There is no set rule for how often to update website content. If facts in the content change daily (for example, a mortgage rates forecast page), then it should be updated daily. If the content is evergreen, you don’t need to force an update just for the sake of it.

Ultimately, content should be updated whenever it’s outdated. From an SEO perspective specifically, search engines constantly crawl websites to determine their relevance and value to users. If the content is outdated or irrelevant, it can negatively impact the website’s search engine rankings.

But, what if your content is not outdated – yet it’s still underperforming? Google’s Query Deserves Freshness algorithm doesn’t just take into account content that’s outdated – it also takes into account how helpful the content may be for the user. 

There are several reasons why your content may not ranking well or is losing rankings despite being topical, the most common being the following:

• The page is targeting the wrong keywords: the intent of the article doesn’t match up to what the users are searching for.
• The text is not legible: it’s either too colloquial, or it’s too difficult to read.
• The content is not comprehensive enough: competitor articles seem to be providing more (helpful) information surrounding the covered topic.
• Your website has technical issues that prevent the content from being featured on SERPs, which can only surface if you do a full SEO audit.

If your current website content can be updated, then moving on to creating new content before optimizing your existing one is a waste of resources and potential. Contact Fire&Spark to learn more about how content optimization fits into your overall content strategy.