How To Update Old Content For Lawyer SEO

Quick Lawyer SEO Tips On How To Refresh Old Blogs And Pages

Many facets of Lawyer SEO can change with time—search engines update their algorithm, keywords fall in and out of popularity, and legal guides become outdated. Instead of writing new posts to start over again, you can just refresh high-traffic or high-conversion pages to get them to climb back up the ranks.

Why Refresh Your Blogs?

Your legal blog is also a content marketing strategy. You publish new and informative content that is valuable to its readers. Unfortunately, some of them either become outdated or lose traffic with time.

However, you shouldn't ignore your outdated blogs. These pages are already indexed, and they carry traffic and conversion stats that can still benefit your law firm's website. More often, the declining traffic can just be an effect of your blog post losing relevance with time, so doing minor updates might help boost it back up.

6 Tips On How To Refresh Old Content For Law Firm SEO

1. Update Keywords

Performance for each keyword can change with time. After all, keywords are just representations of the most used search terms on search engines. In addition, seasonal keywords tend to suffer changing search volumes throughout the year, so sometimes, it's natural for them to drop in popularity for certain months.

When you're looking at your old content, consider running another round of keyword research. Doing so would tell you which keywords have fallen out of popularity or are losing value.

Remember: Keyword research should not be a one-time task. Keywords and search volumes can change, so you should be doing regular keyword research to update them.

2. Update Data And Information

Like most industries, the facts and common practices of legal services can shift. Whether it's a new law, a changing political climate, or a shift in socio-economic realities, some aspects of law and how they're practiced change.

When this happens, some of your blog posts might become irrelevant, outdated, or incomplete. So look out for these posts and refresh them accordingly.

For Example:

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, you should have already updated some blogs related to employment law. There should be sections discussing new labor regulations—such as work schedules, employment leaves, wage laws, and workers' compensation qualifications.

If you're using statistical data to prove a point or show the status quo, make sure they are not obsolete. For example, if you mean to prove the prevalence of car accidents in your state, don't present readers with 7-year-old data that might no longer apply at present.

3. Add Links To Newer Posts

It's a great SEO habit to use internal links to redirect readers to your older posts. It encourages users to read your backlog, and it sends traffic to older content. Likewise, it's a good idea to recommend newer posts from old blog entries.

As a general rule, you should always think about updating your hyperlinks on your older content. Use relevant anchor text and link supplementary blog entries that might add value to your older posts.

If your older entries are getting a lot of traffic but low conversions, adding a few links might also encourage readers to stick around and read more.

Remember: Links alone cannot single-handedly improve your SEO rankings—link newer posts alongside changing your on-page SEO and refreshing old keywords.

4. Write New Headlines

As we mentioned in a previous post about headlines, the title of a post by itself can attract readers. So look at your old headlines, see if they sound uninteresting or confusing, and see what you can do to rephrase or change it. After all, these headlines will be the first thing users will see on the search results.

If you're using keywords on your headlines, change them based on your new set of keywords. You can always look for a related keyword that contextually means the same thing as your previous one.

If they also happen to indicate a year (i.e., Personal Injury Guide 2017, 2019 Labor Laws, etc.), change it to the current one. The year is supposed to emphasize that the data is current, so leaving that in without updating for years makes it seem obsolete.

5. Update Writing Style

When your blog is targeted at non-lawyers, it's good to adjust your writing style for non-specialists. So, sometimes you'll write with an informal, more conversational tone on your blog posts. However, colloquial language tends to fall out of use with time.

Update your writing style to make your blogs sound current. Nothing ages a post or an article quite like phrases that fell out of popularity. If the tone and style of your old content don't match your current one, rewrite and adjust for those.

This also includes updating obsolete words. Whether they have sociopolitical or legal implications, words tend to change meaning over time. Some of them might even come off as right-out offensive, so look for those when you can.

Do You Need Help With Content?

Blogging is an effective content marketing strategy. However, to maximize its marketing potential, you should be able to constantly update and optimize your blog content.

If you need some help with content, LawyerLeadMachine can assist. Review your Law Firm SEO options here.