Can outdated articles do more harm than good? This is something I thought a lot about when I relaunched this blog at the end of November. I used to occasionally post silly pictures and videos here. There was nothing wrong with the posts per say but they didn’t really reflect well on me and my future plans for this blog.
Seth Godin spoke about this issue and whenever he talks, you should listen. Everything he says carries weight. He famously wrote:
Key assertion: you don’t publish it unless it’s good.
Nick from IncomeDiary summed this up well:
Your blog is your brand. Mediocre content is worse than no content at all.
I decided to remove some of the small posts and quotes that I had posted here. There’s still lots left that I need to review. If you have a quick look at my archives page you’ll see lots of posts that aren’t really useful to visitors. Posts about video games, upcoming movies and random news. They don’t offer any value to readers.
I believe strongly that Seth Godin is right. You shouldn’t publish anything unless it’s good. In the past I didn’t adhere to that. So the question is, should you remove outdated articles? Should you remove articles that aren’t of a high quality?
Many people would say that it’s not worth it as even though those posts are not of a high quality, it’s another way for someone to find your blog. Whilst that is true, I still think it reflects badly on a blogger to have poor quality articles published on their blog.
I’m still not 100% sure as to whether I should delete some of my older articles. I’d love to hear your views on the subject.
Thanks,
Kevin
No problem Fran. Glad you found it useful.
That’s an interesting problem Kevin! Now that you’ve brought it to my attention I believe I’m going to do something about it because I’ve been posting since 2009 on this blog and have certainly wandered from what I’m doing now.
Fran
Hi Leslie,
Thanks for the comment. Yeah I agree that it makes sense to remove old sales posts that are completely irrelevant now. You could argue that it would be worth keeping them as they might bring in a little extra traffic through search engines (particularly those that had been linked), however I feel that you are making the right decision.
Kevin
I’ve been redesigning my blog and realize that a lot of my posts are old announcements of sales on my store or news that is no longer pertinent. I realize it looks a little spammy having these in my blog roll. It diminishes seeing the really great tutorials and articles on my blog. I think I’m going to delete them and only put sales notices in the sidebar when I’m having a sale.
Is the content well written? Some articles are whilst others aren’t. For the most part it is the issue of the posts being old and irrelevant but I suppose all blog articles will be irrelevant at one point.
Kevin
I think it is similar to an Amazon visitor and the 90 day affiliate cookie. They may buy something totally unrelated to the product they were looking for when they originally visited your site but you still get the commission. My question would be “Is the content well written”. If it is; keep it in, if not then either edit it or delete it or mark as draft and consider for the future. I agree with Dennis, subjectivity is the key; what is good for me may not be for you.
The other thing that crops to mind is the knowledge journey you have taken. If, after a few more years of experience and knowledge, you now look at a post and think “this isn’t very good” answer the question “why?”. Turn it into a post explaining why you think it is not good. If you have a few of those, link them ‘a few more examples of bad posts’ You don’t loose the investment of time you put into writing the article but turn it around to make it more relevant or more focused on the direction you have taken. If they do you harm, get rid. If not then turn them around. Build on the original investment.
That’s something I hadn’t considered. I could always add a note to posts that are older than a set date that the article may not be relevant, but as you say, most people should realise posts are outdated.
Leave it. You might have a different idea of what’s good than I or your visitors think is good. Most people know that blogs are in chronological order so like technology its going to get outdated quickly. You could however go in and update a post and note that you are added current information.