Updated information -- update the story, or write a new one

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Updated information -- update the story, or write a new one

stuartmcdonald

7:49 am on Jun 17, 2008 (gmt 0)

I've got a bunch of stories around 800-1,000 words apiece which rank well. Subject is along the lines of "best widgets in widgetville"

Thing is, the widget landscape has changed considerably and I need to update the stories.

From a SEO point of view;

Would I be better off to update the existing stories (which have good inbound links and quite a bit of traffic) or write new "2008 versions".

If I was to write new stories, should I leave the existing one there with a link to the updated one, or redirect the traffic to the new one?

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Receptional Andy

9:23 pm on Jun 18, 2008 (gmt 0)

If it's a 'clarification' style of update, I would update the original, but if it's an entire rewrite, I would make a new version, and prominently link the old version to the new article.

In this way, you are able to retain any traffic to the old article, point visitors to the new one and give the new article a strong link. The net gain is potentially much higher, since you now have a 'better' version of the page which can attract it's own set of links.

Of course, the greater the value of your original article, and the greater the value of the new one, the better the above approach will work. If there are potential problems with similar content etc. I would just redirect and have done with it.

Because you specified 'stories' I assume that these are more like news articles or op-ed than static pages on a site.

londrum

9:28 pm on Jun 18, 2008 (gmt 0)

more pages means more traffic. so if it was me, i would do a rewrite and double the size of my site.

stuartmcdonald

10:10 pm on Jun 18, 2008 (gmt 0)

OK thanks for the input -- I think I'll go ahead and write a new version and prominently link the old one to the new. Thanks