Update Content or Create a New Post/Page?
February 18, 2013
I have always wondered if I should update old posts with more current information or write a new post as fresh content? Have you wondered the same thing?
How about pages on your website....especially pages about work in progress or a continuing series? Does it work to keep updating the page? Will people come back to the same page over time? What do you think?
A recent Google Webmaster Video answered this quandary referring to a news room site, but I think the information applies to all websites or blog posts offering information.
Watch the video on the bottom of this post, but to summarize Google recommends to update, revise and build on one page for the following reasons:
- page rank accumulates for that URL
- the page becomes an authoritative source (referred to in the video as an "exhaustive entry")
- people can point to that entry over time.
- use Google+ rel="author" to verify authorship for improved SEO
Wikipedia is an excellent example of "one page" that just gets richer and more developed" with "updates or more information".
I followed this practice of updates over time on my pencil page for the sculpture "Pick Up Your Pencils, Begin." Mostly, I did it to document the progress over the five years it took to construct the work, but it was a significant factor in building visibility for this sculpture. At the time from an SEO perspective, I had no idea whether it was a good idea but action was based on instinct rather than fact.
The day it was finished American Craft magazine committed to a story about the work. Do you think that would have ever happened if I had waited to write about the work until it was done?
If you are concerned about continued visibility for a single URL over time, artists and makers can always write about it on Facebook, other
social networks with updates or place a link on your home page.
Consider this approach for your blog posts or websites. I regularly go back and update older posts with current information occasionally going back as far as 2008 for this blog. Now I know that this is the "right approach" for many reasons.
The Google Webmaster video recommendations with Matt Cutts is at the bottom of this post. Subscriber can click on this link: Do you have any specific tips for news sites?
This post is part of an on going series on Search Engine Optimization for artists and crafts people.