Should bloggers delete, update or republish old blog posts?
Michelle, who blogs at Boomer, Eco Crusader, had a question.
Here are Michelle’s questions:
As I move into my fourth year of blogging, sometimes I look back on my early posts and cringe. It’s great that I’ve come a long way as a writer, but I’d love to refresh some of those old posts. Is it better to delete them and republish as a new post, or just go in and update them? Also, does deleting old posts impact SEO rankings?
I’m going to tackle Michelle’s last question first.
Many blogging professionals agree that keeping old, out-of-date blog posts reduces your blog’s overall SEO (search engine optimisation) rating. Even if you regularly publish new blog posts, your blog will suffer if you have old, out-of-date information. Your new blog posts will also receive a lower ranking.
SEOs dislike out-of-date information and will redirect readers to sites with up-to-date information. This is one of the reasons that I recommend every blogger updates their ‘About Me‘ page at least once every six to nine months, especially if it includes pingbacks and links.
Old, out-of-date, and irrelevant blog posts and pages (including your out-of-date ‘about me’ page) serve no purpose on your blog or your reading audience.
I have a clearout of old blog posts at least once a year, usually in December, when I find the blogging world a lot less busy.
Do this first before deleting any blog posts
Before deleting any old blog posts, consider a few things. I’ll cover these in my answers to Michelle’s other question: Should bloggers update old blog posts or rewrite them and delete the older post?
If a post is still relevant, useful and contains evergreen content, I’d recommend that you update it. More so if it includes valid pingbacks to other live posts on your blog or to other blogs and websites.
Don’t forget to check if the post has any incoming pingbacks from other blogs that are still valid (you’ll find these in the post’s comments section).
I recently deleted a pingback from a blogger who had deleted the post that included a pingback to one of my posts. SEOs dislike broken links. They don’t look good on your blog, and if it contains too many broken links, readers will probably not return.
When should I rewrite an old blog post?
If a post has out-of-date content or is poor quality (including images), but you feel it is still relevant, rewrite it. Don’t forget to delete the older version before publishing your new post.
When rewriting the post, give it a new title. Think of a title that would make you want to find out more or make you want to click the ‘read more’ link.
If you have content that is out of date, irrelevant and/or poor quality, but you feel it can be salvaged – even if that means a complete post rewrite – then you should do that!
How to check for broken links
After you delete any old posts, I recommend that you also check for any broken links on your blog.
You can do this by running a report on a free broken link checker site such as Brokenlinkcheck.com. However, beware! If you’ve never performed a broken link check on your blog before, the report you receive could be rather overwhelming. I’d recommend pausing the report once you get to 20 broken links, fixing them, and running another report.
WordPress also offers a broken link plugin, although this will only be available to those on certain WordPress plans or bloggers with a self-hosted blog.
Once you have run a broken link check, I recommend you perform one at least once a month or whenever you delete any old blog posts.
Another good practice is to delete any pingbacks in blog posts you’re about to delete before deleting the post.
Can re-written blog posts become successful?
Yes, defiantly.
I have rewritten and republished many of my earlier blogging tips posts. Not only had they received few views, but I felt the quality was poor, and they had poor quality images. As I rewrote them, I updated procedures and added better quality images that did not slow down my blog. I also added pingbacks to some of my other most successful posts.
Many of these posts have since become my most successful and best-performing posts.
Let’s wrap it up
- Delete any old blog posts containing out-of-date information that can no longer be salvaged.
- Before deleting old blog posts, deactivate the post’s incoming and outgoing pingbacks first.
- Run a broken link report on your blog at least once a month or whenever you delete any old blog posts.
- SEO will rank your blog and new blog posts lower if it contains out-of-date information.
- If a post is still relevant, useful and contains evergreen content, update it. More so if it includes valid pingbacks to other live posts on your blog or to other blogs.
- If a post has out-of-date content or is poor quality (including images), but you feel it is still relevant, rewrite it and give it a new title.
- Always delete older versions of rewritten posts before publishing the new post.
Thank you for your questions, Michelle. I hope I have answered them for you.
Michelle is a boomer with a youthful outlook seasoned with a dash of wisdom.
She lives in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, with her husband and one of her two young adult daughters.
Michelle works full-time in financial services and is passionate about learning new things.
When she’s not working, studying or blogging, you might find her on stage singing rock music or enjoying a walk in the great outdoors.
Visit Michelle’s blog for tips on environmentally-friendly living, decluttering and living your best life.
Connect with Michelle
If you have any questions about this blog post, please leave them in the comments section.
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Hugh's Views & News 
This is good advice, Hugh. I might have to save broken links as a winter project.
Something to add, Dan, since I started repairing broken links on my blog, I’ve had much less spam coming through. It’s a big job, but well worth doing.
Thanks for giving such clear advice. I am currently going through a very similar process with my old blog posts, and am feeling very encouraged after reading this that I am on the right track! Jenny.
That’s great to hear, Jenny. Housekeeping your blog is vital to keep a blog healthy and appealing to its readers.
