes and polls can significantly boost engagement and time on page.
Focus on tools that align with your audience's preferences and make participation seamless.”
— Christopher Vasiliou, Founder & CEO of Woorise
(Image credit: woorise.com)
Step: 5: Monitor performance
After updating your content, it's crucial to track its performance to understand the impact of your efforts and identify areas for further improvement.
Track key metrics
Begin by monitoring the same performance metrics you collected earlier:
- Organic traffic: Observe changes in page views from search engines.
- Search rankings: Check if your content is ranking higher for target keywords.
- Engagement metrics: Look at bounce rate, time on page, and conversion rates to assess user engagement.
- Click-through rate (CTR): See if your updated titles and descriptions lead to more clicks from search results.
“It's vital to monitor performance—this could be at a section/category level or on a page-by-page basis. The key metrics to look out for are rankings, organic traffic, engagement, and organic leads or conversions.”
— Charlotte Tomlinson, Head of SEO & Content at Distinctly
Monitor competitor activity
Stay informed about your competitors' activities by monitoring their content updates and performance.
- Monitor competitor rankings: Keep an eye on how your competitors' positions change over time.
- Track content updates: Receive alerts when competitors publish new content or make significant changes.
- Adjust your strategy: Use this information to refine your content approach and stay competitive.
Consider using monitoring tools like Rankalyzer which tracks competitors for SEO-related changes, alerting you when they update metas, headings, and other on-page elements, allowing you to receive inspiration for your own content updates.
“Rankalyzer allows us to continuously monitor our competitors' activities. By staying informed, we can quickly respond to market changes and maintain our competitive edge.”
— Sarah Stenlund, Senior Content Marketing Manager at Position Digital
(Image credit: rankalyzer.io)
Analyze results and refine your strategy
Review the data to determine what's working:
- Identify improvements: Note which content updates have led to better performance.
- Spot ongoing issues: If certain pieces aren't performing as expected, consider further optimization.
- Refine your approach: Use insights from your analysis to adjust your content refresh process moving forward.
“Content refreshing isn't a one-off task—it's an ongoing process essential for long-term SEO success.”
— Sebastian Dziubek, Fractional SEO Director
Schedule regular reviews
Establish a routine to keep your content performing well:
- Set review intervals: Decide whether to review monthly, quarterly, or at intervals that suit your needs.
- Stay proactive: Regular monitoring helps you address issues early and seize new opportunities.
“By monitoring performance regularly, you can make timely adjustments that keep your content relevant and effective.”
— Daniel Wood, SEO Director at GA Agency
Frequently asked questions
Below are some commonly asked questions about refreshing content:
What is a content refresh?
A content refresh is updating and enhancing existing content on your website to make it more current, accurate, and valuable to your audience.
This includes revising outdated information, adding new insights, improving readability, and optimizing for current SEO best practices. The goal is to boost search rankings, increase engagement, and keep your content relevant.
Why is it important to refresh content?
Refreshing content is important because it keeps your website relevant and valuable to your audience. Updated content improves your search engine rankings by aligning with current SEO best practices and search intent.
It helps you provide accurate information, engage readers with up-to-date insights, and maintain a competitive edge in your industry. Regularly refreshing content can increase organic traffic, boost user engagement, and enhance your site's credibility.
Does Google's algorithms prioritize fresh content?
Google’s algorithms prioritize fresh content to some degree. By refreshing your content, you increase the likelihood of achieving better ranking positions in search results.
Updated content signals to search engines that your site is active and providing current information, which can enhance your visibility.
How often should you refresh blog content?
It's recommended to refresh your blog content every 6 to 12 months to keep it current and relevant. However, the ideal frequency depends on factors like your industry's pace, the type of content, and changes in user interests.
Regularly reviewing your content's performance and updating it when you notice declining engagement or outdated information ensures it remains valuable to your audience.
What are common mistakes to avoid when refreshing content?
When refreshing content, avoid these common mistakes:
- Leaving outdated information: Failing to update old facts or statistics can mislead readers.
- Keyword stuffing: Overloading content with keywords makes it unreadable and hurts SEO.
- Changing URLs without redirects: This leads to broken links and lost traffic.
- Altering high-performing content without reason: Changing content that's already doing well can reduce its effectiveness.
- Ignoring user intent: Not aligning content with what users are searching for makes it less relevant.
- Not tracking performance after updates: Without monitoring, you won't know if the refresh was successful.
Is refreshing content more cost-effective than creating new content?
Yes, refreshing existing content is often more cost-effective than creating new content. Updating and improving what you already have saves time and resources because it requires less effort than starting from scratch.
By enhancing your current content, you can achieve better search rankings, increased traffic, and higher engagement without the higher costs associated with creating new material.
