How to Rank Old Blog Posts Higher: A Refresh Guide

Note (September 2026): This guide originally suggested that sitemaps pass link juice and that blog comments are a way to build links; Google’s documentation says sitemaps help discovery, and it treats optimized links in comments as link spam. Those sentences have been corrected.

To rank an old blog post higher, start with data: in Google Search Console, find posts that already get impressions but few clicks. Then update outdated facts and examples, answer the searcher’s question more completely, rewrite a vague title, add contextual internal links from related posts, and ask Google and Bing to recrawl the page.

Key Takeaways

• Prioritize old posts that already earn impressions in Google Search Console but get few clicks or rank just below the first page.
• A real update means changing the main content: correcting facts, adding missing answers and removing nothing useful. Google warns against changing dates when content has not substantially changed.
• Internal links are the fastest lever you control. Google says every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site.
• Earn links with useful content. Google’s spam policies list paid links, excessive link exchanges and optimized links in guest posts or forum comments as link spam.
• After updating, keep the sitemap’s lastmod date accurate, request a recrawl in Search Console and notify Bing through IndexNow if your CMS supports it.

Increase Rank of Old Blog Posts

Publishing new posts every day and then forgetting them is a weak blogging strategy. Older posts deserve the same SEO attention as new ones, because many of them already have search history, links and readers that a new post has to earn from zero. The way to move an old post up is to make it the most useful, accurate answer for its search query, and then make sure search engines can find and recrawl it.

Some bloggers do better On-page SEO for their posts when they writing post, they also share these posts on social media networks, etc but after some time they leave it alone and they concentrate on their new posts which I think is not a good way of blogging, as I mentioned above, Many bloggers measure how many posts they have published, while experienced bloggers track the quality and search performance of each post.

So now if you want to rank your old posts like other succeeded bloggers then you’re in the right place because in this post we’re going to discuss some SEO techniques which you can apply for your old blog posts to rank well in the search results. The techniques are explained below.

Best techniques for doing better seo for your old blog posts:

Here we’ll discuss some tips & techniques which you can apply for your old blog posts to get high rank for it in search results. So let have a look.

Sharing on social media:

If you want to hit an old post on your blog and make it more popular then sharing it on your social media profiles is not a bad idea, you can easily share a post on your social media profiles so your friends & fans will read it, and if they like, it will also may appear on their social media profiles. So what you’ve to do is pick a post which you need to be more popular on your blog and share it on your social profiles and recommend it to your friends & fans.

Interlinking:

One of the most effective ways to rank an old blog post is interlinking which is very easy too because it is in your hand, you’ll have full control on this technique. I think it will be very easy for niche blog because of relevant content. What you’ve to do is to try to use some relevant keywords and use a link to an old blog post. For instance, let you’re talking about Phone calls and let you’ve a post How to make free online phone calls then you can easily get a link for this post. Or you can just recommend it to readers to read a particular post. Now it is upto you, how you manage and use the links at the post body.

Related Post Widget & Sitemap:

It is recommended to add related posts widget below each blog post so some relevant post will be at the end of post. Also submit an XML sitemap. According to Google Search Central, a sitemap helps Google discover the URLs on your site; it does not pass link value, but its lastmod date can signal when a post was significantly updated.

Read :- Why Blogging is Fun?

Get links for it – Guest post/blog commenting:

If a post covers an important, frequently searched topic, it is worth earning more links to it from other relevant websites. Guest posts on relevant blogs can bring readers and exposure, but Google’s spam policies list links with optimized anchor text in guest posts, and forum comments with optimized links, as link spam. Blog comment links are normally marked nofollow or ugc, so comment only when you have something useful to add, not to build links. Aim for fewer, earned links from relevant sites rather than as many links as possible.

Read :- Guest Blogging – Get the Power to Boost Your Reputation

Read :- Common Myths About Guest Blogging

Updating old blog posts:

It is also recommended to update your old posts if you want to rank it well in the search results, set aside regular time to review old posts, correct anything outdated, and use the words searchers actually use for the topic (Search Console’s Queries report shows them) instead of stuffing in high-volume keywords.

So dear readers, above we discussed some tips for improving rank of old blog posts on your blog and hope that you’ll apply these tips and techniques for ranking your old blog posts in search results. All the above techniques are easy to do because that’s all in your control. The sections below turn these ideas into a step-by-step refresh process based on Google’s own documentation.

Read :- Ways to Promote your Blog Offline

How to Increase the Rank of Old Blog Posts: Step by Step

The process below combines the original tips with current guidance from Google Search Central. Work on one post at a time and record what you changed so you can compare results later.

