Updating old blog posts: which ones, what to change, what to leave

Start with posts that can move with one focused edit. Ignore pieces that never earned a click.

• Positions 5 to 15 on valuable queries. These are striking distance posts. A nudge can lift them into the fold of clicks.
• Impressions steady but clicks falling. The demand is there, your snippet or position slipped.
• Pages with links already. Do not waste time on an island. Build on what has proof of life.

A good target looks like this: /blog/how-to-export-csv sits at average position 9.8, impressions flat, clicks down. It has four decent links. You can fix that in an hour.

Content decay is a page’s steady loss of clicks and impressions over months while the rest of the site holds. The results page likely moved, or your page went stale. Your job is to tell demand drops from page drops, then act.

1. 1

   Open Performance, Pages

   In Search Console, go to Performance, then switch to the Pages tab.

2. 2

   Compare periods

   Compare the last three months to the previous three months. For seasonal sites, compare to the same period a year before.

3. 3

   Sort by click difference

   Sort by the difference in clicks. This shows the biggest losers first.

4. 4

   Drill into queries per page

   Click a falling page, switch to Queries. If the main queries lost impressions, demand fell. If impressions held but position worsened, the page fell.

5. 5

   Mark striking distance

   Note pages where top queries sit around positions 5 to 15. These respond well to tight edits.

Export the list. You now have three buckets: decay you can fix, demand that shrank, and posts in striking distance. Work on the first and the third. Park the second unless it still matters for your product.

A refresh keeps the same URL. It updates facts, rewrites sections that no longer match the query, answers the questions now asked, retakes screenshots, fixes dead links, and revises the title if the results page moved. It sets the modified date to reflect a significant update. It is not a rewrite from scratch and not a new URL.

• Keep: the URL, the core topic, any paragraphs with data or examples still right.
• Change: outdated steps, prices, dates, tool screens, internal links, and any section that does not map to current queries.

If /guides/getting-started shows a 2023 interface and old plan names, keep the structure but swap the screens, update plan names, adjust steps, and link to the new /pricing. Do not pad the word count for its own sake.

Most wins come from moving the answer up, adding the missing facts, and covering the questions the results page now shows. You are optimising for search intent as it is today, not how it was written then.

• Put the answer earlier. If the post meanders, start with the steps or the code, then the context.
• Update facts. Dates, prices, limits, API fields, and any number that aged. Retake screenshots that no longer match.
• Cover new questions. Read People also ask on the main queries. Add short sections that answer these in your own product context.
• Tighten headings. Make each section map to a search task. One idea per heading helps scanning and featured snippets.
• Trim bloat. Remove fluff that distracts or competes with the main answer.

Example: a post for “import csv to yourproduct” starts with a story. Move the three-step import at the top, add a note on max rows if that changed, and answer “why does import fail” if that PAA shows today. Link to /guides/csv-template if you now have one.

If impressions held and clicks fell, your snippet is not earning the click. Fix the title, meta description, and the first paragraph. Keep within standard lengths as of 2026: about 60 characters for a title and 120 to 155 characters for a meta description. Do not promise what the page does not deliver.

• Match the primary query in the title. Avoid vague tags like “Ultimate” if rivals show clear value.
• Reflect the current SERP. If the page type winning is “How to… in 3 steps”, align your phrasing, not the entire structure.
• Use the intro to set expectations. Name the task, the tool version, and any limits up front.
• Refresh structured data. If you use Article markup, ensure headline, datePublished, and dateModified match the page and the visible dates.

Example title fix: before, “CSV Import Tips”. After, “Import a CSV to YourProduct: 3 steps, new limits”. The snippet now meets current searches and sets the context fast.

A page earns more when it sits in a useful family. Refresh the links in and out. Add links to newer, deeper guides that did not exist when you first wrote the post. Fix broken links and redirects while you are in there.

• Add internal links to your newer pages. From /blog/import-csv to /guides/csv-template and /guides/api-import.
• Link back from those newer guides to the refreshed post where it makes sense. Close loops within two clicks.
• Replace dead or redirected external links. If a cited spec moved, point to the live document.
• Check anchor text. Use natural, descriptive phrases like “CSV template” instead of “click here”.
• Review navigation blocks. If you have a “related” section, surface the refreshed post on adjacent pages.

If two posts both try to rank for “connect gmail to yourproduct”, you have a cannibalisation risk. Decide which will lead, merge or retarget the other, and link accordingly. Each page should stand on its own answer that a reader would want.

Show a visible date and set the same date in datePublished and dateModified. Google can read both and prefers a page that says when it was last updated. Only change the date when you make a significant update. A republished page keeps its URL.

• If you update a guide meaningfully, change the visible “Updated” date and dateModified. Keep datePublished as the first publish date.
• Do not roll the date for minor edits like a typo fix. That is discouraged.
• Do not create a new URL just to look fresh. Keep equity on the original URL unless the topic truly changed.
• If the year is in the title, ensure the content now reflects that year. Do not ship “2026” with 2023 screenshots.

Some posts should not be refreshed. Merge overlapping pieces, redirect weak variants, and remove content with no purpose. Prune on data, not a hunch. Low quality across many pages can affect how the site is assessed, so clean up matters for a small site.

• Merge: when two pages rank on the same queries and neither does well, or both answer one intent. Keep the URL with more links and clicks. Fold in what the other had that was better. Redirect the other with a 301.
• Delete: when a page has no clicks, no impressions, no links, and no purpose for a year. Return 410 or 404. If a close equivalent exists, 301 to that instead.
• Retarget: when a post chased a query you cannot win or no longer care about. Keep the URL, change the angle, and update internal links.
• Document each choice. Add a note in your content sheet with the date and reason.

If you have /blog/zapier-integration and /blog/connect-zapier-to-yourproduct, and both sit around position 12, merge into the stronger URL and redirect the other. Add a short note at the top if the merged page now covers both angles.

Build a sheet. One row per page. This is your quarterly control. You do not need a big tool to start, but you do need discipline.

• Columns: URL, clicks and impressions per month for 12 months, inbound links, datePublished, dateModified, primary queries, purpose, decision.
• Decision field: keep, refresh, merge, redirect, or remove.
• Repeat the audit each quarter. Judge decisions on the next quarter’s figures. Adjust your rules if a pattern fails.

This stops you from tinkering at random. It also guards against “scaled content abuse”, “site reputation abuse”, or reviving expired content for ranking alone. Your blog grows as a set of helpful pages, not a churn of posts.

• Confirm target: positions 5 to 15 or decay with impressions steady.
• Scan the current results page: types, headings, People also ask.
• Move the answer up. Rewrite the intro for today’s task.
• Update facts, screenshots, and any changed limits.
• Add missing sections to cover present questions.
• Fix broken links. Add internal links to newer pages.
• Revise title and meta description within standard lengths.
• Set visible “Updated” date. Update dateModified. Keep datePublished.
• Request indexing if you made large changes. Then watch clicks and queries for the next 28 days.

If you want a quick shortlist of posts to refresh based on your URL and live searches, Porteur can do that in about thirty seconds and show three findings free.