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How to Get 260.7% More Organic Traffic In 14 Days (New Strategy + Case Study)

Brian Dean

Written by Brian Dean

How to Get 260.7% More Organic Traffic In 14 Days (New Strategy + Case Study)

Today I’m going to show you a new strategy that boosted my organic traffic by 260.7%.

(In 14 days)

This strategy also led to a flood of visitors from Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

The best part?

I didn’t need to publish any new content.

And in today’s post I’ll reveal the exact step-by-step process that I used.

The Blog Post That Made Me Say: “I Totally Have to Try This!”

One day I stumbled on a HubSpot blog post called, “The Blogging Tactic No One Is Talking About: Optimizing the Past“.

hubspot blog post

In that post HubSpot revealed that they update and re-publish old blog posts.

I thought to myself: “Hmmm. Interesting.”

Then I learned that this approach led to a 106% increase in HubSpot’s organic traffic.

organic search engine traffic before and after

I (literally) shouted out: “I totally have to try this!”

So I did.

Even I was surprised at what happened next…

Here Are My Results From “The Content Relaunch”

I first executed The Content Relaunch with this post:

backlinko blog post

2 weeks later that page’s organic search engine traffic was up a ridiculous 260.7%.

organic traffic increase in google analytics

I also got a huge spike in traffic from social media and blogs:

traffic spike

Because “The Content Relaunch” got my content in front of lots of people…

…the page accumulated a ton of new backlinks.

number of total backlinks

Needless to say, these fresh backlinks boosted my rankings.

In fact, rankings for my target keyword (“white hat SEO”) jumped from the 7th spot to position #4:

first page google ranking

Now that you’ve seen the results, it’s time for me to walk you through the step-by-step process I used.

The 3-Step Process to Higher Rankings and More Traffic With “The Content Relaunch”

There are 3 steps to The Content Relaunch:

Step #1: Identify under-performing content

Step #2: Improve and update that content

Step #3: Republish your post

Here’s why this strategy is so effective:

First, new readers see your old content.

Chances are, 90%+ of the people that might benefit from your content never see it.

But when you relaunch your content, you create another opportunity for people to benefit from your stuff.

Second, you make your content better.

I’d be willing to bet you have at least a handful of posts on your site that are outdated or mediocre.

The Content Relaunch gives you the opportunity to update and improve that content.

Better content=more traffic.

Third, your content has built-in social proof.

When you relaunch a blog post, you have social proof on Day 1.

For example, my post already had lots of comments and Facebook likes the day I relaunched it:

likes and comments

With that, let’s dive into the step-by-step process…

Step #1: Identify Under-Performing Content On Your Site

Your first step is to find a piece of content to re-publish.

Here’s how:

1. Pages That Rank #7-#15

You probably already know that the top 3 spots in Google get the lion’s share of traffic (source).

organic CTR study

(In fact, the top 5 positions in Google get 67.5% of all clicks)

That’s why you want to push pages that rank #7-#15 into the top 5.

But first, you’ll need to find these pages.

To do that, head over to the Google Search Console and click on “Search Analytics”.

google search analytics

Then, click on “Impressions” and “Position”:

position in google search console

Finally, glance over the results. Keep an eye out for pages that get lots of impressions…but rank between #7-#15.

ranking low on first page

These are pages that could get a significant boost from The Content Relaunch.

2. Pages Where Organic Traffic Dropped Off

If you see a page’s organic traffic sliding…

organic traffic decline

…The Content Relaunch can get it back on track.

3. Content That Under-Performed

We’ve all been there…

You put your heart and soul into a piece of content.

But when you launch it?

Crickets.

Sometimes this is simply a case of bad luck (or timing).

In fact, that’s exactly what happened to me when I first launched this post in 2014:

old blog post

It did OK…but way below my expectations.

And when I used The Content Relaunch on that post two years later, traffic to that page shot through the roof:

post after content relaunch

4. Content That’s Good…But Could Be Better

My white hat SEO case study was OK…

…but there was a LOT of room for improvement.

