Looking Back, Are Some Of Your Older Posts Useless?
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Anthony’s post was in response to another post Leo Babauta (who runs the popular Zen Habits blog) wrote on North X East.
Should you delete older posts that don’t add a lot of value, and could be considered “useless” by some of your readers? Is deleting older posts common practice?
My Take On It
I personally prefer to leave these posts on my blog. A post about a site update or a redesign or something similar may not be interesting to many readers, or first time visitors, but it’s still content. And depending on your niche, I think those post still are of value.
For instance, the “Face Behind The Blog” post I wrote some time ago could definitely be considered useless to some first time visitors since it’s not about entrepreneurship or blogging, but it got a really nice amount of comments, and I think it still adds value, even if it’s not laser focused. And it was a fun experiment. Branding!
Of course, you can delete some older posts, but instead, why not go and edit them? If you feel a post didn’t receive the attention it deserved, no comments and little or no traffic, you can always “re-write” some of your older post. This works pretty well, especially if your blog is somewhat new (in the 6 months range).
Since you write everyday, and update your blog frequently, your writing skills improve over time, the more you write, the better you get. So with that said, a post you wrote 5-6 months ago can still be interesting today. Maybe what’s wrong with that post is the way it’s formatted, maybe that’s why that particular post didn’t do well.
Let’s not forget that those posts are probably already indexed in Google, so why remove them? I think the best thing to do, is go and edit them to better suit your new writing style, and put them in the right category. If a post was about a site re-design, well that has to go in the “site updates” category.
Your Turn To Talk
I’d really like to know what you think about this. Is deleting older posts common practice? Do you sometimes go back into your archives and edit older posts, or simply delete “useless” ones?
Take Care :)
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You can always revamp old posts, you know make updates to them so they become more relevant.
Brian, exactly, so this way they’d still be relevant today. Only thing to keep in mind is you have to edit the posts so it’s still on the same topic and you don’t remove too much. especially if the post already has comments.
:)
Jon,
That’s a whole new angle I had not even thought of! I have to say, I’ve gotten some great ideas out of this whole discussion, and most every one has an opinion about this.
Anthony, I agree, everyone has a different opinion on the topic. Well for my part I usually leave the posts up, most post received comments anyway so I don’t wanna delete them :)
Jonathan,
Just for search engines reasons, if nothing else, I don’t think that actually deleting old posts is a good idea. However, updating them is certainly not a bad idea.
When I started the “Way Back Machine” on my site, it was the first time I had read some of those posts in more than 6 months, and there were definitely things that needed to be fixed.
Also, one benefit to keeping an old post even if it wasn’t that successful the first time around is that it might still be successful with new readers who weren’t there the first time the post was put up.
Aaron, hehe you’re right, and I mean, you get traffic for “naked fishing pictures“. :)
Good point regarding the first time visitors, I do get many comments on older posts, especially the ones in my “popular posts” thing in the sidebar.
I don’t believe in deleting posts from a blog, even if they are out of date. It might have something to with the fact that I focus on my personal issues, and not so much blogging issues in general, but I feel that if you’re deleting posts from the past, you’re trying to cover up for something or concealing your history. Anyway, those posts would be on Google for a while, and archived in feed readers almost permanently.
However, I’m not against refreshing posts from the past - it’s especially useful if you’re changing domains and or page-naming conventions; that way, you don’t break links within your own blog.
Sephyroth
http://www.sephyroth.net
Sephyroth, same here, well this blog is not exactly about my personal life, but still I share many of the things I learned along the way. On the other hand, my “rarely updated personal blog” (I have to do something about that) it happens I will refresh some older posts.
I agree with not looking back and removing or updating an old post. It’s fine if you are correcting a mistake, but who has that kind of time? Also, my website is about my life as a redhead and a single mom of a growing boy. My posts are snapshots of what I am feeling\thinking on that given day. To go back and alter the post alters the reality of where I was. It’s like looking back at an old photograph - why would I alter an old photo?
I am glad there is someone out there who thinks like I do about this.
Catherine, the redhead
PS Sorry for my delay in adding you on Mybloglog. I have no idea how I missed that. I am sorry!
Hey Catherine! I like the way you put it, the photograph metaphor. I guess it’s fine to edit, refresh, revamp older posts when more in a business context, but for personal blogs, like you said, it’s better to leave it like that.
