It’s always important to “check in” on your firm’s website from time to time. Every successful website will have “evergreen content,” or articles that have a high volume of traffic over many years. It’s important to keep these pages up to date to not only ensure that it’s useful for future consumers, but so search engines like Google or Bing see that you’re still updating your site and keeping copy relevant. If you typically publish a blog post and leave it, here are some tips you can consider going forward to improve your firm’s presence online.

Identify Your “Evergreen” Content

There are a few factors that make up a page of content that could be considered evergreen:

• The content still receives a fair amount of traffic years after it was published
• The content consistently generates leads
• The content is still relevant for claimants now

It’s likely that your firm’s website has at least three to five pages of evergreen content published, but potentially many more. When revising the content on your site, use Google Analytics to pull a list of pages that receive a high volume of traffic but haven’t been “spruced up” in a while.

Choose Updates You Can Implement

Once you’ve compiled your list of pages to be improved, what should you actually change? Usually this can be done on a case-by-case basis, as every page will be different. Some places to start include, but certainly aren’t limited to:

• Updating content so it’s still accurate. For Social Security disability firms, this could mean updating COLA or maximum SSDI monthly benefits.
• Modifying keywords used in the content. Keyword research can be challenging, but once you’ve selected some keywords commonly used by your ideal claimant, you can incorporate them into your evergreen content
• Break apart the page—larger paragraphs tend to yield higher bounce rates, which is bad for user experience and your site’s overall performance on search result pages.

Again, modifying evergreen content will really depend on the page in question. Some pages about fault determination in personal injury cases will rarely need to be modified for inaccurate content, if ever. Other pages on Social Security income limits will change every year.

Monitor Success Set Schedule for Future Changes

Don’t “set and forget” any pages you’ve updated! It’s likely you’ll need to make more changes in the future, especially if you work in Social Security disability law. A good rule of thumb is to revisit evergreen content every year, but if you’d like you can “check in” every six months or so.

Another important factor will be monitoring your success. If you spend hours revising your content, shouldn’t you pay attention to how well it performs online? Some key performance indicators should include:

• Traffic to page: if Google and Bing noticed you revised your old content, they may perform better on search pages
• Bounce rate: a page that’s “easier for the eye” won’t have consumers leaving your firm’s website quickly
• Time spent on page: if claimants are taking the time to read more about your firm or your area of law, the time they spend online will increase
• Conversions: the key indicator of how well your content is performing.

All of the above information can be gathered on Google Analytics. Revising evergreen content may feel tedious, but an increase in new clients will make it well worth your time and effort!