Manage your Old & Outdated Content with these SEO Tips

Expired content is basically is old piece of information about something which is no longer relevant. Examples range from products which are no longer continued, products which are only available in certain seasons to items which are currently out of stock.

How to Control Lapsed Content?

1. Keep away from exercising a 404 error on your old content because this type of error gives the impression that there is a fault with your page. This damages your brand credibility. Use a 404 only when you want your page to be dead i.e. not accessed by anyone anymore. In the case of a 404 error message try to make the visitors still interested in your content by adding a few images and links at the end of the message. The links will take the viewers to your newly published attractive content which in turn will take their minds off from the unappealing 404.
2. You can apply a 301 permanent redirect by creating a customized note where you mention the reason due to which the user is being redirected to other websites. To avoid confusion in the minds of your customers, be clear why they are being redirected by stating in a message that you are sorry for causing inconvenience and that the product is no longer accessible. While using 301 you can direct users to a new place where they have the option of getting something valuable and this would make up for the unnecessary hassle.
3. Keep the expired content on the site. This might surprise and shock you at the same time, but research shows that if the past content was interesting and provided valuable knowledge to the users keeping it intact might help you indirectly. For example, if there was a poll on the most popular thing sold on your site in a particular month, then keep that information still there and let the users know that they can keep a tab on your polling section for future polls which will prove to be beneficial for them to decide what to buy and what to give a miss. But be sure to keep only valuable expired content since if you try to maintain all the old and new stuff simultaneously on your site, it will not only create confusion to both you and the users but your site may also crash and cause harassment.

One needs to revise past content for the following reasons:

• To boost your brand’s image: No one will want to rely on your old content when your competitors like the SEO agency in Syracuse are coming up with new and exciting content every day. You need to showcase your worth by trying to eliminate completion and be in your customer’s good books. One of the ways to achieve this is to constantly update your site.
• Be in the good books of Google: You should examine your content on a daily basis and check whether its quality is being neglected or not. You need to be careful when you do this since Google Panda marks weak content.

You can make your content updated by certain ways:

1. Reimprovise your posts by checking the facts. In this digital age, things seldom remain the same and so you need to modify all the statistics and data if and when it is required. If the links become old and replaceable, you change them before they become outdated. You also need to consider the SEO. Apart from keeping the URL the same as before you should also stop yourself from changing the headlines and key phrases.
2. Reformat your content so that it becomes easily readable to the average person. Keep the paragraphs short and avoid unnecessary complicated words. Highlight the best parts and include images if possible.
3. CTAS should be replaced to make your posts apt for your target audience.
4. After you have made the required changes, it is time to republish and redistribute your material. One clever way to attract the viewer is to change the date of publication to show that your information is current.

Once you get a rough idea about how to handle your old and outdated content, you must classify all the terminated pages and then decide which source to use. Some pages might need 301 redirection while 404 error messages are suitable for others. Ultimately, it is in your hand to decide what goes best for your website and what doesn’t when it comes to old content.