Content refreshes: fix the pages you have before writing more.
The sites page with 2022 rates, the cabins page with two sentences, the winter post that is still true except the price. Google already knows those pages. Improving them moves faster than starting over.
IN ONE PARAGRAPH
A content refresh is updating an existing page: correcting what changed, adding what is missing, thickening thin text, replacing old photos, adding a FAQ block, and relinking it. Pages that already have some ranking and some links respond quickly to improvement, often within weeks. The candidates on a park site are predictable: the sites and rates page, the cabins page, last year's seasonal pages, and any post that still gets visits. Once a quarter, pick the three pages with the most impressions and the least clicks in Search Console and fix them.
What to refresh
- Rates and facts that changed. The 2022 rate on a page that ranks is worse than no rate.
- Thin money pages. The cabins page with two sentences gets the full treatment: each cabin, beds, kitchen, rate, season, photos, FAQ.
- Seasonal pages. Same address, updated dates, this year's photo. Why the same address matters.
- Old posts that still get visits. Search Console shows them. Update, expand, and link them to current pages.
- Pages with impressions but no clicks. Usually a title and description problem. Rewrite those first.
- Photos. Replace the 2016 hero with this season's.
What a refresh looks like
The cabins page at a park, before and after a two-hour refresh:
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Accommodations | Cabins near Yellowstone, Grizzly RV Park, West Yellowstone MT |
| Text | "Cozy cabins available. Call for rates." 9 words | Each of four cabins: beds, bathroom, kitchen, linens, rate by season, pets. 620 words |
| Photos | One exterior, 2016 | Interior and exterior of each cabin, this year |
| FAQ | None | Five questions with markup |
| Links in | Footer only | Homepage, family page, area page |
| Position for "cabins near Yellowstone" | Not in top 50 | Page one within six weeks |
No new page was built. The page that already existed was made into the page it should have been.
How to do it
Open Search Console, Performance, and sort pages by impressions. The pages with many impressions and few clicks are showing up and being passed over; fix their titles and descriptions. The pages ranking in positions eight to twenty are close; add the missing facts, a FAQ block, and links from related pages. Update the date on the page. Do three pages a quarter and it compounds.
What it looks like when it is missing
The site has twenty pages and the owner is being told to write more. Meanwhile the sites page shows rates from two seasons ago, the cabins page is two sentences, and the top-ranking post on the site is a 2021 winter post that says the park is closed in January, which it no longer is.
What it costs a park
The cheap wins. A page at position eleven that moves to position six with an afternoon of work is worth more than a new page that starts at position ninety. And stale facts on ranking pages cost calls: guests read the old rate, then feel misled at the office.
How to check your own
- Open your sites, rates, and cabins pages and check every number against this season.
- In Search Console, sort pages by impressions. Which have the fewest clicks per impression?
- Find your oldest page that still gets visits and read it as a guest would.
What we do about it
Every site we maintain gets a quarterly refresh pass: the three pages Search Console points at, plus any page whose facts changed. In the Marketing band that is where a share of the monthly time goes, deliberately, because it returns more than new pages do. How we pick the three.
Questions about this.
What is a content refresh?
Updating an existing page: correcting facts, adding what is missing, thickening thin text, replacing photos, adding a FAQ block, and relinking it, rather than writing a new page.
Is it better to update old pages or write new ones?
Usually update first. Pages that already rank a little respond to improvement within weeks; new pages start from nothing. Do both, but refresh the money pages before adding more.
How often should a park refresh its website content?
Check rates and facts every season, and do a proper refresh of the three most promising pages each quarter, chosen from Search Console.
Does updating a page help it rank?
Yes, when the update makes the page more complete and accurate. Google recrawls changed pages and reassesses them, and a fuller page with current facts tends to move up.
Want this done for your park?
This is the ongoing work in the Marketing band. Tell us about your park and we will say what we would build first. SEO for parks starts at $250 a month.
Part of the RV park SEO guide, section: What grows a park site. Previous: Internal linking passes: connect what you publish to what books. Next: Search Console: the page-two rankings that are one fix from page one.