Do you update your website regularly?
And I don’t mean updating the product listings.
Today’s online market is highly competitive and updating your website regularly allows your business to grow and lift it to the top of internet searches.
In this article I’ve outlined some key reasons why you should update your website frequently and how often you should do it.
Keep reading to learn more.
Why Update Your Website Frequently?
There are three main reasons why you need to update your website frequently:
- Security
- SEO
- Design & Conversions
Below, we’ve explained in greater detail why they are important.
1. Security
To ensure that your website is secure, you need to update the content management system (CMS), themes, templates, plugins and apps. Each CMS is different but if you’re using WordPress then you will need to make sure that your WordPress version, plugins and themes are updated to the latest version.
It’s important to perform updates when they are available because running your website on an outdated version can leave your site vulnerable to malware attacks. When software developers find glitches or security issues, you get alerted to update your phone or laptop, so it’s the same for your website.
While plug-ins can increase your website’s security, they can also cause problems if the plug-in was poorly coded or is a scam. Make sure any plug-ins you add to your website are from an official website or source. According to Imperva’s The State of Web Application Vulnerabilities in 2018 report, 98% of WordPress vulnerabilities are due to plug-ins.
2. SEO
Have you got pages on your website that haven’t been updated in a few years? Updating your website content (including blog posts) is important for helping your website rank in search engines.
Updating your content is important for SEO because outdated pages won’t rank well because Google wants to show the user the latest, most accurate information.
Do you see search results that have the year in the title? That’s because they’ve updated their content to rank in searches. That doesn’t mean re-writing the whole article, but making sure that the content is refreshed and still applicable to the reader today.
If your content was ranking well before but has now fallen, see what your competitors are saying about that topic and update your content so it’s relevant. Conducting a search engine results page (SERP) analysis can help you increase your rankings.
3. Design & Conversions
As online competition increases so do your customers’ expectations and needs. If a visitor to your website is having difficulty finding the information they’re after, they’ll simply go to a competitor’s site and you’ve lost a potential customer.
There are many reasons for someone leaving a website including:
- Lack of responsiveness on a mobile or tablet device
- Unable to find menu bar
- Non-existent pages
- Buttons that don’t link to anything
- Having to click on multiple links to find products/content
Having a poorly designed website also sends a bad signal to Google and other search engines. If visitors have a bad experience on your site, then this will harm your rankings. People spend so much time online now that they can quickly tell when a website hasn’t been updated in a long time.
It’s worth investing the time and effort into having a responsive and well-designed website so people will come back again.
How Often Should You Update Your Website?
If you’re wondering how much time or effort needs to be spent into keeping your website up to date, it depends on a number of factors including:
- The type of update (CMS, security, etc.)
- The industry you work in
- The needs of your customers
Below we discuss in more detail how often you should update your website based on the three key factors we mentioned above.
Security Updates (Plugins, Apps, Themes, CMS, etc.)
We recommend updating your software as soon as any security updates are released. It’s also important to check for any minor updates after any major updates, as often small glitches can be found by developers shortly after a major update is released. Cybersecurity should be one of your main concerns as your clients are trusting you with their personal information.
Content Updates
If your blog post or content is performing well, then there’s no need to update it. However, if you see your content rankings start to drop, then it’s probably time to update the content and find out what people are searching for when they want information about this topic.
Depending on what industry you work in, you might have your own industry insights that are unique to your competitors which are worth posting about as well.
Design Updates
I’d recommend doing a complete website redesign every 3-4 years. This means you can go through your whole website and find any areas that need to be changed to help with SEO. It’s also a good idea to refresh your branding too.
Is your logo looking a little outdated? Maybe it’s time for a new look. Remember it doesn’t have to be drastic. When you look at any big company, when they rebrand it’s often quite subtle because they still want people to recognise them. The main thing is to make sure your website is functional and easy for people to navigate.
Final Thoughts
That’s it! We hope you have enjoyed this article on why it’s important to update your website. If you did, make sure to check out some of our related articles below:
4 Steps To Creating a Flawless Website
How To Do Keyword Research: An Actionable Guide
If you would like us to maintain your WordPress website for you, check out our WordPress maintenance service. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.