Updating and Repurposing Content to Boost SEO

Don’t let great content go to waste

After you hit ‘publish’ on a great piece of content, what comes next? If that’s the end of the line, then you’re doing it all wrong.

Many brands are underutilising the content they create. If you invest time and money in creating a fantastic piece of content, then it’s important to squeeze as much value out of it as possible – and we’re here to tell you how.

In this article, we’ll explain why it’s important to monitor your content’s performance throughout its lifetime and get into the habit of regularly reviewing, updating, and repurposing your content to boost SEO and increase its long-term value.

Why content still matters long after you hit ‘publish’

Hitting ‘publish’ on a piece of content isn’t the finish line – it’s just the beginning. Think of your brand’s online content as a living asset with long-term value.

A high-quality piece of content will continue to provide you with value long after it’s been published – provided you look after it.

Over time, good content can:

• Drive organic traffic to your website.
• Build authority within your niche.
• Attract backlinks and increase visibility.
• Generate leads or conversions.

But it works both ways. Just as good content can provide value, a buildup of underperforming content can be detrimental, harming SEO and weakening your brand’s credibility.

That’s why it’s so important to keep a close eye on how your content is performing and refresh and repurpose it whenever you spot an opportunity to add value.

Why is it important to keep content up to date?

Keeping your content up to date helps to maintain your credibility with both Google and your audience.

Google uses the EEAT framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) to evaluate your content’s quality and credibility. This means that content that is fresh, relevant, accurate, and of high quality is more likely to rank highly in Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), while outdated or inaccurate content is more likely to drop down the rankings.

Regularly reviewing and updating the content on your website with fresh information demonstrates that your brand is active and helps to establish your experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness – not just to Google but also to users viewing your content. 

Fresh, interesting, and reliable content also delivers a better user experience. It builds trust, adds value, and helps enhance your audience’s perception of your brand.

What is evergreen content?

Evergreen content should form the foundation of any effective content marketing strategy. It is one of your most powerful tools for boosting SEO and gaining higher rankings.

Put simply, evergreen content refers to content that is not time-sensitive and will remain relevant and valuable over time. It covers topics that attract consistent search traffic. A good piece of evergreen content will continue to provide value long after you hit ‘publish’.

Good examples of evergreen content include how-to guides and tutorials, FAQs, glossaries and definitions, tips and best practices, and explainer pieces.

Because it has lasting appeal, a successful piece of evergreen content can help to drive consistent organic traffic and attract backlinks, both of which are key to ranking well on Google.

However, to maintain its usefulness, evergreen content must be regularly updated to ensure it is accurate and aligned with current advice and best practices. It is ideal for repurposing into new formats, helping you get more value from your top-performing content.

What is content repurposing?

Also known as content recycling, content repurposing is the practice of taking one piece of content and turning it into many to help reach a wider audience and maximise your content’s value.

Content repurposing helps brands to scale their content production cost-effectively. Rather than creating lots of new content from scratch, you make the most of your existing content, particularly high-performing pieces.

Let’s see how this might work in practice. 

Say you create a successful how-to video on YouTube demonstrating the best way to use your products. From this, you could create a blog post summarising the contents of the video; the blog post could then be transformed into an email newsletter and, finally, promoted with a LinkedIn post. 

That’s one idea repackaged into four different formats, each tailored to a different audience and platform. This helps you get more value from the content you create and increases the chances of it being seen and engaged with.

What are the benefits of repurposing content?

Content repurposing is about working smarter, not harder. It is a budget-friendly strategy for scaling your content output and getting more mileage from your ideas.

Here’s how content repurposing could benefit your business:

• Reach a wider audience: Different people consume content in different ways – for example, one person may prefer reading blogs, while another will only watch videos. Creating content in multiple formats increases the chances of it being seen and of your message being effectively conveyed.
• Boosts engagement: More touchpoints mean more opportunities for your audience to engage with your content.
• Improve SEO: Scaling your content output with more keyword-targeted content can help attract more backlinks and establish authority across your website and social channels, ultimately boosting your credibility and ranking with Google.
• Get more from your content: Creating high-quality content takes a lot of time and money – so why not maximise your investment?
• Support consistent messaging: Using multiple content formats can reinforce your core ideas in different ways to help strengthen brand awareness.

How to repurpose content

To repurpose content successfully, you’ll need to do more than simply copy and paste your blog post to different platforms. Content repurposing requires a strategic approach which considers what to repurpose, how to reformat it, and where it will have the most impact.

Choose the right content

Think about which kind of content that will do well when repurposed. Evergreen content is a good contender as it has a long shelf life. Use analytics to identify evergreen content that is already performing well and then consider how it best lends itself to being repurposed.

Select the right format

Recreate your content in a new format. This could mean turning a webinar into a recap blog post, creating an infographic from a data-rich blog, or turning a series of related blogs into an ebook.

Pick the right platforms

Next, consider which platform the new format will perform best on. Think about which demographic uses the platform, how they use it, and whether it aligns with your content’s message and goal.

Optimise the content for the new audience and/or platform

When repurposing content, tailoring the message to your new audience is crucial. This could involve adapting your tone and language, making your message more concise, adding hashtags and calls to action, or incorporating keywords. Repurposing is most effective when the content feels fresh, intentional, and designed for the audience seeing it.

What should I do with content that is performing poorly?

While it may be tempting to forget about poor content and let it fade into the ether – this tactic could actually be harmful to SEO. Many brands believe it is better to have lots of content on their website, even if it isn’t performing well, rather than no content at all. However, not all content deserves to be kept. Content that is performing badly could cause more damage than good.

If you’ve identified content on your website that isn’t performing well, the first thing to do is to determine why it is performing badly and whether there’s anything you can do to update or repurpose it to give it a new lease of life.

If the content is outdated or no longer relevant, it may be better to remove it altogether. Remember, it’s all about quality over quantity. Poor content could dilute your SEO efforts or even have a negative impact if it contains misinformation or broken links.

How can I use analytics for content repurposing?

Every piece of content that your brand pushes out into the world contributes to its digital footprint, so it’s important to monitor performance and maintain quality over time.

Monitoring your content’s performance is an ongoing process. Underperforming content should be identified and then either updated, repurposed, or disposed of – not left to sit.

To get an accurate and up-to-date picture of how your content is performing, you need to use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Semrush.

Track key metrics for each piece of content, like number of views, bounce rate, average engagement rate, shares, comments, saves, conversion rate, and SEO metrics, including keyword rankings and organic traffic.

These insights can help you identify both underperforming content and content with untapped potential.

Using A/B testing to improve repurposed or updated content

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a method used to determine which version of a piece of content performs better. During A/B testing, you create two slightly different versions of the same content. You could test different titles, meta descriptions, layouts, or calls-to-action. You set both versions live, either simultaneously or in rotation, and then wait to see which one performs best. 

Split testing enables you to make data-driven decisions when updating or repurposing content to enhance its performance. There are lots of different online tools and apps available that make A/B testing quick and easy. Our favourite is Shopift.ai, which was purpose-built for Shopify stores.

Partner with Create8 to make your content work harder

Do you want to scale your brand’s content production, boost its visibility in Google’s SERPs, or start getting more value from the content you’re producing? We’re here to help you!

At Create8, we don’t believe in one-and-done content. Our content writing services will help you unlock the full value of your ideas. We create high-impact content that’s built to last and packed with long-term SEO value.

Ready to turn your brand’s content into a long-term asset? Contact our team today to learn more about our content writing services.