I’ll have more details on how I improved my post a bit later.

But to give you an idea of why my post was lacking, just take a look at this screenshot from the post:

old twitter

Yup, Twitter hasn’t looked like that in a looooong time.

Step #2: Make Your Content 2x Better (And More Up-To-Date)

Now that you’ve found a piece of content for The Content Relaunch, it’s time to improve that content.

Here’s exactly how I made my content (at least) 2x better:

1. Updated Images and Screenshots

Like I mentioned earlier, my post had some VERY old screenshots:

old google search results

These ancient images made my visitors say to themselves: “How old is this post anyway?”.

Not good.

So I updated the old screenshots with new ones:

new google screenshot

Simple…yet effective.

2. Improved The Post’s Structure

My old post had an unnecessary section at the top called, “Wait…What’s The Skyscraper Technique?”.

old section

This section was unnecessary backstory. So I decided to scrap that section and jump right into the results instead:

new section of a blog post

3. Added a New Case Study

This was a big one.

I realized that my content was solid, but it had one gaping hole:

The case study featured someone that ran an SEO blog.

Which led to comments like this:

misguided comment

I’ve personally seen The Skyscraper Technique work in dozens of different industries.

But I needed to prove it.

So I added a new case study from someone in a boring niche (workplace wellness).

new case study

4. I Addressed Common Reader Questions

Whenever I publish a post about SEO, I inevitably get the “what’s the ROI?” question.

ROI question

And it’s a good question.

So I added a section to my post that outlined Emil’s ROI:

roi section

5. Did More Storytelling

My original post had almost ZERO storytelling.

That’s OK for a list post…

…but NOT for a case study.

After all, the story is the most compelling part of any case study.

So I added a backstory to explain WHY Emil needed to get more traffic.

storytelling in a blog post

OK, this story may not get you to shut off Game of Thrones.

But still: ANY story is better than none at all.

6. Added Bonus Steps

My original post was comprehensive-ish.

And I realized that comprehensive-ish wasn’t comprehensive enough.

That’s why I added a step #0…step zero

…and a smattering of pro tips:

pro tip

That way my post was a one-stop resource for people that wanted to execute a white hat SEO campaign.

Step #3: Time to Relaunch!

Now that my post was 2x better, it was time to share it with the world.

Here’s exactly what I did to get the word out:

1. First, I let bloggers know that I had a new case study coming out.

If you’re reading this you already know that you need to promote the heck out of your content.

And the best way to do that?

Targeted email outreach.

For this post I looked for people interested in The Skyscraper Technique.

How? I Googled “The Skyscraper Technique”.

google search

(Pretty clever, right 😉 )

And when I found someone that wrote about The Skyscraper Technique…

mention in a blog post

…I sent them a friendly email:

outreach email

Because my email was ridiculously targeted, most people were happy to share my post when it came out:

outreach email response

2. Second, I changed the “published” date in WordPress.

This is important.

When you change the post’s “published” date, your post appears at the top of your blog feed.

To change the date, just head over to that post and click the “edit” link under the post’s date:

wordpress published date

Then change the date to today…

changing published date

…and hit “update”.

Like magic, your post will appear at the very top of your blog feed:

top of blog feed

3. Next, I shared the post on Twitter.

Here it is:

tweet

As you can see, nothing fancy.

That said, you may have noticed that I emphasized the new case study.

And I recommend you do the same thing for your Content Relaunch.

In other words:

When you promote your relaunched post, put your content’s new features front and center.

Did you add an infographic? Emphasize that.

Did you write a new section? Emphasize that.

Did you shoot a video tutorial? Emphasize that.

When you emphasize what’s new, you’ll get old AND new readers to check out your post.

4.  Finally, I sent the Backlinko community an email.

This is HUGE.

If you want more people to read your content, you need to start building your email list.

