Your website is a dynamic, ever-changing tool at your disposal that serves to let the world know about your brand—or at least it should be. If the content on your site is sitting stagnant and has been for some time, it may be time to consider cleaning up your website. Doing so will not only show your site visitors that you play an active role in maintaining your digital presence, but it will also give you points when it comes to search engine optimization.

Ask yourself these questions when cleaning up your website to decide what content to keep, and what content to ditch.

Is it timely?

Check the content on your site—which includes copy, images, video, etc.—to make sure that it is timely. For example, you don’t want to still have promotions from Christmas up on your site in July. It indicates a lack of attention paid to your website, which can come across negatively to your customers. Old content adds no value—both to your followers and in terms of SEO.

Is it still relevant to my brand?

Things change over time, which may apply to your business and its offerings. If there is a service being advertised that you no longer offer, then take that content off of your website. If there are employees featured on your “About Us” page that no longer work there, then remove them and update it with your current employees.

Is it serving a purpose?

Do you have old pages on your site with little to no content that are simply taking up space? Get rid of them! Google considers these pages “thin content” pages. In addition to pages with little to no content, thin content pages can be ones with duplicate content, scraped content and pages that are stuffed with keywords. All of these are low-quality in the eyes of the search engine.

Does it need to be updated?

Perhaps you believe a section of content is valuable, but it hasn’t changed since you launched your website. It may be a good idea to update it. You can convey a similar message, but give it a new look with updated copy, images and site features. Giving your site a fresh look every once in a while is never a bad idea.

Should it be redirected?

You may have a URL that provides value (perhaps it has quality links pointing to the page), but the content connected to that URL is old. You can redirect the URL to similar, but updated content. That way, you can maintain the use of the URL while leading your site visitors to newer content.

Is it still working?

It is important to check your links regularly to make sure they aren’t broken. A broken link does not create a quality experience for the user. Start with external links—perhaps you linked to an event page, and the event has passed and the site is no longer in use, for example. Then check internal links to see if any need to be updated, or to make sure that you aren’t accidentally linking to a page within your site that you have deleted.

Are people viewing it?

Another question to ask yourself when cleaning up your website is whether or not people are even viewing your content. Take a look at your website’s analytics from time to time. You may have a page that you think is great, but that has not actually had a great response from site visitors in terms of traffic. Consider deleting or updating the content to make it more attractive to your followers.

Cleaning up your website does not have to be a daunting task. As long as you keep up with regular maintenance of your site, then quick changes here and there should not be too much of a burden.

Need help deciding what should stay and what should go when it comes to your website? The McNutt & Partners team can help! Contact us today for your marketing needs! Call 334-521-1010, or visit our contact page.