I understand deleting or updating posts that provide specific information that is no longer valid. But what about posts, where you are sharing a photo or story – a post that is more for entertainment rather than imparting knowledge. Should they stay or should they go?
Thanks, Hugh!
Michelle
If those posts have become, what I call ‘deadwood’ because they are not attracting any new views, comments or likes, I’d either republish them under a different title (because you don’t cringe when rereading them) or delete them, Michelle. Republishing posts certainly help put them in front of a new audience who may not have been following you when you first published them.
Interesting – as ever – Hugh. As ever, food for thought. I hadn’t thought about Throwback Thursday but I can see its a good catalyst to review and keep posts relevant and up-to-date. How often do you do these Throwback Thursdays? I’m assuming weekly would be too frequent? Sorry if I’m digressing but you’ve sparked my interest
Hi Brenda; it’s good that I’ve sparked your interest in Throwback Thursday.
Before today’s Throwback Thursday post, it has been a long time since the previous one. I don’t like overwhelming my followers by publishing too many blog posts, so I’ll publish a Throwback Thursday post if I don’t have many blog posts ready for publication. Some bloggers use the featured weekly, but it depends on how often you publish posts. My only recommendation would be not to overwhelm your followers.
I hope that helps.
Perfect Hugh. I think it makes sense to repost when it fits/feels appropriate. I’ll be working on a few over the weekend and I think one of my previous posts fits in there, so might do my first Throwback Thursday next week 😁
Let me know how it does, Brenda. The post I used for Thursday Thursday has had over 100 more views and two more comments (so far).
Will do 🙂
Hmmmmm . . . you have me thinking. I’ve been blogging since the end of 2009. I need to go through my old posts. I’ve made some posts inaccessible because they have information/photos that I no longer want to share, but maybe I have some sitting around that are clogging up the works.
Love,
Janie
There are probably posts I call deadwood (not attracting any views, likes or comments) in your archives, Janie. Those that have out-of-dare information are doing nothing but damaging your blog. I’d recommend a clearout of them.
Writing containing fresh meat. It’s been a long time not browsing on this cool blog. That’s because I’m in Indonesia very busy with Ramadan worship and other restrictions.
Read the post above. I have a few questions. I hope you will be happy to answer.
Regarding old posts. Should it be published new or just by rewriting the content of the article?
If it is removed it means we have urls for more relevant posts?
Thank You Btother
Thank you for your questions.
1. It depends on how old the post is and whether it’s still getting hits and comments. If it’s more than a couple of years old and not getting any hits or new comments, I’d recommend rewriting it and publishing it as a new post.
If it’s under 2 years old and still getting hits and new comments, update the information in the post.
2. WordPress always gives every new blog post a new URL address as the date of publication is also taken into account.
I hope that helps.
Thanks for the super answer. I just wrote on a blog. I will really consider good advice from you. Thank you for being my teacher.
Great advice Hugh. I really have a lot of spring cleaning to do…
And now is the right time to do it, given that it’s springtime in the Northern Hemisphere.
Great advice! This is something I’ve been pondering lately, and this post really helped inspire me to finally tackle the task. Thanks for the tips!
You’re welcome.
Your comment was marked as spam by WordPress and went straight into my spam folder. Not sure why but you may want to check that any other comments you’re leaving on other blogs are not being marked as spam. If they are, you’ll need to contact WordPress about it so they can fix the issue.
Oh, I be sure to check on that. Thank you for letting me know.
Such an informative post, Hugh. Thank you to Michelle for asking the great questions about older blog posts. There was a time last year when I had a good look at my old blog posts and rethought about he direction of my blog. I ended up minimally rewriting some older blog posts where I felt I had something new to add and felt my post could benefit from additional content in general. It was good to see my progress blogging, how some years ago I was in such a different headspace with blogging and a different writer.
I also made posts private which I felt did not add overall value to my blog, or where I felt was completely irrelevant. As I was typing this I wondered, is there any differences or consequences between making a blog post private or deleting a post?
Hope you are doing well this year, Hugh.
Is there a consequence between making a blog post private or deleting a post? It’s a good question, Mabel. I’d only make a post private if I felt it was not relevant to readers anymore, but I could probably put a lot of work into making it a brand new post. The only problem would be when I would get around to rewriting it. It could remain private for a very long time.
I now look at blog posts as clothes. If they haven’t been read or commented on for more than 12 months, then it’s time to give them a new life, even if that means deleting them and sending them into the void.
You are correct in that looking back at older blog posts can show us just how far we’ve changed and travelled in our writing world. It’s why I have kept some older posts because I can go back and enjoy them again, even if nobody is reading them. But they do have to be very special for me to keep them.
Thank you so much for your comments.
Thanks for addressing my question with your thoughts, Hugh. Much appreciated. I have the same sentiments. I make my posts private if I felt if it wasn’t relevant anymore, but I still like the content which could be rewritten for another time down the track. I do wonder if there are any consequences with SEO by making a post private. I can’t think of any.
That’s a great analogy, posts like clothes. Sometimes they fit our blog, and other times it’s time for them to move on.