(And then let your subscribers know about your new stuff).

Case in point:

My Tweet above got a grand total of 111 clicks:

total tweet clicks

And my newsletter email?

7 THOUSAND.

total clicks email

(To be fair, I have twice as many email subscribers than Twitter followers. But you get the idea).

And when it was all said and done, my page got a 260% lift in organic traffic thanks to The Content Relaunch:

organic traffic increase in google analytics

Not too shabby 🙂

By now you can probably see why this is quickly becoming one of my favorite search engine optimization techniques.

Now It’s Your Turn…

Now that you’ve seen my results, I’d like to hear from you.

What do you think of The Content Relaunch?

Or maybe you have a question about a step in the process.

Either way, leave a comment quick below.

I’ll be around today to reply to comments and answer questions.

So if you have a question or thought, leave a comment right now.

418 Comments

  1. Hi Brian, this is really amazing. I do republish my old posts but now I learned something new, ‘optimize’ ‘update screenshots and links’, ‘share like crazy’, ‘change the date to today’.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Emmanuel. Totally. It’s important to actually update the post before you republish.

  2. Wow, great new article. Your stuff always impresses me. Keep up the good work Brian!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Felix. I’ll do that 🙂

  3. Abby Avatar Abbysays:

    Hey Brian,
    Thanks for sharing. Although it is something one has heard of before, it’s good to read about it in such depth, with doable action plans.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Abby. Yes I’ve heard of the idea before but didn’t realize how powerful The Content Relaunch was until I tried it.

  4. Sweet! Im gunna go ahead and action all these points on some of my content

  5. Iqbal Avatar Iqbalsays:

    Hi Brian,

    Another great post as usual. I think your timing to write this post is great, because I’ve seen lot of other blogs doing it lately.

    And you’re right, I think updating our old content is much better than to write something new, because sometimes people publish something new just for the sake of publishing, and the results are crappy content.

    Once again, nice post Brian!

    Cheers,
    Iqbal

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Iqbal, yes totally. Most people have a wealth of awesome content sitting in their archives. And it’s usually 10x faster (and more effective) to re-publish that content vs. creating something from scratch.

  6. Awesome, awesome dude!

    So much inspiration to dive into the content, analyze and start working! Thanks for your transparency in sharing what works for you!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Zakaria. I held this technique close to my chest. But it was too good not to share with the Backlinko community.

  7. Ladislav Voros Avatar Ladislav Vorossays:

    Great article Brian, thumbs up 🙂

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Ladislav. Glad you learned something new.

  8. I’m in a relatively blah niche, but since my site is new I don’t really have content to repurpose. Nevertheless, most of the tips in this article apply to new posts as well. Basically, if you do it right from the beginning, there’s no need to repurpose later. Time to get writing!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      David, that’s very true. That said, even the best content gets out of date, needs a refresh etc.

  9. Awesome thanks Brian, really appreciate you sharing this stuff. Now if only I had some old content which was as good as mediocre 😉

  10. Bill Avatar Billsays:

    This is brilliant Brian, you’ve just inspired me to relook on my old content.

    What I like most and am happy you did it, is the “Targeting email outreach” part.

    Reaching out to people who’re interested in your topic, is a great ROI.

    Its really working for me and am sure it can work for anyone.

    Thanks a lot.

    Best
    Bill

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Sounds good, Bill. Yes that’s a huge part of content promotion…even when you use The Content Relaunch.

  11. Srinvasa Chaitanya Avatar Srinvasa Chaitanyasays:

    Nice Post Brian 🙂 This was the same technique that I used to double my search traffic. I also include ” Current Month, Year” at the end of the post title which increased the CTR.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Srinvasa, glad to hear that you’ve seen similar results. From people I’ve talked to The Content Relaunch works well 99% of the time (when done right).

  12. Brian, This is so insanely simple! I remember reading that Hubspot post and was interested, but didn’t see the opportunity like you had.

