Did you know that SEO offers 20x more traffic opportunities on mobile and desktop than PPC (pay-per-click)?

One of the most important things you can do as an entrepreneur is to get your website indexed by Google. 

Unfortunately, we've found this to be one of the most challenging aspects of getting traffic from search engines.

The reality is that Google is constantly evolving. And to remain relevant to its search inquiries, you must keep up with Google updates and comply with their requirements. 

These specifications include creating SEO-focused content enhanced with keywords relevant to search intent and up-to-date, relevant information.

But what about already written articles?

Today, we will discuss how to improve the SEO of old blog articles to boost their traffic, visibility, and performance in search queries.

In addition, you will find out why SEO for blog articles is so important and what you can expect if you utilize it in your writing strategy.

Stay tuned!

Why Is SEO for Blog Articles So Important?

Did you know that the #1 organic article on Google's first page receives 32.5% of all traffic?

When creating an article, your primary mission is to attract people to read it, right? Otherwise, your blog will have no purpose.

And how do we get organic traffic on our blog articles? Well, SEO (search engine optimization) is the critical element in charge of that.

For example, whenever you want to find something on Google, you need to specify primary keywords relevant to that search (also known as a search query).

Google's algorithms do their magic to deliver the most relevant answer to that search query (results you get on Google pages). 

The more your blog content is relevant to your audience, the closer it will be  to the #1 Google page.

The same goes for all other search engines.

Now that you know why SEO is essential for your content strategy let's find out the benefits of including it in your writing process.

What Are The Benefits of Improving SEO on Old Blog Articles?

SEO has countless benefits, not only for blog articles, but also for every aspect of online business. And here are some of them:

  • Improves SEO ranking — SEO optimized articles perform better in search queries. 
  • Boosts credibility — A blog article with the greatest rankings for specific keywords increases the authority of your website.
  • Enhances traffic — The more relevant your content is to the search queries, the more audience will interact with your website.
  • Nurtures your audience — SEO enables a smooth progression of your audience through the marketing funnel.

Now that you understand the advantages of incorporating SEO into your content creation, let's look at how to improve the SEO of old blog articles to bring them into the game again.

How To Improve SEO of Old Blog Articles — 9 Techniques You Can Leverage Today

1. Modify Your Content To Match Search Intent

One of the essential things when optimizing your blog article for SEO is to adjust your content according to the search intent. 

There are 4 different types of search intent:

And to improve your old blog articles for SEO, you first need to analyze if the article needs adjustments at all. 

Consider including the following questions in your analysis:

  • Does the blog article have the most recent information?
  • Is it relevant to the keywords you want to rank for?
  • Does it completely address the query the searcher entered into Google? 

The next step is to examine the blog posts that are still receiving traffic to identify the topics that the underperforming articles don't touch. 

Then, you can edit your older blog post to reflect its original intent and content type better.

For example, you can divide an "ultimate guide" into numerous shorter blog posts. 

How do you align old blog articles with the search intent?

You can review Google Search Console to obtain a more detailed idea of what people search for a given keyword.

Later, you can utilize free tools such as PeopleAlsoAsk, and try to break down those search queries into more specific ones.

You can use those results to cover the top questions about specific topic in your article.

PeopleAlsoAsk tool will allow you to get geo-specific insights into search intent that you can leverage in your content writing for the best SEO performance of your blog posts. 

In addition, you can use tools such as Moz Keyword Explored to get more specific keyword analysis, suggestions, and other data.

Information you can get from tools such as this are a massive asset in targeting relevant keywords you want to rank for.

2. Include The Current Year In Your Title

We've all learned that Google algorithms aren't flawless. Thus, we always strive to get relevant information as quickly as possible. 

When consumers set the search criteria (keywords relevant to their search), they look for the most relevant results. That search criteria often include the current year.

For example, if you want to find out how many people are on the globe, you will almost certainly include the current year to get the most recent information.

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Why do people do something like this?

Blog titles are the first element audiences use for their selection when searching for the most appropriate response to their search query.

That element lets users quickly find and pick the article with new and updated information. 

By including the current year, Google can offer your content as the closest relevant information to the specified criteria.

3. Rewrite Your Introduction

Your blog introductions are the second vital thing readers focus on in your blog articles. And as such, they carry an overall message of the article.

By including the most important takeaways of your article in the introduction, you are giving your readers reason to consider reading it.

For example, a high bounce rate with low readability rate can give you a reliable information which old blog articles need instant introduction modification.

In simple words, the title attracts readers' attention, but the introduction should invoke curiosity about your article.

