I have had my blog for over 13 years now, and I have added many posts to my blog over the years. Realistically, content needs some attention after a number of years, so I often go back to my older posts and update them.

Here are some things I have done with my older posts to update them.

Update images

A lot of posts had photos that just looked outdated. To be honest, some of the old images looked downright terrible! Many photos were dark, blurry, and just outdated.

For many of these I took some new photos, and others I replaced with stock photos. I try to update images when possible – for example, I run them through a photo editing program to lighten them up a little or add edits like text. I have so many tools now that I didn’t have 15 years ago, like an iPhone and a light tent, so oftentimes, it is easy to replace photos.

Update any formatting issues

Some of my older posts were not very visually appealing when I looked back at them. For example, there were images of various sizes within a post, or the post could use better formatting (such as headings).

For WordPress, things have changed a lot since the old WordPress editor, and I updated my posts to the new Gutenberg block format. It helps to get everything looking sharp and consistent.

Update content & make sure content is relevant

A lot of posts just become outdated due to older content. For example, baby products have changed a lot now that my kids are in their teens. Even health and safety standards have changed for babies and products. Technology changes so quickly from year to year. You can update your content to reflect these things.

We do a lot of traveling and travel posts, so when I revisit a place, I like to update the post. For example, we revisited a place in Mexico we had last been to 5 years ago. I added a note to the blog post saying “Update 7/2021”, mentioning that we still enjoyed the destination, and reflected any changes.

Check Google Search Console & Google Analytics

I run old posts through Google Search Console, recrawling if needed. It may seem like something I would have gotten to years ago, but with thousands of posts, some slipped through the cracks and had never been indexed! Even if they are indexed, it is best to request reindexing if you make any updates, so that those changes are picked up by search engines.

I also use Google Analytics to check which posts are most popular. I frequently check back on these posts to make sure I am optimizing those posts (good images, search terms, etc).

Make sure posts have social media images

My blog has been around for quite some time, so circling back to my old posts, some of those do not have images that are optimized for social media (such as pinterest). In fact, some posts didn’t even have a pinnable image, so things that got pinned to Pinterest really just look like a random photo without a title.

I went back through my old posts and made pinnable images. For that, I used PicMonkey, simply selecting a “Pinterest” canvas to work with. I had a hodgepodge of different image sizes, and none with titles. This is an example of a pinnable image.

Update dates when possible

My blog has dates embedded in the URL (something I am not going to change at this point), but you can update any other dates. I also manually enter a date on some posts, such as travel posts when we revisit a place.

Update tags

You can update the tags you use in your post. Sometimes I didn’t have tags in my post, or I just need to add more, or update them. For example, a recipe I posted 10-15 years ago may now be a popular keto food. Travel destinations change and there are usually tags you can add or update one way or another, especially if you add to or update your post.

Add internal links

Internal links are good for your blog. I try to add in new links when possible. Most of my travel posts are linked to one another, so I update these as I go.