How often should I update my website content & design?

Congratulations, your website is live, now what? While there are numerous options from PPC to email marketing that will help get your target users to your website, you simply can’t just leave it as it is for 10 years and expect success. You’ve got to keep your website and business relevant. Design trends change, products and services become available, interests and demand fluctuate and just as importantly, Google takes notice of your updates. There are, however, two sides to updating your website; written content is one and design, UX and imagery create the other. While there are numerous options available when it comes to updating your website, including features such as site security and technical SEO, in this article we’ll be looking at the content and design aspects, covering written content, design, UX and imagery.’

Before you can answer the titular question though, it’s important to know why you should update your website.

Written content

Search engines and in particular, Google, love new content. It’s highly likely your website users are using Google; 84.08% of internet users were in December 2022, according to Statista. Regularly adding content to your website won’t guarantee the coveted number-one spot on search results, but it will definitely help. The more you update your website with new content, the more frequently web crawlers like Google’s notorious ‘Googlebots’ will check your website, run its algorithms and determine where your site ranks. The question is, what content should you be adding or updating?

Existing content

It’s always worth scheduling yourself reminders to review the content on your website, from your about page to services and products. Content can easily appear dated through referencing events or people. There are a few things that should be updated naturally, such as adding someone new to the team page. If you’ve made a hire, get them added. Not only does this contribute to a new page being indexed, but it’s also important information for your customers.

Services and products should be updated as and when their respective information changes. However, it’s still worth considering the content you’ve got, if you’re finding a lack of interest in the product or service, or perhaps you get asked a lot of questions about it. By adding more content and details, you provide keywords and they’ll boost your website’s indexing and ranking.

New content

Blogs, case studies and events are great ways of growing your page count. Not only do you receive the benefit of new (and potentially easy) content, it’s your opportunity to reinforce your expertise with credibility and keep your customers updated with content they’re interested in. With a variety of pages, from services to blogs and case studies, you can help users make informed decisions and prove you’re the right company for them.

You’re probably wondering how regularly you should be adding new content. It’s no secret, the more often, the better. Along with all the benefits already mentioned, there’s also reassurance in a website with recent content. Are you going to purchase from a company that’s most recent blog post was last Tuesday, or one that hasn’t put one out in ten years? They might have made the conscious decision to stop blogging (we understand it can be difficult to find the time when you’re running a company), but it doesn’t suggest you’re still active. The same can be said for business’ social media pages. If retailer A hasn’t posted in six months, but retailer B posted yesterday, there’s more trust in B. Users want the reassurance the company is proactive, engaged with its customers and likely, still in business.

The general consensus for blog post regularity is at least once a month, although it does depend on your business. If your website is eCommerce, then one post a month is a useful marketing tool and the blogs aren’t a key part of your website. However, if you’re a magazine company that shares its articles on its website, a post once a month simply isn’t going to cut it.

Design, UX & imagery

Last year, we updated our website design, structure and much of the imagery and they were all for the right reasons. When it comes to websites and how they look and how easy they are to navigate, you shouldn’t be making updates without the right consideration.

Design

Having a rebrand? It’s definitely time to update the design of your website. As a key brand and business asset, your website needs to be consistent with all of your other brand artefacts and collateral. Customers and users need to know the website they’re on represents the company they passed earlier or picked up a leaflet about. Anything from a change of logo to a complete brand overhaul needs to carry through to your website and it works both ways; don’t make brand-related changes to your website without applying them company-wide. It’s at this point that brand guidelines become important.

There are, however, design updates you can make that benefit you, your website and its users. It should go without saying in this day and age that your website should be responsive. If it isn’t, you need to consider it. How your website pages appear on mobiles, tablets and laptops is important. Firstly, Google will consider this and punish you in the rankings if you haven’t got a mobile-friendly website. Secondly, if the design of your website on mobile devices hasn’t been considered, it’s either not going to show users what they need to see or won’t be usable (which neatly ties in with my next point).

UX & structure

If your website isn’t quite working how you want, it could be worth taking a look at the user journeys and sitemap. There are plenty of online services available that will let you track how users are interacting with your website, from page views to time on a page to clicks on links. Should the end goal you have for a user be to get in touch with you about a service and you’re finding the link from a service page isn’t getting clicked, reconsidering the interface to include a form and contact details on the page could be beneficial.

How easy are pages and content to find? Either through analysing user data and interactions or even asking customers for feedback, you can find out where a user struggles on your website. It could be anything from the naming of pages in the menu to not having crucial calls to action in the most visible places.

It’s also worth bearing in mind the user experience as and when you add new pages to your website. For example, if you’ve got an eCommerce website that sells six products, you might have them as your main menu items. If you then expand your product range, you might have thirty products split over four categories. You’re not going to fit them in your main menu. The layout and structure of the menu needs to be updated, likely to a mega menu with clearly defined category headings and the products listed below.

Imagery

Were cheesy stock photos ever on trend? If they were and your website still has them, it’s time to update your imagery. These now come across as unprofessional and look overly generic. There are free image libraries available that provide natural and believable photos. Some old ones still linger but you should be avoiding any that look staged, unnatural or untrue.

While websites often start off with stock imagery as photos are yet to be taken, it’s important you remember to update them as soon as possible. This will stop your business from appearing generic and suggests professionalism and care has been taken in setting up the business and website.

For similar reasons to blogs and content feeds, updating images also proves your business is active and up to date. Every image on every page doesn’t need updating, but if you focus on key pages and areas, you can guarantee an overall fresh look and feel. You don’t want a user coming to your website and seeing your main image and then revisiting a year down the line and seeing the same image. It suggests you haven’t been active.

The great thing about images is visual perceptions and how easy they can be to update. You can keep your website up to date by using relevant images, perhaps those relating to the season if that works with your brand. Let’s take a holiday booking website as an example. As summer ends, people start to think about a winter holiday. The main image on the homepage could be showing the sun shining and looking summery. Replace that image with one with snow or frost and you start to appeal more directly to the users at that moment in time. You just have to make sure you remember to update or change it back later.

How often?

Websites aren’t static. They’re a living representation of your brand and business that should be maintained and updated, ensuring consistency, benefitting searchability and keeping its users engaged and in the know.

How often should I update my website? The answer isn’t always the same or a simple one. We’d recommend as often as possible with evergreen content like blog articles, but even if you only manage once a month, it’s still going to benefit you. Updating other text content depends on how it’s currently being used and understood by its users.

What about updating visual elements and navigation and structure? The latter, if done right in the first place, will only need updating when you’re adding new pages of content or want to refocus your services or products. The overall design style, however, may want a review every few years and should be updated when elements begin to fall behind trends or if any changes are made to your brand.

Need to update?

Whether there are blogs or service page content that need writing, a restricted menu and sitemap that need structuring or new images, we’re able to help you update your website, just get in touch and our team can discuss beneficial updates to your website.