How updating a post can influence seo
-
I have just read this great post from moz blog: http://moz.com/blog/google-fresh-factor
But I haven't found nothing about updating post date.
If I edit an old great post (now ranked 2nd after several months in 1st serp position) does it be better if I also update the date of the post in the wordpress post edit page?
Thank you very much and sorry for my poor english.
Bye,
Dario.
-
Thank u alan! I'm again at the first position by adding 20% more text with keywords and writing "Updated at 2014"
-
ForForce is spot on.
Trust is a critical factor. Instead of artificially manipulating the post date, be sure the "date last updated" is accurately working.
And if you DO make a value-add update to a post, add a sentence to the top of the post like "Update: ________" and maybe even put "Updated" with the date right in the page Title or meta Description.
Anything else would be playing with fire.
-
For google rankings it's going to depend more on the update than the post-date.
For example, if you have a 10 paragraph post, and you add 1 paragraph and change the post date, I doubt you would regain the 1st position.
If you add 5 new paragraphs that add more detail or broader coverage to the subject and change the post date, you have a pretty good chance.
In both cases, you are not likely to get any kind of penalty for changing the post date.
On the other hand.... If you make a habit of REGULARLY updating post dates without providing any new value to the reader, then google will see this RECURRING behavior as spammy, and you'd probably end up on page 2 instead of position 2.
For the best ranking results I'd suggest you aim to update the article with a minimum of 20% new valuable content and update the post date. Possibly stick the word 'Updated: ' before the original title of the post as well.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Product Descriptions (SEO)
Hello, I sell products relating to wood. Although the products vary, I like to give description of the wood type for the customers who might not be familiar with it. Will it hurt my rankings to give the same descriptions for the same wood type as long as the majority of the description is different? Here is an example of the layout: 1. Different description for different products 2. The same short description for the same wood types (seen throughout multiple pages) Hopefully my question makes sense.
On-Page Optimization | | mattl992 -
Keywords in site maps. Can there be too many? Can they be considered to be stuffed?
Hi everyone,
On-Page Optimization | | TheJewelleryEd
I'd appreciate some insight on a keyword stuffed site map I've seen on a site similar to ours (we don't have this kind of menu ourselves).
https://www.1stdibs.com/sitemap/jewelry/stone/pink-diamond/
This is accessed from a site map. Do you think it's too blatant / keyword stuffed? I haven't done this with our site, but am interested to see a big reputable site doing something so clearly just for SEO.
Would it work? Or would search engines dislike it? I'd really appreciate your thoughts.
Thank you.0 -
Is Disqus comments useful as per SEO?
Is Disqus comments useful as per SEO? We have some comments on each of our pages and its time taking to moderate them, so wanted to know if its beneficial in any ways for SEO?
On-Page Optimization | | bsharath0 -
How often is your domain authority updated?
I can't seem to figure out how often our domain authority is updated - it seems random, do you know typically when this happens? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | regineraab0 -
Sitemaps Updating
Im using wordpress and I realise that my sitemaps doesnt update itself when i add an additional page on my website, like a blog post. I have to go to (1) setting > xml sitemap setting > click on build sitemap > save changes in wordpress, and then (2) Export the sitemal.xml file it to webmaster tools in google every single time i blog. Am i doing it wrong? i feel that all these should be automatic.
On-Page Optimization | | kevinbp0 -
Unified Modeling Language and SEO
Hi folks, I work for a company that has German Clients.
On-Page Optimization | | cvissi
I wanted to know if I should use Unified Modeling Language for the tittles and meta descriptions? What is better, for example ü or ü Best regards,Elvis0 -
SEO Plugins for WordPress
Hi, Mozzers- I'm re-evaluating my SEO WordPress Plugins. What are your favorites and why? Are there others that you avoid and why? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | lhc672 -
Wordpress when to use posts or pages
Hi Guys, I have a network of EMD sites that currently use a homepage and then we have a blog page which has 5-6 posts on. Is this the best way to do it with sites under 10-20 pages? Or should we create say 3-4 new pages/categories and drop the posts relevant to each page/category in there? Thank you Jon
On-Page Optimization | | imrubbish0