Many news publishers’ question “Is it okay to remove old news articles from the website?”
Well, to answer this question, we first have to understand the meaning of Topical and Evergreen content.
We can classify any content on the web in two categories – Topical and Evergreen.
Topical content is a time-sensitive content that is relevant for a shorter period.
News articles are the best example of topical content.
Topical content drives traffic to our website for a specific time. But, that traffic in general is enormous in comparison to the evergreen content.
Evergreen content, on the other hand, drives traffic to our website for a longer period.
But it does mean we will not have to update the evergreen content once we publish it. We may lose its ranking with time if we will not update it by filling relevant information.
So, to keep the ranking of evergreen content, we must update it from time to time.
It is said, a website having both the topical and evergreen content resonates best with the web as it beautifully fills the content gap.
But what should we do with the topical content that does not drive traffic to our website anymore?
Should we remove it or leave it as it is?
Well, in a recent Google hangout video, Google search advocate, John Muller answers the same.
John said, any content that is valuable to the users is important and should not be removed. It does not matter if it is a topical one.
Hence, if your news article is still valuable to the users, you must not remove it.
Here is a tip to encourage your old news article.
You can use them in your newer articles for internal linking as the history. In this way, you not just give value to them but also gain trust in front of users and search engines by showing them that you have knowledge about that topic.
So, make sure to think again before removing your old news content as it may be still useful for your audience.
What do you think about the same? Do let me know in the comments down below.
