Most marketers and business owners are well aware of the importance of SEO-friendly websites, high-authority links, and great website navigation. But when was the last time you examined your web content, or even your business blog to see if it is helping your business move forward? 

While the below tips will ensure that your new content is correctly optimized for SEO, they also can be used as a checklist for your old content. It’s a good idea to go back through your older blog posts, articles, and web pages to check if they meet today’s SEO standards. That way, you can tweak your content when necessary and ensure that every word of your business’s content is hard at work.

Here are 5 easy ways you can make your content SEO friendly:

1. Consider Length

When it comes to online content, longer is often better. Gone are the days when a 300-word blog post was enough to move the needle for your SEO goals. According to Yoast, long blog posts give you more opportunities to rank for long-tail variants of your keywords. Not to mention, Google’s algorithm simply prefers longer content, and blog posts with more than 1,000 words do much better in the search engines. 

It’s also a good idea to go back over your older blog posts and examine them for length. This doesn’t mean you should simply ‘pad them out’ and make them longer, but instead, look for where you can add value.

2. Delete and Merge Old Content

If you look back at old blog posts and articles and find that they’re outdated, you may need to delete them. If they contain information that’s invalid or no longer informative or include updates about your business that no longer apply, they may be doing more harm than good. 

If you’ve written multiple blog posts about the same or similar topics, they may be competing against each other in the search results. That’s why it’s a good idea to merge them into one article and make one awesome, deep article with all of the information you have. Delete (and redirect) the old articles, and rewrite the new article on the URL that has been attracting the most traffic.

3. Add Keywords

This is relevant for both new and old content on your website. You probably already know how important keywords are for your SEO goals. Your blog posts should ideally mention your target keyword several times (without stuffing), so you can increase rankings and traffic. 

You may find that the keywords you originally targeted are no longer working. Or, you may decide to include more long-tail keywords to increase the chances that your website will be found by new visitors.

4. Link Effectively

If your content is a few years old, it’s likely that you’ve mentioned something that you may have written an entire post about more recently. By adding related posts and naturally linking to other content on your website, you’ll keep people on your site for longer. You’ll be supplying readers with more information about the topics that interest them, and will also decrease your bounce rate and increase your average session duration.

5. Proofread and Edit

Google is always looking for the best possible content. Its algorithms are getting smarter all the time as it continues its quest to always offer up the best possible information to searchers. 

For this reason, if your blog posts have spelling errors or dead links, you’re likely to lose some credibility in Google’s eyes. Not to mention, readers are unlikely to return to a site that lacks professionalism. 

Go through both new and old posts with a spell checker. There are also numerous plugins available (try this one) which will allow you to find any broken links which need to be fixed. 

SEO is an ongoing process, but by using the above tips, you’ll ensure that both your new and old content is in the best possible shape for both readers and the search engines. 

Need some help with SEO? Get in touch with our team today.