:)
that never even crossed my mind!!! wow i didnt know that!!!!! ahh but im too in love with every single one of my posts i couldnt just delete them like that!!!!!! :D
Confessing7girl, haha, I love your energy, it’s contagious! :) I couldn’t delete any posts either, well not cause I’m in love with them, but cause… ah ok maybe! lol
I will try not to delete any post. Mos of them are already in the Google cache. If you delete, it becomes a missing file. As far as I know, if you have missing page, the page will be under Google HELL. The more pages under Google Hell, the lower your overall page ranking will be.
So DO NOT delete it, unless you want to get rid of it totally. I find it interesting that 10% of my viewers are still search my one year old posts, which are on top 10 in the search results.
Terence, good points, I’m no SEO expert, but what you say makes sense. And from a reader’s perspective, if I’m looking for an older post on a blog and it’s not there I usually feel let down.
As long as the posts are informational, then they are still useful, and can be found inside the search engines.
I suggest keeping everything forever.
Hi, Jonathan! You’ve won an award! Check my blog. :)
Hi Wii Fit, I agree! Just have to define “useful”. But in the end, one reader might find it useful and another one might not, so keeping ‘em all sounds good to me :)
Tish, hey that’s awesome! So nice of you! Thank you so much! :)
I personally don’t like the idea of removing old posts which didn’t attract much attention, no mate no, not a cool idea. Yeah I do like the idea of editing an older post, make it better and post it again. Besides I think I am emotionally attached to all the stuff I posted, even if some thought it was crap…lol.
Take care and cheers buddy.
;) arent we all in love with our posts and blogs… of course we r ….u hv to be passionate to hv a good blog …im sure u know that better than me Jon!! :D
Robin, we’re on the same page bro! :)
Going back and editing, or revamping sounds good to me, but deleting, not so much.
Confessing7Girl, hehe I think you’re right. But I’m probably the one who knows the least what he’s doing (but it seems to be working so) :)
I vote for not deleting, updating yes, but deleting no.
In updating, if it is very old, I would be reluctant to change them a lot as well.
I feel a blog is a sort of written record that at some point in time may be re-read. Altering it, will in a way will alter its history.
I would hate to come upon someones diary to find a whole bunch of missing pages.
Updates, daily life posts, and all the dribble as well.
Hi,
I really agree with the idea of revamping verses deleting posts. If your a writer like I am, you have taken the time to use keyword density in your post.
If you delete the posts then you use those keywords that were used.
Adam, I like the “missing pages” example. And even if it’s a business blog, I think keeping older posts and maybe refresh them is the way to go.
Catherine, good point there, most of the posts are already indexxed in search engines, and will rank for certain keywords, so deleting them, even if they’re a little off-topic, can result in less search engine traffic.
I think that considering a post to be useless can be sub-consciously damaging to our self esteem. If we tag a post as useless in our minds, we are tagging a part of ourselves the same thing.
Tyler, wow, now that’s a great way of seeing this! Love it! :)
I think you’re right on the money there. Our past work is just as valuable as our present work, even if it’s only to remind us to do better the next time. Deleting older “useless” posts or even just thinking they’re useless, cannot be a good thing, since they’re part of you, you wrote them.
Thanx Tyler! :)
I think we should never delete any of our posts. Any post can be useful to someone at some point. I think there is also a very important other reason why we shouldn’t delete our posts.
A blog is more than just a collection of articles on a variety of subjects. Every post captures a moment in time as the author writes it. If you delete a post you are deleting part of the history of your blogging story.
What if someone falls in love with your blog and wants to read it from beginning to end? Can you imagine how upset he or she will be if posts are missing? If you ever refer to the posts in other posts it would just add insult to injury.
I thus think that we should treat our old posts like our favorite old books in our bookshelves. Sure, we might not be getting a lot out of them at the moment, but what if somebody wants to read them?
Andrew, you bring excellent points! There are some blogs I did read from start to finish, and man was I happy all the posts were there, none missing or broken links. That definitely made me happy :)
blog posts should not be deleted: Web pages should live forever -
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/981129.html
My vote is to keep ‘em all, whether good, bad, or ugly. Some people look at it as “only” a blog post, but, in the end, it’s part of our art, not a throwaway. The furthest I’d go would be to write an entirely new post based on the old and publish it as current with references.
John, thanx for linking to that articcle, it’s a good read. Great explanation of why we should not delete older posts.