How does introduction affect SEO performance?

Mr. Porter believes that your SEO efforts will suffer if your introduction is lengthy and takes forever to reveal the main topic.

No matter how many relevant keywords the introduction has, if it fails to engage the reader to click on the blog article, Google will treat it as an irrelevant response for that specific search query. 

Pro Tip: The good news is that you don’t have to write your introduction from scratch to achieve engaging writing — rewriting sentences can also do the trick.

For example, AI rewriter tools like TextCortex can help you rewrite sentences in bulk for better context while keeping their original meaning.

To rewrite sentences with TextCortex's rewriting extension, you only need to select the text, click the logo, and select the feature you want.

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Choose the output that fits you most, and you’re ready to go.

4. Add Internal Links To Your Content

Internal links are an excellent and effective way to boost not just your old blog articles, but the entire blog page.

According to Hubspot, URLs with 10 to 14 links only generate 2 Google Search clicks, while those with at least 40 to 44 internal links obtain 8 clicks. 

That further implies that internal links boost your blog post and website traffic.

Let's suppose you are about to write an article about a new feature your software supports and that is closely related to the several topics you already covered in your previously published articles.

Wouldn't it be wise to link those topics as anchor text in your new article? Most definitely would. 

This technique is beneficial if those articles already perform well in the search queries. And the same goes the other way around. 

Consider which articles from your blog page are related and link them together — blog strategy is also known as Hubspot's blog conversion funnel.

Internal links serve as a map for search engines to navigate your website. 

You can improve the blog page and boost the SEO of the more recent pages by updating older postings with links to the more recent ones.

5. Utilize Alt Text Of Your Images

Alt text, also known as alternative text, describes a function of an image on the page. By reading the alt tag, the screen readers, for example, get information about what is on the image.

However, alt text is read by more than just screen readers. Search engines like Google also use this information to determine the context of an image, what it depicts, and what it is intended to convey.

In other words, we use alt text to help search engine bots better understand your page's content. 

Utilizing alt text will increase your blog post's accessibility and expand your image's SEO.

Note: The ideal alt text describes the image with text no longer than 125 characters. 

6. Combine Mid-Performing Content

While it is essential to maintain the same level of your top pages, you shouldn’t disregard articles in your blog that receive some traffic but not nearly enough.

The first step to efficiently enhancing SEO on your older blog articles is to identify those with low performance and compare them to those with excellent performance.

Then try to analyze where the gaps are:

  • Does content match search intent?
  • Low quality of content?
  • Lack of visuals?
  • No internal links?

The second step is to fill in the gaps, find blog posts with similar topics, concepts, and themes, and mix them for better SEO performance in search queries.

That way, you will eliminate duplicate content, boost site traffic, and reduce the number of pages, keeping everything faster and easier to navigate.

How to find mid-performing content on your blog?

Google Analytics is a landing page metrics tool that can assist you in learning about your audience's activities.

They will provide insights about:

  • Pageviews – The number of times a specific blog article has been viewed.
  • Average Time on Page – Indicates whether or not people are reading your blog entries.
  • Average Pages Per Session – The total number of pages a visitor reads throughout their visit.
  • Returning Visitors – The number of people who have revisited your website.
  • Goal Conversion Rate - The percentage of visitors who converted on their first visit to a particular blog article.
  • Bounce rate — The number of visitors that left a webpage without taking any action.

Final Thoughts

In this article, we just covered several strategies on how to improve SEO on your old blog articles.

The truth is that SEO is a never-ending topic that constantly demands special attention and various approaches (depending on desirable outcome expectations).

However, there is one never-changing consistency in SEO principles — the #1 SEO rule for improved blog article performance is high-quality and engaging content.

And whether you are a beginner or a pro writer, we suggest you focus on vital aspects of the content marketing funnel and leave repetitive writing tasks to AI writing tools.

It is not an uncommon and unfamiliar fact that writers get tired of writing. That is precisely the reason why we created TextCortex.

Our web application and rewriter extension are designed to help you:

  • Reduce your writing work by up to 80%
  • Produce short and long-form content at scale
  • Create SEO-friendly content for each generation
  • Rewrite your content in bulk on more than 30 platforms
  • Expand your text for better context
  • Transform bullet points into emails
  • Write blog posts in a single sentence
  • Format and edit your content on the spot
  • Combine autogenerating and manual writing in the editable canvas
  • Save your projects for future use

With our free version, you will get 15 daily creations and get to explore all available features without limitations.

Ready to take your writing to the next level?

Claim your free account today to experience a whole new aspect of the writing process with TextCortex.