Stale website content. What is it, and what can you do about it? Stale content is a complicated concept, so let’s take things slow and start by defining the term. Then, once we’ve finished explaining it, we’ll talk about the three things you can do to mitigate the damage it can do to your website traffic. After all, due to the pandemic, we’re all spending a lot more time indoors, so why not revitalize your old and stale content? So, without further ado, let’s get started!

First Up: What is Stale Content?

Before we can get into the nitty-gritty details of how exactly one tackles the stale content problem, we should first discuss what it is. Stale content is outdated content that no longer provides traffic to your website.

Why is Stale Content a Bad Thing?

Since the internet is a continuously changing landscape, it stands to reason that your articles, blog posts, and other forms of content will eventually become outdated. Old, outdated content is stale. Like stale bread, stale content makes your website less appetizing to users and search engines.

For example, let’s assume you wrote an article regarding the current statistics of car accident fatalities in your municipality a couple of years ago. Google and other search engines often display the publish date in search results. So, searchers will inevitably see the date that you published your article. Understandably, if a user visits that your essay is a few years old, they’ll assume it contains outdated information. And obsolete information and content can prevent users from clicking through to your site.

How to Find Stale Content on Your Site

OK, now you know what constitutes stale content and why it’s not good. But that begs the question: “How do you find stale content on your website?” You’ll need the help of Google Search Console to find stale content.

Using Google Search Console to audit your website for stale content isn’t as tricky as it sounds. To start, you’ll need to set up Google Search Console. If you don’t know how then visit our Google Search Console guide. Once you’re all set up, it’s time to start using it to discover stale content. To do so:

Click on the “Open Report” button in the “Performance” tab at the top of the page.
Next, click on the pencil icon in the “Date” tab at the top of the reports page and set your date range to “Last 3 Months” (this is usually the default setting).
Once you’ve set the date range, click the “Pages” tab underneath the graph.
Then, twice, click on the “Clicks” button to sort by the number of clicks each URL received during your set date range. Make sure the arrow next to “Clicks” is pointing up.

Once you’ve done that, your Search Console window should look similar to this:

Any page that hasn’t received a click over the set date range of ninety days is stale. But don’t worry! We can fix it pretty quickly.

How to Solve Your Newly Discovered Stale Website Content Problem

There are three easy solutions when it comes to stale website content problems. Let’s talk about each one in a little bit of detail.

First, you can permanently delete your stale content. However, if you decide to take this route, apply a redirect to another page. Otherwise, you risk creating a 404, considerably worse than a stale article or another piece of content. You should avoid this method at all costs as it adds considerable and unnecessary risk.

Another much better solution to stale content problems is to freshen it up. Updating a page helps show search engines and users that you care about the content. It also displays your desire to provide accurate information to your website and visitors. There are a few ways that you can freshen up your content, including:

Re-writing sections of the content to reflect current information better
Updating your links, images, videos, and other forms of media with more recent and relevant versions
Promoting your updated content on social media and through email campaigns

However, the easiest way to rid your site of stale content is to hire SEO copywriters here at Goldstein Brossard. We have the experience, knowledge, and tools to handle close content management easily. So, if you have stale content, why not call us? We’re always standing by to give your web content a helping hand.