How Often Should You Update Your Website Content for Maximum and Powerful Impact?
One of the most common questions I get asked is “How often do I need to update my website content?” The short answer? It depends.
I know. That answer isn’t super helpful, but hopefully, I can give you some insight and a better understanding in today’s post.
It’s important to note that this post is talking about updating your website content, not updating your overall website design and not updating your SEO (although, when you update your website content, you’re also going to affect your SEO…in a positive way). If you’re more interested in learning when to update your website design, I recommend every 2-3 years. The industry standard is to update your website design between 1-5 years—I take the middle road. If your website is over 5 years old, you’ll likely miss out on some golden opportunities to reach your potential clients. Website and design trends change rapidly, and keeping up with those changes is essential. If your competitor keeps up with those changes more than you do, you won’t look that great. A company that stays on top of design and web trends will be way more trustworthy and build more authority than a company that’s ignoring their website.
Ok, back to the topic at hand… updating your website content…
When you update your website content, you are significantly helping your business. Whenever you update content…
you’re getting into Google’s good graces… aka, you’re boosting your SEO ranking… which means it’s easier for people to find you… which means…
you’re driving more traffic to your site… which means…
you’re converting that traffic to sales.
you’re showing that you’re open, active, and alive.
So this post is going to cover:
what website content is
the purpose of website content
How often to update your website content
How to know what to update
How to update your website content
What is considered website content?
Website content is any written or visual content a user sees when they visit your website. Soooo…. that’s basically anything and everything on your website. Typically website content falls in one of these categories:
Website copy
Product descriptions
Services descriptions
Blogs
FAQs
Testimonials
Case Studies
Images
Videos
Forms
What is the purpose of website content?
Without website content, you don’t have a website. When you’re strategic about what content you’re putting on your website, you’re massively helping your business.
Quality website content helps people find you. When you have SEO-rich content that’s updated regularly, you’re going to get a higher ranking in search engines. The higher ranking you have, the more people will visit your website.
Valuable website content drives more traffic to your site. The more value you provide, the more people will go to your website, which ultimately means more eyes on whatever you offer and sell.
Website content tells visitors about your offerings and helps increase sales. Your website content will describe what you offer. This should be updated enough that it’s always accurately showing your current availability and pricing.
Updated website content shows people you’re open, active, and relevant. You know those websites you stumble on and wonder if they exist? Yeahh… some of them make you feel like you’ve stepped back into 2010. Update your website content. Don’t give people a reason to wonder if you’re even open.
High-quality, fresh content positions you as an authority in your field. If you regularly update your website content, you show people you know what you’re talking about. You’re showing that you are staying on top of current trends and any significant developments within your industry.
How often should you update your website content?
Again, the short answer is it depends.
But… if you’re looking for a steady, straightforward answer…let’s say once per month. Updating it once per month is manageable.
It all really boils down to your particular industry, your available resources, and your time management abilities.
Each page of your website needs different updates. For example, your Contact Page might not need many updates while your blog should definitely be updated regularly.
If you have an e-Commerce store, you need to constantly update your site to feature new products and current pricing.
Pro Tip: Schedule your website content updates to your task management software or calendar. Literally set aside time to do this monthly or quarterly. I personally take one day to make a list of everything I need to update, and then I use another day to make the actual website updates.
Let’s look at some general guidelines for updating specific pages and areas of your website:
Company Info
Update frequency: ASAP
Notes: When your company info changes (i.e., your physical address, email address, phone numbers, location, hours, etc.), you need to update it as soon as possible.
Product or Service Information
Update frequency: ASAP
Notes: You need to update the information immediately whenever you change or update your offerings (your products and/or services). This includes updating your availability for new clients, your current pricing or promotions, and any new images.
Website Copy
Update frequency: Once per year
Notes: This is the most important text on your website. You need to make sure it’s dialed in and current. You don't need to change it if it’s working for you (aka, if it’s bringing in sales and leads). But if you’re rebranding, making big changes to your company or services, or if you receive statistics and analytics about low website engagement, update your copy.
Blogs
Update frequency: as often as possible
Notes: I get it. As a small business owner, you wear 2359 hats, and blogging isn’t one of the ones you want to wear. Posting 3-4 blogs weekly isn’t reasonable for most small business owners.
If you’re a larger company, sell online products or services, or rely on digital marketing, you need to update your blog OFTEN.
If you’re a small business that sells locally or regionally only, or if you sell your service in person, you can post less often.
