Tips for Reposting an Older Post

source: Andres Rueda

It’s Christmas week, and most of us have things we’d rather be doing than sitting in front of the computer blogging. But if you consider blogging more than a hobby, you may feel a responsibility or obligation to continue posting for readers who might be expecting posts from you. You could write ahead, scheduling posts so that you’re still sharing new content even while off enjoying your family, but if that just feels like one more thing on your to-do list, reposting older posts may be a better solution.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when reposting older posts:

1. Don’t repost too soon.

Reposting a post that’s less than 9-12 months old — even if it was the best post of your life — can end up annoying your loyal readers. Instead, choose older posts that newer readers probably haven’t seen and that older readers may have forgotten and enjoy reading again.

2. Create a new post.

If your goal is to provide fresh content for your subscribers, changing the date on an old post won’t help. It will move it to the top of your homepage, but it will be regarded as an “edited” post rather than a new post and won’t show up in many readers or for email subscribers. Instead, try one of these methods:

Repost a second copy. If you have a post with a lot of really great comments on it that you don’t want to lose, you may want to simply repost a duplicate post at the top of your blog. Although there is some concern about the effect of duplicate content on Google rankings,

Create a new post. If you’re not worried about the comments, but you are worried about incoming links, you can simply create a new post with the exact same permalink and delete the old one. Note that if you’re on WordPress, you’ll need to permanently delete the post from your Trash folder in order to use the same permalink.

3. Be upfront with your readers.

Don’t try to pretend that you’re posting fresh content if you’re not. Most people don’t mind reading reposted content as long as they know what they’re getting!

Tsh from Simple Mom usually includes a story or introduction when reposting an older post that ties the old and new together:

4. Don’t overdo it.

With the exception of emergencies, it’s probably best not to repost old posts for two weeks straight. Instead, use it as just one tool — combined with guest posts, link posts and other methods — to give yourself a break.

As a blogger, do you repost older posts when you need a break? As a reader, how do you feel about reposts?