1. Pick the right posts. In Google Search Console, open the Performance report, switch to the Pages tab and sort by impressions. Posts with many impressions but a low click-through rate (CTR) or an average position just outside the first page usually have the most to gain.
2. Check which queries each post ranks for. Click a page, then open the Queries tab. The queries show what searchers expect; if the post does not answer them directly, that is your update list.
3. Update the facts. Replace outdated statistics, prices, screenshots, software versions and dead advice. Add the date to time-sensitive figures, for example “as of September 2026”.
4. Fill the gaps. Add a short direct answer near the top, steps, a table or an FAQ where the topic needs it. Compare with the pages that currently rank to see what yours is missing, without copying them.
5. Rewrite the title and meta description. Google advises descriptive and concise title text and warns against keyword stuffing. A clear title can lift CTR even before rankings change.
6. Add internal links. Link to the refreshed post from newer, related posts using descriptive anchor text, and link out from it to your other relevant pages.
7. Keep the URL. Changing the slug of an established post throws away its history. If a URL must change, Google recommends a permanent server-side redirect (status 301 or 308).
8. Ask for a recrawl. Use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to request indexing, and let the sitemap report the new lastmod date.
9. Measure after a few weeks. Google says crawling can take from a few days to a few weeks, so compare clicks, impressions and position for equal periods before and after the update.

Which Old Posts Should You Update First?

Not every old post is worth the same effort. Use the four standard Search Console metrics, which Google defines as clicks, impressions, CTR (clicks divided by impressions) and average position, to sort posts into groups.

Search Console’s Performance report shows the last three months by default; change the date range to compare longer periods, and use the Weekly or Monthly view to smooth out weekend and holiday swings.

What Counts as a Real Update?

A real update changes the main content in a way readers notice. Google’s guide to creating helpful content asks site owners whether they are “changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed”, and treats that as a warning sign of search-engine-first content.

• Counts: corrected facts, new sections that answer real questions, current examples, replaced screenshots, a clearer structure.
• Does not count: changing the year in the title, swapping a few words, or adding filler to make the post longer.

When you make a significant update, show it honestly. Google’s byline-date guidance recommends a visible date labelled clearly, such as “Last updated”, and matching datePublished and dateModified values in Article or BlogPosting structured data. Google’s sitemap documentation adds that the lastmod value should reflect the last significant update, and that Google ignores the priority and changefreq values.

How Internal Links Help Old Posts Rank

Internal links help search engines find and understand old posts. According to Google Search Central, Google can generally crawl a link only if it is an HTML <a> element with an href attribute, and the anchor text tells people and Google what the linked page is about.

• Link from new posts to older ones in context, where the older post genuinely helps the reader.
• Use descriptive anchors such as “how to optimize old content” rather than “click here”; see this guide to anchor text and how it affects SEO.
• Find orphan posts, meaning posts with no internal links pointing to them, and link each one from at least one related page.
• Related-post widgets help readers, but a hand-placed link inside the body text gives clearer context.

How to Get Links to Old Posts Without Breaking Google’s Rules

Links from other websites still help, but how you get them matters. Google’s spam policies define link spam as creating links primarily to manipulate rankings and list examples including:

• buying or selling links, including exchanging goods or services for links;
• excessive link exchanges (“link to me and I’ll link to you”);
• using automated programs or services to create links;
• links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites;
• forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature.

Safer ways to attract links include updating a post into the most complete resource on its topic, adding original data or examples others want to cite, and telling people who already link to outdated versions of the topic that a current guide exists. Google recommends that sites mark paid links with rel=”sponsored” and user comments with rel=”ugc”, which is why comment links rarely pass ranking value.

How to Get Updated Posts Recrawled Faster

• Google: use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console for a few URLs, or submit a sitemap for many. Google notes there is a quota for individual requests and that requesting the same URL several times will not speed up crawling.
• Bing and others: IndexNow lets a site notify participating search engines, including Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex and Yep, when a URL is added, updated or removed. Many SEO plugins can send these pings automatically.
• Sitemap: keep it limited to canonical URLs; Google’s limit is 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed per sitemap file.

Common Mistakes When Updating Old Blog Posts

• Changing the URL without a 301 redirect, which loses the old post’s links and history.
• Updating only the date, which Google’s helpful-content guidance specifically questions.
• Keyword stuffing the title or body; Google advises against it.
• Deleting useful sections that still answer queries the post ranks for. Check the Queries tab before removing anything.
• Judging too early. Allow a few weeks for recrawling before deciding whether an update worked.

For more on this topic, see how optimizing old content improves SEO, how to measure SEO performance and using schema markup for SEO. To check the length of a rewritten section, the free word counter tool counts words, characters and paragraphs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does updating an old blog post improve its ranking?

Updating an old blog post can improve its ranking when the update makes the content more accurate and more useful for the query. Changing only the date or a few words does not; Google’s helpful-content guidance questions pages that look fresh without substantial changes.

Should I change the publish date when I update a post?

Keep the original publish date and show a clearly labelled “Last updated” date after a significant update. Google recommends visible, labelled dates plus datePublished and dateModified in structured data.

Should I change the URL of an old post?

Usually no. The existing URL carries the post’s links and search history. If the URL must change, Google recommends a permanent server-side redirect (301 or 308) from the old address.

How long does it take for an updated post to rank better?

There is no fixed time. Google says crawling can take from a few days to a few weeks, and a recrawl does not guarantee better rankings, so compare equal periods before and after the update.

Do blog comments help an old post rank?

Rarely. Comment links are usually marked nofollow or ugc, and Google lists comments with optimized links as link spam. Comments are useful only for genuine discussion and occasional referral visits.

How often should old blog posts be reviewed?

Review posts on time-sensitive topics whenever the facts change, and check your highest-impression posts in Search Console on a regular schedule, such as every few months.

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