It sucks when you redesign a site and even just a page, or refresh content, only to see that you lost keyword rankings.
While it may look better (subjectively) or serve other marketing goals, cold hard data shows the mistake. This often happens when SEO isn’t involved early and is entirely preventable!
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Long before going live, benchmark top positions for your pages with your favorite SEO tool or Google Search Console.
With this in mind, note sections involving keywords, especially keyword-rich headers supported by well-segmented copy.
Otherwise, you may find that relevant content was totally removed or headers were updated to be catchy yet generic, not balancing copywriting with SEO.
Follow the guide below even if it appears too late…
Initial SEO Assessment
- Wait 3-4 weeks after published changes to ensure Google has mostly settled on keyword rankings from past revisions.
- Place the URL into your favorite SEO tool to analyze keyword performance.
- Place the URL into the Wayback Machine’s homepage to compare differences with past versions, if applicable. Tools may only show major changes to elements like titles, headers, etc. but Wayback Machine allows comprehensiveness by seeing all factors like body copy, images, layout and so forth.
Keyword Evaluation
- First, make sure to expand the date range to compare before vs. after changes (but no longer than 3 months). Focus on improving relevance for keywords that dropped or that exist at the bottom of the 1st or top of 2nd page in search results. Emphasize those with higher search volumes and focus on themes, so generally not more than 1-3 keywords. Check that keywords in these categories are in subheaders (H2, H3…) where possible, supported by relevant body copy.
- For keywords previously in Top 10 placements, restore content from the Wayback Machine or create new sections for those subtopics.
- It’s more important to include keywords naturally throughout content instead of writing them verbatim.
Content Strategy
- Instead of completely revising content, favor adding new elements like fresh trends, statistics or insights to improve existing content instead of subtracting or totally rewriting. All things equal, pages with higher word counts rank better.
- Use the following search query on Google: ‘site:website.com ‘keyword phrase to optimize’’ to find all your pages addressing the keyword. Don’t optimize the current page for a keyword if another page already ranks higher (keyword cannibalization).
- Identify search intent by analyzing the top 3 competitor pages for the dropped keyword and possibly the AI Overview. If your content addresses different intent than shown in search results, it’s likely not worthwhile to edit this page for that keyword.
On-Page SEO
- Regardless if within subheaders & body text, place the most important keywords earlier on the page & earlier in key elements. Favor keyword-focused titles & headlines, though still made compelling, after the keywords are mentioned first.
- Add internal links from other related pages to support your content. This is usually overlooked.
- Improve UX with high-quality images & natural formatting (ex: avoid too much spacing between paragraphs or inconsistency). Segment content for readability by using bulleted lists & short, generally 1-3 sentence paragraphs. This increases the chances of appearing in Featured Snippets & AI Overviews when paired with keyword-rich headers.
Other Considerations
- Be aware that Google’s algorithm may have significantly shifted, through no fault of your own, to affect keyword rankings. After making this 2nd set of revisions, avoid editing the article for at least months unless there’s an essential update.
- Know that for very competitive, more basic keywords, it may be almost impossible to rank purely through updating your content. Site authority can be the bottleneck. Focus on improving long-tail keywords but prioritize changes for those with higher volumes that you had earned in the past.
- Consider re-promoting updated content on social media to drive additional traffic & bolster SEO metrics.