    I noticed you were able to outrank sites like Moz and was dying to read about why you were republishing/updating your older posts.

    One question I have is about the frequency of updates. Recently, I changed the meta info on an old post to increase click-through rate. Immediately after, I was thrown off the grid and sitting on page 5 now for a particular keyword phrase.

    Wondering if this tactic will help.

    Thanks again for sharing. Added to my buffer.

    Cheers,

    Sam

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Sam, some of the best things in life (and marketing) are, amirite? 🙂

      Good question. Hmmm. That may have been due to a few reasons: a) coincidence as Google was super volatile in September, b) the CTR was worse with the new meta data, c) the new meta data didn’t include a keyword or phrase that was helping you rank.

      So yeah, I’d consider revamping the whole post, adding the old meta data back, and giving the post the whole Content Relaunch treatment.

      1. Thanks dude. Will add the content relaunch to my to-do list.

  13. Thanks for the post. For clarity, when you say “repost,” do you mean leaving the URL the same and changing the post date to today’s date? Anything else you do from a technical end?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Chad. Yes exactly: you only need to update the published date in your CMS and you’re good to go.

  14. Hey Brian,

    Your SEO strategies are working. Even though you don’t publish oftenly, what is already published is a gold mine.

    I love the Skyscraper technique the most.

    I have also confirmed that changing the publish date can boost your rankings almost overnight.

    Cheers!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Tony 🙂

  15. YES. I love this because 99% of blogs on the internet need to be doing THIS instead of publishing yet another top 10 list that gets no attention. Imagine how much better the blogosphere would be if people spent time carefully crafting and improving articles like they were ongoing works of art. Imagine. Question: any rough estimate of how many direct emails you sent?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Well said, Devesh.

      I almost look at content like real estate. Rather than build another house, why not renovate one of the 50 you already own?

      I actually send much fewer outreach emails with The Content Relaunch because the post has so much built-in social proof from the first time around.

  16. Hello Brian,

    This strategy can easily be scaled for clients/niche sites. I’ve been doing this same technique for our link building blog as well and this pumps up the traffic of our latest guide on link building: https://sharprocket.com.ph/link-building-tips/

    I’ll add a few points here.

    You can plug in your competing ranking pages to Ahrefs (make sure you use the exact URL option), then go to Organic Keywords section – there you’ll find tons of organic keywords that can be added to your content. How? Update your existing content with new sections from organic keywords like (e.g. what is _____, ___ tutorial, ____ resources). This will help your content to be more comprehensive and can help acquire new organic keywords for new added sections. Best thing. When searched for those new phrases, the content itself can naturally acquire new natural backlinks/mentions from publishers referencing that content – boosting the overall page authority of that content asset.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Venchito, great insights here.

      SO what you’re saying is that you don’t just update but also add a few long tail keywords as well?

      1. Yes, but make sure to add new sections that aren’t your target keyword. For example, your post is about “link building strategies”, over time that guide ranks #11 to #15 for long tail keywords like “what is link building” – which isn’t your target keyword at the first place but have some good search volumes. That’s a goldmine! You can add a section in your content explaining what link building is all about. Because Google sees your content to be relevant to other long tail keywords, it’d better for your content to be updated that way.

        Another option is what I said, in case your content is not ranking for other long tail keywords aside from your main target phrase, you can plug in your competing ranking pages to Ahrefs and identify long tail keyphrases that they are ranking.

        1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

          Makes sense. Very solid insights.

  17. Hi Brian,

    I am Huge FAN of yours. And thanks for sharing this strategy. Honestly speaking I am following this technique from past 2 months and my blog traffic grew from 1000 per day to 25000 per day, this technique is really awesome.

    Thanks
    Cheers!!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Very cool, Dhruv. Sounds like I’m not the only one that’s benefited from The Content Relaunch.

