Building a website is no quick task, and you’re not done once it goes live.
Updating your website is a crucial step in the development of your business and its brand. It’s a way to keep your content up to date, your customers informed on new products and services, and enhance your websites SEO value.
Whether your website is going through an entire rebrand or you’re simply refreshing the blog post that gets the most traffic, you may be wondering how often you should be updating your website.
Of course, there’s no right or wrong answer. Actually, I take that back. If you answered never, that is the wrong answer. However, it’s going to depend on the scale of your website and how much time and effort you want to invest.
Because of this, we asked the experts how often they update their website. Here’s what they said!
There are obvious stages in the website building process that require updates. Perhaps you’re looking to incorporate new web design elements or it’s time for an entire rebrand. There are the not so obvious reasons for updating as well, like a Google algorithm change.
Whatever the case may be, keep reading to find out how often the experts update their websites and the reasons behind each change.
When your website is no longer contemporary
“We did a quasi-major update to our website shortly after I joined Intrinsic ID in 2017. Most of the changes were necessary to bring the site up to contemporary practices. With that update in the rearview mirror, most of the changes are content related — our latest blogs, or other resources, such as white papers and webinars. And, of course, when we have new products or updates to existing ones.”
– Milan Lazich, Senior Director of Marketing at Intrinsic ID
As often as you can
“It’s ideal to update a website at least monthly but weekly is preferred. That could be a minor change to the main content or a new blog post. Whatever the update is, it’s helpful to constantly make updates of any size. I personally update pages daily because improvements can always be made, which can only lead to growth and better rankings in search if you track your results.”
– Jorge Sheffy, Head Designer at Loclweb
When your clients have new needs
“Websites are a living, breathing advertisement for your brand. Unlike print, billboard, or sign campaigns, your website, as well as social media, can grow and change every day. That’s one of the key benefits of digital marketing. Technology is a beast that requires constant attention and care. New changes should be made as seen fit for your company. If a new common question arises amongst your clientele, it should be immediately added to your FAQ page. If you realize your clientele may benefit from having a 24/7 chat box available on your website, it should be added as soon as you can work out the kinks of adding that plug-in to your site.”
– Taura Wolfe, Founder and CEO of The Wolfe Agency
Once the dust settles
“Once a website is live, it’s important to let the dust settle for a while before going in and making additional changes. A new or recently renovated website is vulnerable to organic search ranking fluctuations – especially if you changed the URL structure, user experience, and content. I always recommend not making any post-launch changes for at least one month (unless there is a glaring issue or typo). This will allow rankings to stabilize and your returning users will have gotten used to navigating the new site. ”
– Audrey Strasenburgh, SEO Strategist at FreeLogoServices
When you want to overtake the competition
“We just re-did our website at the beginning of this year after three years. We didn’t do a complete rebranding, but we did update our logo using the same image and color. We also changed the design, layout, and look and feel of the website. We felt the need for a website overhaul because we have to be more competitive. We added new service offerings and changed our price structures. We also began trying to rank for additional keywords and produced more content on a regular basis, which drove a lot of traffic to our website.”
– Sarah Snider, SEO and Content Specialist at SEO.com
When it’s time to get more traffic
“As an SEO Specialist, it’s my job to make sure our content is always up to date and that we’re also pushing out new content regularly. I post new content weekly, schedule it to share at least once per month on our social media platforms, and update all pages every 3-6 months. After 6 months, if the page is not getting any visitors or the amount of traffic we’d like, it’s time to rebrand it.”
– Lindsay Engle, Senior Marketing Specialist at Medicare FAQ
When there’s a trending topic
“New content can help you target long tail keywords and trending topics. The frequency depends on the size and nature of the website. We are a sports shoe reviews website so we create a detailed review page whenever there’s a new shoe in the market. For most websites or businesses, I will recommend at least one new post or page every week.
– Sadi Khan, Digital Marketing Manager at Run Repeat
When your budget allows
“It’s all a matter of budget size. I suspect small businesses don’t update their website more than once every six months. For us? We post new content several times a week. Plus, we’re active on social media, across our business page, and employee profiles. Main service pages may get updated once every few weeks, whether a design re-touch, to add a new testimonial, or to pop in a new feature or service offering.
Small businesses shouldn’t be discouraged, however. Even putting out just one new piece of content each month will do wonders for your organic traffic, and give you something to leverage on social media. Stay active in your promotion efforts, and even a year-old landing page can still convert!”
– Yaniv Masjedi, CMO at Nextiva
When you need clearer messaging
“I went through a design update a few months ago — mostly new header image and headline, adding graphically-enhanced sections, and tightening up the copy. I haven’t “rebranded” in that my messaging and brand ID is basically the same, yet I have updated the language I use to communicate what my brand is about. It was time, based on feedback, website traffic data, and the overall need for clearer messaging. There are many reasons for a rebrand, such as the name no longer works, products/services have shifted, audiences have shifted, original meaning doesn’t suit the existing target audience, etc.”
– Robbin Block, Creative Market Strategist at Blockbeta
When you’re exploring new content mediums
“We update and add new content every month. Aside from the blog, the website itself is always a work-in-progress. As a software company, we add new features on a weekly basis. Of course, not all of them deserve a dedicated page, but we try to have as much content for our visitors as possible and offer them the possibility of experience content in whatever medium they’re most comfortable with, whether it’s text, podcast or video.”
– Cristina Maria, Marketing Executive at Commusoft
When you need to fix a roadblock
“When we build websites, we generally take the “launchpad” approach outlined in the Hubspot Academy. Basically, you build and launch a website as fast as possible and then track your audience to see where they hit “roadblocks” within the website.
This allows you to have a new website up as soon as possible, and when you are done optimizing the website within a few months, the website is effective and actually converts. We then run updates on their website on a bi-weekly to monthly basis to ensure that everything is running smoothly.”
– Caleb Burley, Digital Marketing Specialist at Artiiseo
Make updating a priority
No matter if your website is big or small, eCommerce or strictly blogs, don’t let it sit stagnant without anything fresh or new. Schedule updates into your content strategy. Whether you choose to update daily, weekly, or monthly, it’s one of the best ways you can choose to stay relevant.
When you’re done making updates, learn more about how to the website analytics to measure for success and which website KPIs you should be tracking.
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