A few months ago I added a plugin for finding broken links on my site, which has been really great for looking at some of my old blog posts.

What is happening is that some of the comments that I received when I first started blogging were spam, but I was not sure whether some were or not at the time. So, what did I do? I accepted the ones that were in the grey area.

A funny thing happens with a lot of spam links. The sites disappear, because they were not useful sites in the first place, and/or they were caught, so it was not worth the time to keep the site up. Henceforth, the broken links that I was talking about at the beginning of this post.

Well, the broken links plugin that I have been using is taking me back to some of these posts, where I can now more accurately say if it was spam or not (Surprise, most of the time they were spam comments).

What is the point of this post then? Very simple! I am amazed at how little I knew about blogging when I first started out. Plus, it is really great to be able to use these broken links as a reason to go back to when I first started blogging to clean out my blog.

Some of the early posts I have been correcting small things here and there. With a few tweaks here or there they might actually be useful for search traffic. Additionally, these old blog posts are now seasoned, provide great content, and also remind me of the large database of articles I have accumulated over the past year writing.

Taking a look at really at one of my old blog posts, Twitter: The Customer Service Department You Always Wanted or a post from the fall of last year Social Media Books I can definitely see a progression of thought in my writing. Plus, it is good to make sure that the work you did in the past stays relevant.

As internet marketers, we always talk about creating new content to keep Google happy. What about updating old content to make sure that is useful and up to date as well for the Google search spiders to “Ooh” and “Aah”!

Google’s view on search engines is partially based on how long a site has been around. That means with any website you want to be able to provide long lasting posts that can be found years and decades from now.

Updating old blog posts makes them more relevant in Google’s eyes, and also helps your readers know that you care enough about what you write to last longer than the day.

The fact is that once we finish writing we are already on to the next blog post. That is why going back every once in a while to old blog posts is a great thing.

5 Broken Links And Old Blog Posts Tips

1. We all start off with blogging as a bit of a rambling journal idea. We pour out our thoughts and millions of people come screaming to find out more. Check if you need to do any editing before people scream at you for other reasons.
2. Is your old blog post SEO optimized? Do you use the keyword at least 1% of the time? Is it in the first and last sentence of the article? If not, make sure to do that.
3. Are there any new plugins which could have messed up the article in any way? What about old plugins that do not work anymore? I used to use All In One SEO Plugin, but switched to Platinum about 8 months back, due to an issue I was having with their plugin. As a result, some of my old blog posts do not have SEO titles and descriptions. (Working on it)
4. Did you use a keyword that makes you cringe when you think about your naivete? One of my first attempts at SEO was In America We Now Tweet. I have not made any changes on this yet, but it is in the offing. See if you can be a magical blog repair person for your own initial creations.
5. Get rid of the broken links and also the spam comments. No need to feel bad about protecting your interest over a would-be spammer, even if you have allowed 6 months, 1 year, or more of link juice for them.

So, the next time you are going through broken links on old blog posts keep these ideas in mind, so you can create a better experience for your readers. Plus, getting rid of broken links is nice for your search credibility.