The idea here is to build authority posts or pages on your blog by regularly updating the content with relevant and current information. Not every post has to be an authority page, this would be for ever changing topics that are popular among your readers and will serve them better. The main point in updating posts you consider important is to provide the best possible solution for your readers. An added benefit to these pages, if done properly and visits increase, is Google may update your post in the search engine results pages and possibly consider it a more authoritative article.
NOTE (September 8th, 2014): The video and page seen here was back in February 2013 when we were just getting started in Google Hangouts (HOA) so it’s a little rough. My audio quality was less than ideal and I wasn’t comfortable on camera BUT I am positive that the content and strategy was spot-on and I’ve since experienced the benefit of creating authority posts with regular updates right here on Hot Blog Tips.
At the time of this update, our homepage has a browser Google PageRank (unreliable) of 03 while we have internal posts that rank high in the SERPs that show PageRanks of 04 and even 05. The PageRank in itself wouldn’t be reliable evidence that the strategy is effective but the results of consistent Google referrals is.
A Little Clarification
What we’re talking about here IS NOT blog post maintenance; it’s a different way of thinking when it comes to creating certain content. Again, this IS NOT for every post we write and not for every older post on our blogs. When writing about a relevant topic that will certainly change, we write that post with the intent of creating an authoritative and up to date resource for our readers, visitors and blog subscribers.
IF you are looking for a post on updating old posts in the form of blog maintenance and cleanup, you can find that at Digging In Deep Updating Old Blog Posts For User Experience And SEO (14 Sep 2014).
The Video
Back on Jan 27, 2013 I covered this topic in a Hangout (Embedded below) with the Hot Blog Tips Hangout Crew and for this week’s Quick Blogging Tip Thursday, I wanted to address it here on Hot Blog Tips.
In the video below, I used WordPress SEO by Yoast as an example. That page is many years old but is updated on regular bases and has a lot of authority. As you can see, from the image above, Google shows the date the post was updated, not when it was originally published.
My Own Example (Updated Oct. 25th, 2015)
I practice what I preach and sometimes it pays off. I’m posting this update on Oct. 25, 2015. I have several examples over the last two and a half years but I’ll share the most recent – New Top Level Domains List – New gTLDs, originally published June 22, 2014. New Generic Top Level Domains are coming on line all of the time and a post like that requires regular updates.
By Re-Publishing the updated content, Google (if the content is worthy) considers updating the search results with the newer date.
Originally published June 22, 2014. Google included the updated re-publish date of Oct. 2, 2015 in their search results.
Important Note: By no means does this mean all blog posts should be updated regularly, much less re-published. However, creating authority pages that require regular updates may benefit from taking the extra step of republishing the post so Google and the other search engines can see that it is current, relevant, and updated.
Notice this vary post has been updated several times over the last couple of years yet I did not “re-publish” with a new date.
Watch On YouTube
What Do You Think?
Do you think other websites will be more likely to link to a post that they feel will be updated? Do you think authority posts are important? Do you have any other examples? Feel free to comment below, that’s why we’re here.
About Brian D. Hawkins
Thanks for video tutorials. Updating seo is a great part for any site/blog owner. Found it extremely useful! many thanks
I have watch this video, It is really excellent. Thanks for this post, very useful to me…!
I think it could help.
It couldn’t hurt.
It might show the visitors that you are very involved to provide the best through your articles.
Updating could mean you are keeping up to the recent trends.
My two cents 🙂
But if we change a post drastically it could decrease its search engine visibility, isn’t it so ?
Thanks briand. You remind me the importance of regular update. For severa; time I miss it. Once again thnx for your sharing
Updating Helps Everything All The Time. I may not be huge but I can tell that my visits have went up quite alot after updating my posts.. Yes, All of them. I don’t know if you know what the Squirrel SEO Plug In is but WOW! It really helps me out in writing for SEO, a whole bunch and using that plugin I was able to optimize alot of my posts and the traffic is just getting stronger and stronger. It’s not a free one but the trail is there. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
Thank you brian, this post is incredibly insightful. I’ll be using it as a basis for our +SEO action plan going into ’14. Seems PageRank is relevant to search rankings after all!!
What a marvelous idea! I hadn’t ever thought of doing this but it makes a lot of sense. I had thought about making mini authority sites similar to this idea but I think what you’re saying might be a lot better. I’m writing this down for sure. 🙂
Thanks Candace, authority posts tend to add up and reflect well on the overall blog and website. Many bloggers, including myself, are moving away from the short and frequent posts to more epic posts with real authority. These are tougher to write so they’re less frequent but still published on a consistent bases.