The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.
We’ve been re-optimizing Brafton's blog content consistently since 2018. It’s been one of the main SEO strategies we’ve used to increase our blog traffic from 20,000 to 200,000 monthly visitors over the last three years, and we’re continuing with this strategy into 2022 (and probably beyond).
For the purpose of this study, we wanted to answer the question, “How well does content re-optimization work, and is it worth your time?”
But first, let’s back up and get some definitions out of the way.
What is content re-optimization?
In its simplest form, content re-optimization is the process of updating existing content with new material in order to add value to the original piece.
There are many ways content can be updated. Here are some methods we’ve used over the years:
-
Adding new visual content, like an infographic, to an existing blog to appeal to readers who are more visual learners.
-
Adding a video tutorial to help elaborate on a topic we’re covering.
-
Replacing outdated examples featured in a roundup blog post with better, more recent examples.
-
Adding missing topic gaps that our competitors are covering but we aren’t.
-
Completely re-writing the content in favor of a better target topic (a very drastic measure).
In all instances, we’re adjusting existing content in some way to make it better for our audience. Ideally, that content will also perform better in organic search.
Why re-optimize content?
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably invested significant time and energy into creating awesome content for your brand — and just like me, you know exactly how much effort goes into every single word published. There’s the planning, the research,