  18. Love it

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      🙂

  19. Great article Brian ! I was wondering how you could turn your somewhat productive content into something more effective. Turns out this might just be the answer i was looking for.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Francois. Yup, this would be one of my first steps. The Content Relaunch can really help underperforming content get a second chance.

  20. That’s some awesome startegy I learned today, I am the first one to share this article on FB 🙂

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Nice! Thanks for sharing

  21. I am damn struggling with traffic – the search analytics i did on my blog is not impressive. I find it hard to spot my position on google at the moment

  22. Hi, i love all your posts, very simple and direct to the point, but i really wonder how can i apply to my case. I have a cooking blog and it’s a little more difficult to apply you advices. Does not this really behave different depending on your type of content?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Sara, why would this not apply to cooking blogs? Is it 100% recipes?

      1. Most of it yes. Maybe if i change the content a little and replace some pictures with new ones do you think it can have the same effect?
        I have already identify some posts to re-publish with lots of impressions but rank between 7 and 15 as you said. I will try just to update the pictures and the date and check 😉

  23. Hey Brian,
    I’m new in SEO. I recently create my 1st website. That have no more clicks and impressions yet. So I decided to use this technique a later. when I will have some more clicks and impressions.
    What’s your suggestion? please

    Regards
    Raees

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Raees, I’d agree. This works best for blogs that already have a few pieces of solid content on them.

  24. Meric Avatar Mericsays:

    Thanks for these very useful informations Brian!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Meric.

  25. Wow, how come I never thought of this?

    It feels like too much work but it’s definitely worth the traffic

    Brian, you’re an eye opener!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Sam. Yup there’s some work involved with The Content Relaunch. But it’s 1000% worth the effort.

  26. Omer Digner Avatar Omer Dignersays:

    Hey Brian, I am pretty new to SEO and I want to make big nutrition blog but most of the gurus are telling not to enter in competive industry, I want to ask you if you were in my place and you have 300 usd in pocket, no connections in industry then what will you do ?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Omer, I’d definitely save up before launching into a competitive space. That marketing budget will help you out.

  27. Juan Sebastian Avatar Juan Sebastiansays:

    Awesome post! I have been doing something very similar, and can confirm it brings incredible results.

    My organic traffic went from 10,000 visitors a day to about 12,000

    One question: Is that “Referring Domains (Live Index)” report from Google Analytics?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Wow, nice! A 20% increase in organic traffic is legit.

      That report is from Ahrefs (great tool).

      1. Juan Sebastian Avatar Juan Sebastiansays:

        Thank you!!!

  28. Thanks. I was pondering on the date update part just a few days ago searching you have answered my question.

    One thing struck me is that you still leave your old comments. If people would see comments from 2 years wouldn’t they think twice about the article. How would they know if the article is really updated with new and up to date info for all they know you could of just changed the date some audiences may be ticked off. Just sayin great article keep it up.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Harris.

      Great question. That’s why I don’t include dates with comments. Otherwise, as you said, it can cause confusion when you re-publish your post.

  29. Great work Brian!

    You always rock.

    Your today’s strategy is awesome. Got many things to learn. Will apply and re-launch my old content.

    One thing I want you to be aware. I am subscriber in your newslatter. But, your last email was in my Gmail spam folder. 😛

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Abdul. I try 🙂

      You’re not alone there. Gmail was acting funny today.

  30. Great,
    Thank you very much for the information…

    I’ll put into practice …

    Always ask me how it should update an article correctly!

    Again thank you very much

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Alberto.

  31. Excellent post as usual.
    By the way, the floating social bar looks good. Is this a plugin or integrated through coding? If plugin then what’s the name?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Sowmay. That’s a custom-coded feature that’s built into Backlinko’s theme.

