SEO Blog Checklist: How to Update Your Old Blog Posts

Use this checklist to give your old blog post(s) a good refresh and help you target more traffic to your blog or website.

Update Old Blog Post Update Old Blog Post
  • PERFORM A QUICK BLOG POST AUDIT

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    How to do this task:
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  • Look for posts are preforming well and not so well

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  • Note keywords that are ranking well

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  • Look for posts that are ranking close to page #1 on Google

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  • Note any posts that have good external backlinks

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  • Note posts that are currently trending topics right now

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  • Research posts that did well on social media (especially on Pinterest)

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  • Decide which post(s) need updating

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  • BLOG POST DESIGN/LAYOUT

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  • Update your post title NOTE: Do not change the page URL or page slug

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  • Make sure all heading have H2 and H3 tags and most heading include keywords

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  • Rewrite at least two (2) paragraphs to be lists or a short paragraph and a list

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  • Make paragraphs shorter (no more than 300 words)

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  • Space out paragraphs and body of post

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  • Add in potential for Google Featured Snippets https://neilpatel.com/blog/rank-google-featured-snippets

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  • Can you update/add to your content? You want your target word count to be between 1000 to 2500 words

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  • Proofread and grammar check your post

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  • Is your branding and layout of your post cohesive?

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  • KEYWORDS

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  • Are your keywords still relevant? Are there better keywords you should be using? Are there secondary keywords you could be using? Look for "low hanging fruit" keywords

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  • Is your keyword in the title of your post?

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  • Is your keyword in your meta descrption?

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  • Is your keyword(s) used throughout your blog post?

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  • Is your keyword in your image(s) alt text?

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  • LINKS

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  • Link your posts to your other related posts

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  • Link your post to other content you have created

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  • Update broken links

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  • MULTIMEDIA

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  • Update your images (including your featured image)

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  • Add more images (make sure they are named correctly with your target keyword)

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  • Create an infographic or update an old one with new information

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  • Create a content upgrade (newsletter, downloadable checklist, e-book, etc)

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  • Create and/or add a video

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  • Create pinable images or tweetable tweet

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  • REINDEX YOUR POST WITH GOOGLE

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  • Go to Google Search Console

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  • Click the URL inspection tab

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  • Add in your page URL

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  • Click request indexing

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  • SOCIAL MEDIA

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  • Follow your social media strategy to re-share your updated post(s)

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