Bringing a Website Back From The Dead

by KeNiW
11 replies
Long story short... I started a website about 10 years ago, it was doing fairly well and ranked for many keywords.

I neglected the site for 7 years. Moved the site to a new host and what I'm noticing is there is a huge decline in both rank and traffic over the years (as expected). After the host change, all rankings are in position 80 to non-existent.

What can I do it get the traction going again?

Hopefully, I'm posting this in the correct section
#back #bringing #dead #website
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  • Profile picture of the author Monetize
    Originally Posted by KeNiW View Post

    Long story short... I started a website about 10 years ago, it was doing fairly well and ranked for many keywords.

    I neglected the site for 7 years. Moved the site to a new host and what I'm noticing is there is a huge decline in both rank and traffic over the years (as expected). After the host change, all rankings are in position 80 to non-existent.

    What can I do it get the traction going again?

    Hopefully, I'm posting this in the correct section

    Just keep adding more new content to it.
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    • Profile picture of the author KeNiW
      Originally Posted by Monetize View Post

      Just keep adding more new content to it.
      Should I worry about redoing SEO for the older pages (over 100 posts) or will something like that gain traction on its own while updating newer content?
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      • Profile picture of the author Monetize
        Originally Posted by KeNiW View Post

        Should I worry about redoing SEO for the older pages (over 100 posts) or will something like that gain traction on its own while updating newer content?

        I'm not sure if your old content would gain traction but it
        couldn't hurt to update some of the existing content as well.
        Especially if the site is generating income for you. Perhaps
        whenever you add new content (pages/posts) you could take
        a few minutes to work on the old stuff. Do it for a couple of
        weeks and see what happens. That's what I would do.
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        • Profile picture of the author KeNiW
          Originally Posted by Monetize View Post

          I'm not sure if your old content would gain traction but it
          couldn't hurt to update some of the existing content as well.
          Especially if the site is generating income for you. Perhaps
          whenever you add new content (pages/posts) you could take
          a few minutes to work on the old stuff. Do it for a couple of
          weeks and see what happens. That's what I would do.
          Thanks for your input, it means a lot.
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      • Profile picture of the author savidge4
        Originally Posted by KeNiW View Post

        Should I worry about redoing SEO for the older pages (over 100 posts) or will something like that gain traction on its own while updating newer content?
        I would not touch the old content to start. You want to try and link some of the new stuff to the old stuff as long as it relates in CONTEXT.

        Something you could try is "revisiting" some of the old content subject matter, and then do an internal comparison old to new. Something like "in 2014 I wrote this article <link> on this very subject. it is amazing how things have changed / remained the same after all these years - blah blah blah.

        The introduction of the new content maybe all that is needed to get things back again to some degree.
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        Success is an ACT not an idea
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        • Profile picture of the author KeNiW
          Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

          I would not touch the old content to start. You want to try and link some of the new stuff to the old stuff as long as it relates in CONTEXT.

          Something you could try is "revisiting" some of the old content subject matter, and then do an internal comparison old to new. Something like "in 2014 I wrote this article <link> on this very subject. it is amazing how things have changed / remained the same after all these years - blah blah blah.

          The introduction of the new content maybe all that is needed to get things back again to some degree.
          That's a good idea
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  • Profile picture of the author TobiMDD
    I'm not sure if this is directly helpful for answering your question but if I were you I would also check if all the internal/external links from the old content are still working nowadays.
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    • Profile picture of the author KeNiW
      Originally Posted by TobiMDD View Post

      I'm not sure if this is directly helpful for answering your question but if I were you I would also check if all the internal/external links from the old content are still working nowadays.
      Yes, just finished checking all of that. All of the internal linking is good, the external I'm working on (slowly but surely).

      One thing I do notice is google seems to take old comments and use that as the meta description vs using my actual meta description. This seems to have for certain keywords I'm not directly targeting, but the comment left does touch on the subject.
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  • Profile picture of the author Old Molases
    Backlink Acquisition for the old content can help revitalize your existing content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Royal Digital
    This will require a lot of work on your part. An overhaul of the design with updated content and meta elements. SEO activities both on and off page. I would suggest using paid advertising for a short time just to boost it faster.
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  • Profile picture of the author KeNiW
    Just wanted to give everyone a little update. I signed up for Semrush (trial). From here I've been optimizing my core content pages. Also. noticed I had a lot of spammy backlinks, I put in an order (Google Disavow tool) to get those removed and my rankings are going up quite a bit. Some pages 14 to 30 positions in about 48 hours.

    Does anyone know of a good keyword research tool for mac? These services are nice, I'm not a fan of paying a monthly fee. Was sad to hear Market Samurai died.
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