  32. This is a good one. I have noticed you doing this by checking your site through wayback machine. But i dont know the term content relaunch. Now i got this. Unfortunately this time i did not receive the mail from you. I got your update from my friend.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Selvakumar. I don’t think anyone named the approach so I decided to do it 🙂

  33. Hello Brian, I must confess, the efficacy of this method is “MIGHTY”. I’ve used it several times and it has worked like charm for me. I also do recommend it to others to, so when I saw it here, I just smiled. I learned some new things in the post too, so its amazing adding to my knowledge.

    Nice job.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Glad to hear that, Blsco. In my opinion The Content Relaunch is one of the most underrated blogging strategies online.

  34. Dimitar Margaritov Avatar Dimitar Margaritovsays:

    Hi Brian, thanks for the awesome case study. Is this achievable on a relatively new website, which has no backlinks, no traffic and one blog post, which is one month old?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Good question, Dimitar. The Content Relaunch is definitely better for existing websites with some age and a good chunk of posts.

  35. Great Post.

    I personally got a lot of success with the content relaunch. I have seen ranking boost as much as 20 in the SERPs.

    Thanks for again sharing an awesome case study.

    Cheers

    Hav a great day.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Nice! I’ve seen similar results. Do the results stick for you?

  36. wonderful white hat seo case study brian!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Shaun

  37. Great stuff Brian!

    I noticed that you downplayed your Email vs Twitter click volume. After doing a little analysis based on your data – the huge insight for me was: The Click Through Rate (CTR) for Email subscribers was *Massively* higher than your Twitter audience. Not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison but clearly a huge difference in engagement. Either Subscriber-to-Click or Impression/Open-to-Click

    I’m sure there’s more under the hood in terms of persona loyalty and frequency of contact – regardless that’s an amazing data point. And I know you’ve been emphasizing building email lists – this is definitely a great example of following the numbers to be more effective.

    A sincere thank you – always love reading your breakdowns.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Dan.

      You’re 100% right: the difference is staggering. And it’s one of the (many) reasons that email marketing crushes social media. As you said, it’s semi-biased because email subscribers may be more into my content. But still. That doesn’t account for the insane difference in CTR between the two platforms.

  38. This is brilliant! I never thought about changing the publishing date. Keep the great info coming!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Tim. Yup, that makes a big difference because it goes to the top of the ol’ blog feed 🙂

  39. Tonya Goodspeed Avatar Tonya Goodspeedsays:

    Hi Brian,

    Great post-I’ve been trying to decide on a reposting strategy-now I have one (I’ve already done the search console analysis in the article).
    My question is, I notice that when outlining the search console steps, you mention finding page ranks between 7-15, but you have “queries” instead of “pages” checked in the search box. Should I be focusing on page rank or KW/query rank? I’ve done the search both ways…

    Thanks in advance,
    Tonya

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Tonya, Great question. You definitely want to go with “queries”. Pages averages your rankings for all keywords (including irrelevant ones). So I recommend focusing on pages + keywords that make the most sense for your business.

      1. Tonya Avatar Tonyasays:

        Thanks Brian! Will do. Also, I’m really enjoying your blog:)

  40. I love this tactic, Brain. It’s something we all can do and it’s so effective. After you’ve written a post, you’ll probably read new information, get fresh data, find new tools, etc which will make sense to add to your post.

    I have a few blog posts I was dying to make more helpful for my readers. I’m aiming to make them at least 3x better 😉

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Sounds good, Raul. Totally. Everyone with a blog has at least one post that could use a refresh/upgrade. And if you’re going to go through all that effort, why not relaunch it!

  41. Dany Santos Avatar Dany Santossays:

    Great Brian (as usual) !

    I definitely love your way of doing SEO and I apply a lot of your tips&tricks with my clients.

    Keep up the good work !

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Dany. I appreciate that 🙂

  42. Guy Avatar Guysays:

    Another simple, yet brilliant technique! Would you recommend additionally updating title tags?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Guy. Sometimes the simplest strategies are the best ones 🙂

      Yes I would. I’d optimize it for CTR as that’s big for SEO right now.

  43. Thanks Brian, your posts are always a great inspiration.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, James.

