There are hundreds of articles in POPREVAENG. Since it was made in early 2014, I have hardly ever updated an outdated article. Even though some of the articles received a large amount of traffic.
As a result, some of the comments that came in were less pleasant. Because developments continue to occur, while my old posts still display the old-fashioned way. Of course the tutorial presented in the article is no longer in line with changes.
Realizing this, since some time ago, while making at least one new article every day, I also did an update on the old article. As I applied to the first post of this blog.
The decision to update an old post is not easy. Because on the other hand I intend to continue to increase the number of posts, which in the end must be constrained when creating new articles for updates. But then I realized, the old one was also far more important than just adding posts.
There are things that are beneficial when we do an old article update. Besides the few that I mentioned a little above, here are some reasons why you should update.
1. Displaying the Latest Information
In the article How to Verify Wordpress Blog in Search Console , I display new information about using plugins. Previous article, not much information that I need. Even the video that is linked to it can't be played.
Realizing that, I then did an update so that new information about the tutorial that I shared could be useful again. One thing that really must be considered carefully for bloggers, especially those who inform a lot about tutorials to always update information.
It could be that the AB application that we discussed several years earlier is no longer relevant in the future. Then the information update can be done to explain to the reader, so they do not consider our blog presents stale information.
2. Beautify Display Post
As time passed, change was inevitable. When you first create this blog, even the reader from a smartphone is not much. So at that time all I cared about was a desktop reader. Sometimes the image is not a top priority. As long as there is, then be.
But now, blog aesthetics through the layout, visual images used are very influential. The habits of modern people are becoming more familiar with visualization. By updating the old post, there is room to return to display interesting images.
The same is true if we display a tutorial that is accompanied by an image. Updates made by a number of technologies more or less change its description. Then you should display the latest images so that readers can know the flow of the tutorial we discussed.
3. Spruce up Writing
Anything as good as someone writing at this time, he had also made a messy writing. Maybe here and there typo or discussion is too wordy. So it should be an old article updated with increasingly humane writing.
I also when reading old articles very often found writing errors. But as the changes, I continue to improve. There are many things that must be considered in tidying the writing. One of them is the logic of the article which is not strange or chaotic.
Sometimes because you want to see the writing long, words that are not important also included. So what we discussed, what was mentioned about. Logically, fixing grammar and editing typing errors are reasons for updating.
4. Directly Answering Comments
Update old articles also relate to how we follow up on various questions that enter. For example in the old article there were questions that were repeatedly asked by readers. Or we realize that the question is important. Then you should do an update.
Answer the questions from the comments column directly in the body of the article, so people who later come to visit no longer ask the same question. This also cuts the waste of time replying one by one the questions repeatedly.
Reader comments are sometimes more up-to-date than our posts, so this should be a concern of the blog owner.
5. Update Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The most important reason in updating an old article is that it also updates our SEO position. Google through its crawling robots regularly updates. The information they will pass on to the searcher is the latest.
Old posts that are obsolete often no longer noticed by Google. By updating, Google's robot will be able to notify again that there is an update of information on our blog. So that opportunities appear on the front page of Google search is wide open.
When updating old posts, there are also opportunities for us to improve SEO. For example, by including the semantic keyword element in the article. Semantic keywords are other keywords related to the main keywords.
If you follow the development of SEO techniques at this time, such as pictures that have to be explained, it will be easily realized if we do an update.
The five reasons above I think are more than enough to update the old posts. There are many other advantages that we can get. However, there are things that must be considered when deciding to update. One of them:
- Do not change the original URL: When replacing the old URL, then open up opportunities to go to the 404 error page. Even if you have prepared a 404 error page, please just change. This means that there is a plugin or redirection tool installed, so that when visitors arrive they will be redirected to a new URL.
- Don't change the date of publication: Blogspot URL standards always have months and years. So when changing the date of publication, the URL will follow the change. This means that it is the same as changing the old URL. So you should not need to change the date of publication.
- Don't edit the text 100%: Although what I mostly do is change the total contents of the writing, but I don't recommend it. We recommend editing or updating writing properly. It is nothing. Editing 100% of the writing is the same as making a new one and the process is quite tiring. I'm sure it's hard, just let me.
- Don't forget to give a disclaimer: Important disclaimer is added in the posting updates so readers know there has been an update. For example, if a part of an article has been changed, you should give a disclaimer that the part has been updated at a certain time.
- Don't forget to monitor: Every time we do an update, it never hurts us to monitor the old writing. Are there changes in terms of search or the number of readers increased or not. The results of this monitoring will determine the next step. Maybe more will be updated or stopped altogether.
Editing old articles is nothing new in the world of blogging. Since a long time ago many people have done it. That must be considered, the old article that was updated was supposed to be an update. Don't those that are still relevant to the present conditions are completely overhauled.
For me personally, it's better to update old articles that have been able to position in search engines rather than reproducing posts with only a piece of information. Especially for bloggers who are not far from the impact of changes, it is advisable to periodically update.
Greetings creations!