Hey Carolyn, I really like that idea! Kinda like an “Old Post - Revisited” thing. A lot of print magazines do a “what was up last year same date” and same can be done with blog posts. Just posting about the same thing, linking to the older post, and writing an updated version, with more recent infos. Great tips Carolyn! Thanx! :)
Jon,
I like your take on this. It’s exactly what I’ve been considering doing with some of my older “less-travelled” posts.
Over time, you can see that a lot of posts just don’t get any traffic. They need a revamp. The key is to do some SEO with them as well as a rewrite. So while regular readers may still not find them, new ones will via search.
Shane, exactly, revamping older posts and optimizing them can go a long way, I did this with some older posts and they started getting some search engine traffic, which is cool! :)
Just have to make sure it’s still the same content, especially if there’s already some comments, even if there’s just 2 or 3.
I haven’t really been blogging THAT long, but I don’t think I would delete anything. I think it is a great way to see how much your writing has improved over time. Maybe editing if there are some factual things that have changed, but I know I won’t delete anything.
I vote to leave them… your blog is a story and I want all of the chapters.
Hi Robin! :)
I agree, it’S a nice way to see how much you improved, I read some of my older posts recently, and it’s amazing how I improved over the last couple of months. It a good idea to keep those older posts and refresh them, since we’re always improving, every time we write a new post :)
Hey Goldy, hehe so do I!
In the more than 13 months since I started my blog, I have only deleted one post. It was completely irrelevant to anything (like a test page). I have been updating links and removing dead links on a lot of older pages.
Good or bad, our old posts are a part of our lives during the time that we wrote them. We should only alter them to keep them up-t0-date and nothing more. Sometimes, though, it might be wise to remove a specific post for specific reasons — but that should be the exception and not the rule.
RT, I agree, it should be the exception and not the rule, well said! Going back and checking for broken links is real fine, I found some “questionable” links in the comments from when I started, and also 2-3 links in my posts that were linking to a blogspot blog (that is now a splog) needless to say I removed those URLs. I deleted 1 post though, a blog review post, because that blog doesn’t exists anymore, and it’s been going to a 404 page for 3 weeks now, so I deleted it.
I have only deleted the “Hello World” post! :) But I think there is value in the old posts because they can show how information has either changed or remains relevant.
I wouldn’t delete any of my old posts.. :) and I agree with RT that our posts are a part of our lives.. they are our history..
Snoskred
Cooliojones , hehe I deleted that one too! :)
Snoskred, they are our history, I’m always interested in reading older posts, cause they tell a story, what was happenning 6 months or a year ago. And it shows how much the blogger improved since then :)
[…] By Optimizing The Signal-To-Noise Ratio - an article commented on by Anthony at Antbag and Jon at Smart Wealthy Rich. Of particular interest is the suggestion of culling your archives. I’d prefer to call it […]
I have to join the camp of usability guru Jakob Nielsen on this matter. I would not delete old posts unless absolutely necessary simply to aid in the fight against link rot. To quote him:
“Any URL that has ever been exposed to the Internet should live forever: never let any URL die since doing so means that other sites that link to you will experience linkrot.”
Hi Michael, I totally agree with that. And looking at my archives, I can say many bloggers didn’t get that, as I frequently have to check my older posts and make sure the links work, both in my posts and in the comment section.
I would always keep older articles on my blog. You never know what may get picked up by a random Google search. Additionally older articles are a great way of charting your own history and progression.
- Martin Reed
Hey Martin, definitely, I like to browse through my archives from time to time, and it feels good to see I improved over the last couple of months :)
Hey Jonathan, I certainly have a fair share of useless posts, at least, when I look back at those that didn’t appear to get so much interaction that’s what I tended to think, yet its funny when you look at how some of the more well known or dare I say it “A list” bloggers get comments for merely mentioning that they yawned, it does tend to help you appreciate that perhaps your post isn’t as useless as you originally thought. I once worked with a guy who had probably forgotten more than I knew at the time. And this is the thing, it’s sometimes a little difficult to be able to be objective about our stuff. Where we see ennui, others see inspiration.
Or something like that :D
Cheers have a gr8 weekend.
hey Rob “Where we see ennui, others see inspiration” - I really like that! :)
haha comments for mentionning that they yawned! lol But it’s true, some do have really useless posts, but some have excellent content also :)