Business Sites’ Outdated Content and What It Means

Outdated Content is the hot new thing for businesses to consider. Google’s latest update has given marketers another reason to monitor their website’s health. Like so, a business needs to constantly cultivate its online presence. Dealing with your business site’s Outdated Content is one step in the right direction.

We all know a business has to improve itself constantly. Today it has to surpass the bar that they set for themselves yesterday. Part of that requires you to maintain your site. Since the world is making strides digitally, so too has the marketing world. Therefore, your company website is just as crucial for your online presence as your socials. 

After all, site visitors generally don’t interact with a website that hasn’t been updated in years! 

What is Outdated Content?

Google considers Outdated Content as those irrelevant content on a business website. A couple of examples of outdated content are: 

• Pages for discontinued products and/or services
• Pages containing outdated information
• Content that’s irrelevant to your branding or strategies
• Months- or years-old job notices 
• Profiles that haven’t been updated

With this, it’s safe to assume that anything on your business site that’s more than ten years old, hasn’t been updated to fit current standards, or even debunked is Outdated Content.

After all, it’s a good practice to keep curating your business website content. It’s good practice to keep your house squeaky clean for guests, and the same is true for your company site. Moreover, it can help raise Conversion Rates.

What factors are involved in finding outdated content on your site?

Dealing with Outdated Content isn’t quite as simple as getting rid of old pages. For example, there may be pages on your site that aren’t boosting your traffic. Or, they’re increasing traffic, but it’s not the right kind nor the expected volume. So, before you start pressing ‘Delete,’ here are the most common factors for identifying Outdated Content on your site:

Low Click-Through Rate

The Click-Through Rate can refer to ads, but here it refers to timely content. As a result, people tend to click on recent content instead of content from 10 years ago. (Well, unless a user is looking for info from a specific year.)

Click-Through Rates are instrumental in checking how much love Google gives your company site. That is, if your site has search terms that match what a user is looking for, the better its chances for ranking! Recent — and relevant — content is more likely to cater to Google’s algorithm. So the higher the rate, the more popular the site!

As a side note: Spare your most recent site pages! When searching for outdated pages, be careful you don’t delete the newest site pages by accident. Google’s Search Console can help you track down page views and clicks, but it means that new pages can get caught up in the crossfire!

High Bounce Rate

A Bounce Rate refers to the percentage of website visitors who leave the website without doing any noteworthy actions. Such actions can include clicking a link, filling out a field or form, or purchasing a product or service. So, by checking your Bounce Rate, you can see if site visitors came around but left because you didn’t have what they wanted. 

Bounce Rates are a factor in search rankings! One great piece of advice is to make changes in your content. You’ll want to make sure they’re regularly updated! Otherwise, potential site visitors will find other sources elsewhere. 

A high Bounce Rate means that many come to your company website and leave almost immediately. So, you want to avoid a high Bounce Rate at all costs. Check for pages with high Bounce Rates by ensuring that your content isn’t outdated. Google’s new update can help with that!

Outdated Services

This factor refers to services that are no longer available or applicable to your strategy. Had a promotion page that’s still around past its period? Outdated Services. Do you still have the old page for a (now-upgraded) product or service? Outdated Services. Does your page still have outdated company contact details? Outdated Services. 

Outdated Services are generally the easiest to spot when auditing your company website. One can find pages that haven’t been updated recently. Promo periods may require checking dates, but it’ll be worth it when you can take away idle pages.

Anything that doesn’t advance your company site’s popularity gets the boot. You have to keep visitors and customers in the know about your business’ offerings. Your company should look to the future and keep going forward.

Where can you check on your outdated content?

As it’s part of the latest update from Google, the main places to check for Outdated Content are Google Analytics and the Google Webmaster Tool. Now, for the sake of doing your own legwork and being an independent business site, you could check Outdated Content manually.

Though, you may need to scour the entire business website. Depending on the number of pages, it could take a while. So save yourself time and trouble! With these tools, you can make use of Google’s newest update!

• Google Analytics

You can check content on Google Analytics. Not only can Google Analytics find outdated content, but it also gives you insights into your site data. It also allows you to see how your company website is performing. You have a whole host of vital Google Analytics features to use!

• Google Webmaster Tool

Now the Google Webmaster Tool can track your business website’s search performance. So you can spot issues with your company site in a snap and remedy them just as quickly. The tool also has guides if you need assistance in making a top-quality site visible in searches from the get-go.

Impact of outdated content on your business’ site

Due to Google’s latest update, online marketers can now boost online visibility by searching for Outdated Content on a website.

Outdated Content refers to the content of any type that’s obsolete, irrelevant, or unavailable. Old content can drag an SEO score down. This makes your company website less optimized for online searches. 

When determining Outdated Content, the top factors are low Click-Through Rates (CTR), High Bounce Rates, and Outdated Services. Is the content still salvageable? So you update it. Otherwise, you need to delete the content.

One can manually search the website for outdated content, but it’s inadvisable if dealing with too many pages. So instead, you can make use of Google’s Analytics and its Webmaster Tool. 

With the help of a Content Writer that offers Web Content Services, you can boot your outdated content off your business site pronto.

About Axel May Rivera

Axel is an avid fan of many dramas and songs. She is always eager to explore and discover more when it comes to movies and entertainment, especially in Korean and Filipino culture. In her free time, she enjoys reading books and playing badminton.