But, no matter what, do not let your last blog post be 6+ months old. Even if you’ve hidden the date it was written, any returning visitor will notice it’s an old post. And if it’s clear you’re not updating your blog, you’re showing visitors that you’re not serious, irrelevant, and can’t commit. In this case, it’s better not to have a blog at all.
Side Note: If the sheer thought of updating your blog consistently makes you roll your eyes or panic with anxiety, hire someone to do it for you. I offer SEO-rich and personality-packed. blog writing services (limited spots available at any given time).
Portfolio Images and Video
Update frequency: Quarterly
Notes: Update your portfolio with your most recent work. Show off your best work. You know—the kind of work you want to continue doing.
How do you know what website content to update?
Check your website analytics.
Squarespace users have analytics built into their settings but look at Google Analytics for more robust data.
Analytics show you what areas of your website are performing well and what areas could improve.
For example, maybe the traffic to your Services page is low. Or maybe you notice visitors don’t spend a ton of time there. This is a sign to freshen up your Services page. You want to keep visitors engaged on your website.
Another example: Maybe you notice that your tutorial-based blog posts (i.e., “How To” blogs) perform better than blogs that give reasoning (i.e., “Why you should” blogs). Then you want to focus on writing more how-to blog posts.
Use your website analytics to come up with new content ideas.
You can take a deep dive into your analytics to learn what unique keywords visitors are reaching your site from. There are likely some keywords you haven’t been using but people are finding you through. In this case, incorporating them into your copy and content will help boost your visibility.
Figure out where people are finding you.
Your website analytics can also tell you what platform people are finding you from. Maybe most of your website visitors are coming from social media. If that’s case, push more content there. OR maybe your visitors are coming from other websites linking to yours. If that’s the case, figure out if there’s a way you can capitalize on that, or find new connections to make to eventually link back to your site.
Use analytics to find out which products sell better in your E-Commerce store.
Did you know you can also use website analytics to learn which of your products sell better? This tells you what visitors are most interested in.
If you see that visitors aren’t as interested in other products, that could signal an opportunity for you to update the product description and/or photos to be more engaging.
Use website analytics to help decide how often to update your website.
Yes, I’ve given you some general guidelines above, but if you notice a decrease in website traffic or sales during a specific time period, that could be a sign to update your website content.
For example, most wedding vendors know that “engagement season” brings in more leads, and there’s usually a lull before and after these seasons. Use that time to update your website content.
Or maybe you notice a dip in sales during the holidays. People are being inundated with ads and content from almost every business during this time. Perhaps updating your copy and content to be more engaging will encourage visitors to stick around and buy from you over another company.
How do you update your website content?
First, you use your website analytics to determine what needs updating.
Then, you update it with a strategy. You don’t just go and haphazardly update your site. Everything you update needs to follow your SEO Strategy. Any update you make should incorporate keywords (old ones and new ones).
And if you’re updating your blog… it should provide more value than what your competitors are giving. For example, let’s say you’re an Atlanta, Georgia-based wedding planner. You’re prepping to write a blog post about the best venues in Atlanta, hoping to rank for the keyword “best venues in Atlanta”. While you’re planning the draft, you’re doing a little research and notice a couple of your competitors have a similar blog post. Those blog posts offer the bare minimum….listing out the venues and only providing a little information on each venue. But not you. You know how to play the SEO long game and want to provide even more value. So you plan to write about each venue AND provide more information on each venue (i.e., guest capacity, price range per person, rental inclusions, regulations, etc.)… AND you’re going to provide your best tips on narrowing down your wedding venue.
Because the more value your blog posts provide, the more Google is going to like you. (I told you you’d learn why updating your content boosts your SEO…).
Bottom line: You need to be updating your website content on a consistent basis.
It’s good for SEO. Google likes it when you update your site often. And the more pages you have (i.e., blog posts…), the better chance you have at boosting your SEO.
Updating your website content also boosts your authority and positions you as an expert in your field. With more blogs and more content comes more activity… which means more links to your site.
Having strategic content also helps you out when it comes to posting on social media because you can pull topics straight from your website copy and blog.
Content is key to having good SEO. It establishes your position. It keeps you relevant. It gives your audience more value. Which ultimately boosts sales.
If you read all of this and want to start updating your website on a consistent basis, but don’t have the time (or energy) to do it, let’s set up a call to chat about how I can help you. You don’t have to do this alone.