Nor can I, Mabel, so I think SEO isn’t an issue for blog posts marked private, providing we don’t have a blog full of them.
Hi Hugh,
This is an important article all bloggers need. Congratulations! Your post won the Inspire Me Monday Linky Party. You will be featured on my site tomorrow.
Janice
Hi Janice, thanks so much. That’s excellent news.
Have a great week.
Thanks Hugh and Michelle for this valuable info. The thought of going through a zillion blogs is daunting, but I’m going to have to – slowly. I noticed after I moved my self-hosted blog back to WP, when I was looking for a certain post through my search bar, the post came out differently (I think that was the block editor’s interpretation from my classic editor previous posts), The linked reblog title was no longer highlighted, it was no longer a link. Right then I knew there must be more like that but haven’t ventured there yet. So I’m appreciative for the help here – as usual. ❤
It’s going to seem a very daunting task, Debby, and that’s why I recommend dealing with a few a day rather than overwhelming yourself in trying to get everything done in a day. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day, was it?
Start with looking at old posts, and delete the ones that are no longer relevant to you or your readers. Doing so will result in you getting rid of some broken links before they appear on your broken link report.
Doing this task has given me an incredible feeling of achievement. It’s like getting rid of old, outdated, no longer used stuff from my life.
Thanks again Hugh. ❤
Another question for you – this time about deleting broken links. When I run the broken link reports I often find the error is in a comment that someone has left, and they are no longer actively blogging so their profile url isn’t valid. Do you tend to delete those comments?
Yes, if they’re no longer blogging, delete the comment that includes the broken link. It’s always much better to get rid of broken links so that your readers do not get a 404-page not found error notification.
That’s what I’ve been doing so far but wasn’t sure it was the correct approach. Thanks fir the confirmation.
You’re welcome, Karen.
I have a question about the advice you give Hugh “Don’t forget to delete the older version before publishing your new post.” I wonder why you need to do a delete – I just update the existing post and republish with a current date.
It’s really up to the individual and what post they’re looking at. A rewrite and republication is often the best way forward as it’s putting the information back out there and in front of all those who may have missed the older post. Consider how much your follower list has grown since the older post was first published. Check if the older version is still getting any new traffic or engagement. If it’s not, then a rewrite and republish is a sure way of the newer post getting more traffic and engagement. However, if you feel a simple update is all that is needed, then go with that.
When you change the publication date of an existing post, a new URL is created, so any links to the original version become broken. This includes any reblogs of the post and any shares on social media platforms. I know of a couple of bloggers who change the scheduled date of published posts a few times a week. All this does, is put the post back at the top of the WordPress Reader. However, when we reschedule an existing post, WordPress does not send out email notifications to followers. For somebody like me, who doesn’t get around to reading some posts for a few weeks after the original publication, it means I get a 404-Page not found error when clicking on the link in the email. I stopped following those blogs because of all the 404-page not found errors I kept getting.
Interesting to learn that a re-publish doesn’t reach people who subscribe by email rather than a feed reader.
I have a lot of posts that don’t get any traffic – they are mostly things like memes and snapshots of what I’m reading in a particular month. So good candidates for a clear out.
If a post has been dead for at least 12 months, I see it as a sign for a rewrite and republish or to delete it.
Does deletion do any harm to the DA rating Hugh?
According to what I’ve read by other blogging professionals, no, it doesn’t. It only does good and helps move your up-to-date blog posts up the rankings.
Hi Hugh, I can’t believe I’ve been in the blogging game for so long and never thought to see if there is a free tool online to check broken links!
Have now run my first one and started with fixing 10 broken links – Thank you!
You’re welcome, James. It sounds as if you’ve done this early enough not to end up getting a massive list of broken links. They can break for all sorts of reasons, the main one being because the page they link to has been moved or deleted. They also appear in the comments section of blog posts (as I’ve discovered).
Thanks Hugh, quick question of advice please? I’m looking at one of my broken links and it’s from a link in someones profile (not in the comment itself). I’ve had a look to see if I could kill the link from the person’s profile, but WordPress only let’s you edit the comment rather than the profile.
My only other option to remove the deadlink is delete the comment which I’m reluctant to do. Any thoughts?
Hi James,
I see that you have 3 choices here –
1. Contact the person and advice them they have a broken link in their profile. Hopefully, they’ll fix it.
2. Delete the comment so that the profile with the broken link is also deleted
3. Leave it as it is.
If you contact them, and next time you run a broken link report, the link is still broken, I’d then delete the comment (and profile).
If it were me, and the person whose profile contains the error Is still active in the world of blogging, I’d go with number 1 first.
Thanks Hugh for your advice, I’ll have a look and see if I can reach them.
I’m scared about what I’ll find once I start looking back at older posts but it has to be done! Thanks so much Hugh, I always learn something new from your posts 🙂
Getting rid of all those outdated and no longer helpful posts made me feel like a million dollars, Debbie. It’s a big job, but I believe it will benefit all those who do it. I’ve already seen more traffic to my blog since beginning to fix all the broken links scattered all over my blog. Deleting old posts went a long way in helping get rid of broken links.