Should you update, delete, or redirect low-traffic blog content?

Discovering that your carefully crafted blog content isn’t performing as expected can be disheartening. However, there’s no need to fear! As an experienced content writing agency, we understand these unique challenges and we’re more than ready to help businesses like yours. It’s our bread and butter, after all. 

To make things easier, we’ll explore the three key ways to deal with underperforming content: updating your content to make it more relevant, deleting posts that no longer serve your goals, and redirecting traffic to more fruitful pages. 

Together, we’ll help you decide which course of action will best boost your website’s ranking and enhance your business’s blog content strategy.

How low-traffic blog content damages your website

You may not know it, but that low-traffic blog sitting in your archive may be doing more damage than you initially thought. 

The thing is, low-traffic blog content can subtly undermine your website’s potential. These underperforming posts can dilute your site’s overall quality in the eyes of search engines, which can be detrimental to your website’s overall ranking. 

Ultimately, this can lead to a lower SEO score, making your site less likely to appear in top search results. Not great when you have competitors you want to outshine.

On top of this, any outdated or irrelevant content can negatively impact user experience, leading to higher bounce rates and reduced credibility. It almost acts like dead weight, pulling down the quality of your entire digital presence.

5 reasons why your blog content is underperforming

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, your blog content might not perform as expected. We get it — it happens. But it’s important to understand the potential reasons behind this underperformance so you can take the next step forward.

1. Your content isn’t optimised for SEO

You might not realise it, but your content could be falling short of search engine optimisation (SEO) best practices. Without the right keywords, meta descriptions, and SEO-friendly formatting, your blog is less likely to be discovered by your target audience. Need a hand with your website’s SEO? Take a look at our SEO services.

2. You don’t have a clear blog content strategy

Having a well-defined blog content strategy or an organised blog planner is essential. Without a clear plan, your content can easily lack focus and purpose — and this will shine through to the quality of your copy. Blog planning is also essential for maintaining consistency and relevance to your audience’s interests and needs.

3. You post inconsistently

Timing is everything, and consistency is key when it comes to blogging. Posting willy-nilly or when you remember can sometimes lead to a decrease in audience engagement and a drop in returning visitors. What’s more, most blog readers prefer a predictable flow of new content as they know what they can expect from your business website. 

4. Your blogs are too long… or too short

Blog length plays a crucial role in SEO. Articles that are too short may not provide enough value to rank well, while excessively long posts can overwhelm readers, reducing your blog traffic. The best blog length for SEO tends to balance value and expertise with readability, usually ranging between 700-2000 words depending on your chosen topic and audience. 

With this, it’s best to use common sense. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes, and think about what length your blog warrants.

We don’t mean to be all doom and gloom, but understanding these pitfalls can help you refine your approach and ultimately elevate your blog’s performance. Crucial if you’re looking to enhance your online presence!

How can you tell when you need to update, delete, or redirect your blog content?

When you conduct a content audit, you’ll be faced with these three options when it comes to managing your underperforming blog content. But — which one do you choose? Let’s get into it.

When to update your blog

Updating your blog content rather than deleting or redirecting can sometimes be the best course of action. Whether this be updating your blog copy directly or using aspects of your blog and reforming it into other forms of content (also known as content repurposing), it’s an effective way to breathe some new life into your posts and say goodbye to any outdated cobwebs. This also helps by making your content more relevant and engaging for your target audience. 

But how often should a blog be updated for the best SEO results? Well, you should — ideally — be reviewing and refreshing your content regularly. Why not aim to reassess your posts every six months to a year? Updating your content will allow you to maintain the SEO value of your original URL while enhancing the content’s relevance and appeal.

When to delete your blog

Deciding to delete a blog post can feel a bit too final — especially for SEO purposes. We’d say that blog deletion is advisable, but only if your content is outdated, inaccurate, or no longer aligns with your current brand message or fits in with your blog content strategy. 

This could be true for posts with information that can’t be updated or repurposed. When you delete your blog content for the right reasons, this can improve the overall quality and relevance of your website, positively impacting your SEO. To avoid this conundrum, ensure that every page on your website contributes positively to your online presence, and keep your content fresh and aligned with your business goals.

When to redirect your blog

The strategic redirect approach is ideal when you have multiple posts on similar topics, causing them to compete against each other in search rankings. You may know this as keyword cannibalisation.

By implementing a redirect (typically known as a 301 redirect), you can merge your content, by channelling the SEO value to a single post. Redirects are also useful when updating a post with a new URL because they ensure that any existing backlinks or traffic to the original post are not lost but instead contribute to your new page’s SEO strength.

Invest in blog content writing and planning services today

It should come as no surprise that effectively managing your blog content is a more-than-crucial step in improving your website’s SEO score and website ranking. Whether you think it best to update, delete, or redirect your content, it’s important to remember that each of these strategies can play a vital role in your digital presence online.

At Narwhal Media Group, we’re a proud digital marketing and copywriting agency based in the heart of Bristol, specialising in elevating your content game. From informative press releases to blog content and engaging ad copy, we’re consistently dedicated to crafting custom content for your website. Content that always hits the mark with your chosen audience.

Take a look at our available SEO and content writing services. Get in touch so we can help you transform your online presence — one word at a time.