Content recycling: How to use older content again

What is content recycling?

Content recycling is the practice of repurposing existing content to maximize its value. By rewriting old content, you can increase user engagement and improve your SEO rankings.

When recycling content, it's important to remember that the recycled content should be richer than the original. Simply rewriting an article or changing a post into a graphic isn't enough. The idea of recycling is to provide additional value. This is especially important from the user's perspective. They should see that although we're referring to older content, we still care about providing new value.

Evergreen content is often recycled. These are posts that remain relevant regardless of the time of year. Their popularity is maintained continuously. Examples include answers to questions like 'How to cook rice?' or 'How to brush your teeth properly.' With new information, we can recycle our evergreen content to increase its value.

Advantages of content recycling

As we've mentioned, well-executed content recycling brings many benefits. These include:

Improved content quality. Updating and enriching content increases its value for both users and search engines. By consistently improving our content, we demonstrate our commitment to providing the best possible experience.

Positive impact on website ranking. By adding new keywords during the content enrichment process, we increase visibility to search engine bots and improve our search engine ranking. Additionally, updated content is more likely to be favored by Google's ever-evolving algorithms.

Opportunity to adopt better content presentation methods. We may find that content previously presented in text format would be more effective as a short video.

Ability to correct errors and inaccuracies. Revisiting content provides an opportunity to improve and add internal linking. We can remove broken links and correct any language or style errors.

Cost savings. Content recycling saves time and money compared to creating entirely new content. However, it's important to remember that a content strategy solely based on recycling can negatively impact our brand image.

How to do content recycling?

Let's take a closer look at the different forms of content recycling. First, let's identify which content is worth repurposing. You can use Google Analytics data for this. It's a good idea to start with the posts that have the highest popularity.

Content recycling takes the following forms:

Expansion - enriching the content with additional information. Broader coverage of a specific topic.

Updating - adding new information, refreshing the content. It's important to monitor your content and add new details while removing outdated information. We should adapt our content to current trends and new developments.

Changing the format - transforming the content format, for example from text to video or graphic. The content in a new format can be placed on social media to increase reach.

Adapting to new distribution channels.

Regular monitoring. This will allow us to know which topics are worth recycling on a cyclical basis and ensure their quality.

Content recycling in practice

Using a few industries as case studies, let's explore how content recycling can be implemented in practice. For example:

Fashion industry. We have an online clothing store and a themed blog. We've written many articles about current fashion trends. Now we can link them internally and turn them into a seasonal fashion guide.

Gardening. Let's gather our seasonal gardening advice from throughout the year into an e-book. This e-book will be a comprehensive guide covering 12 months of gardening work.

Automotive. We run a portal dedicated to cars. We write articles about new models. After some time, let's collect them into a report on how technology has changed over the years.

Film and cinema. We run a professional website dedicated to Hollywood news. We regularly write reviews of new releases. At the end of the year, we can create a list of the best films of the year or the biggest acting debuts. Let's connect older posts with logical internal linking.

Does my website need content recycling?

We would only answer this question negatively if we were starting from scratch. However, if we already have existing content, it's worth exploring the benefits of content recycling. As demonstrated, this strategy can significantly enhance both user experience and search engine rankings.

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