  44. This is awesome! I deleted more than 200 posts on my blog, disavowed more than 20,000 backlinks and changed the permalink shorter. The result was in a few days my blog tanked in Google search rankings and even Alexa ranking. The organic traffic dropped by more than 300%.

    Disappointing? No, it was an opportunity for a fresh start. I’m now working on optimization of the remaining 40 posts. I’m working on on page SEO and improving the graphics. In the past two weeks, I noticed a steady increase in traffic. It’s not at 276% level but might be heading there if I follow your advice.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Awesome Edmond. I’m a big fan of fresh starts. Best of luck.

    1. Ben King Avatar Ben Kingsays:

      Did you 301 any of the 200 deleted posts? Did you run the 20,000 backlinks through a link detox process?

      Brian is likely being polite, you’ve clearly damaged your SEO by being too heavy handed!

      I would certainly be disappointed if I tanked in the rankings and lost 300% of my traffic (assuming the actually traffic numbers were significant to begin with)

      Good luck though, a fresh start can put you in a better place mentally! If you earned your rankings once, you can earn them again!

  45. Manu Avatar Manusays:

    Hi Brian,

    This is another great post if you republish your previous content with full dedication improving content quality, images, screenshots and videos it will definatly going to boost rankings.

    I have one question: Can i place any informative video to someone else’s on my website to help my readers?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Manu. Do you mean a video from YouTube?

      1. Yes Brian,

        Can i Take any informative Video with in my Post? Kindly Let me Know.

        Thanks,
        Manu

        1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

          Sure why not?

  46. Once I saw the title of the post I began wondering how you were going to handle the publishing date (i.e., leave it as is or update it). Modifying the publishing date is great for putting the post at the top of your blog page and for signaling to readers that it’s new/recent content, but what to do if you have a permalink structure that uses dates? I don’t, but it certainly crossed my mind. Just do a redirect? (I’m guessing that the downsides of a redirect are far outweighed by the extra life that the updated post gets.)

    Very encouraging post—thanks, Brian.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Matthew, good question. That’s why I don’t recommend using dates in URLs. They’re nothing but trouble. But yeah, I agree that a 301 is usually your best bet in that case.

      1. Steven Jacobs Avatar Steven Jacobssays:

        I just read this comment. I could see not using dates for a company, but for a news site like mine, I think dates are crucial. Guess the only way to combat this is to do a new post completely and just expand upon the original article.

  47. Top notch as usual, Brian.

    We do repurpose out content and change the publish date (updated at date in our case), but I got some nifty new tips from this piece, specifically, paying attention that previous feedback, questions, and changing images, emphasising new content in promotion and adding new sections.

    Often, you can go into an old post, make a few spelling/grammar modifications and save, and Google (as well as other places) will pick up the new published/updated at date, in turn giving you a boost, but these techniques help freshen things up and improve that boost. So, I’ll be making sure I update or add something new next time I refresh.

    Thanks, Brian.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Gareth. Yes, that’s true. But I prefer The Content Relaunch because it’s more than just a new paint job — the post is significantly better.

      Keep me posted on how this works out for you.

  48. Martin Avatar Martinsays:

    How can it work in online shop? I don’t see any option to use for ecommerce.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Martin, this technique is for article content.

  49. This tips is brilliant. I just make some try to implement this. But some minor issue appeared. If I change publish date some post in wordpress, old url will have 404 error, should I leave it or make a redirect 301 to a new one?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Firman, you actually don’t want to change the URL.

  50. Great share here Brian!
    I remember i once followed this technique; republished an old post, add latest date to it and the result was good!
    But i think i read/hear it somewhere that Google doesn’t like republishing old contents and putting it in today’s dates, i mean like doing it too much!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Tunde, you’re right: this can be done in a black hat way. But The Content Relaunch isn’t shady. You’re giving your content an update and re-publishing it –something Google would want you to do.

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