Library·SOP·SEO
Improve an existing page with useful, accurate changes, keep its current address, and save a clear record for later comparison.
Last reviewed: · Editorial review
Clarity, structure and references reviewed in this version. This is not a test in a live account.
Improve an existing page with useful, accurate changes, keep its current address, and save a clear record for later comparison.
This SOP covers:
This does not cover:
Start from a useful reader task. Keep a copy of the page before editing so useful material is not lost.
Create a folder named Content refresh – [page name] and a document inside it named Refresh notes. Add these headings: Page, Baseline, Change brief, Saved changes, and Follow-up. Keep the original page files and search exports in this folder.
Choose one existing page and explain what needs to improve.
In Page, write the public page URL, editor URL, page owner, and one sentence describing what its reader needs to do. Ask the owner when the purpose is unclear. For example: “Help a beginner choose a tomato pot and start growing.”
If you have not chosen a page, follow the linked SOP to compare existing-page opportunities. Return with one URL and its specific review question; copy that question into Page.
Read the public page and compare it with the task in Page. Look for a wrong or outdated fact, missing instruction, unclear explanation, or broken next step. Write the exact issue in Page. Search counts help you choose what to inspect; they do not explain the cause. If the page is useful and accurate with no meaningful gap, record “No refresh needed” and return it to the owner.
Save the original page before changing it.
Open the public page, use your browser’s Print command, and save it as a PDF named Before – [page name] – [date] in the refresh folder. Check the PDF includes the text, images, and sources you need; add missing media or source links to Page.
Open the page in WordPress. In the editor’s top-right Options (⋮) menu, choose Copy all blocks. Paste the result into a plain-text file named Original blocks – [date].txt in the folder. In Page, record the page title, slug, published date, and image/media URLs. A slug is the address portion after the domain.
Open the current search fields without editing them. The SEO title is the heading your site suggests for a search result. The meta description is its suggested short summary. Google may use different text. These values are separate from the visible page title.
In the linked on-page guide, go to Update the page's search title and description. Use its active-plugin check, then open the matching plugin guide. Follow only the field-opening steps under Enter the per-page values; stop when the title and description fields are visible. Do not type changes or save yet.
Copy the current title and description text from their fields into Page. Keep displayed template placeholders (such as %title%, which generates page-title text), and label them Template/default. Label an empty field Blank — no custom value. Copy any shown generated preview separately as Generated preview/fallback, not a manually entered value.
In Settings > Post or Settings > Page, open Revisions if it is available. In Page, record the date or identifier of the latest saved version before this refresh. WordPress revisions store earlier content, but the separate files also preserve material that a revision may not include.
A baseline is the before measurement. Keep its exact dates and filters so the later check uses the same view.
Open the page’s Search Console report and choose comparable periods.
Open Google Search Console, choose the property that contains this website, and open Performance or Performance > Search results. Select Search type: Web. In Baseline, write the property name, Search type, and every active country, device, query, or search-appearance filter. Use the same filters throughout.
Open the date filter and choose Compare. Use the last 28 complete available days before the update and the previous 28 days, or two owner-agreed periods of the same length that suit the page’s season. Apply them. In Baseline, write both exact start/end dates and the report’s last-update text. If history is missing, write “Comparison unavailable” and save what is available.
Open Pages and click the exact public URL from Page. If it is not listed, add a Page filter for that exact URL. Check the filter shows the intended address before opening Queries. In Baseline, record the exact Page filter.
If the page has no rows and you are unsure whether Google assigns its results to another address, follow the linked SOP to check the page’s canonical URL, meaning the version Google treats as the main page. Write the finding in Baseline. Keep missing values missing; do not treat the absence of rows as zero.
Keep the displayed measurements and full available query export.
Turn on Clicks, Impressions, Average CTR, and Average position above the chart. In Baseline, copy the page-filtered totals for each labeled period. Clicks are visits from Search; impressions are appearances in results; CTR is the share of appearances that led to a click. Average position is an average across appearances, not one fixed rank. Enter zero only when shown; write “Not shown” for missing values.
With the Page filter still applied, open Queries and use Export to download the available data as Excel or CSV. Save the unchanged file in the refresh folder with the page name and dates. Save the page-filtered chart/totals export too if separate. In Baseline, write the file names and download date. Ordinary exports contain up to 1,000 rows, and Google omits some queries; keep that limitation beside the file.
Review the available query rows for questions that fit the reader task. In Change brief, write the relevant phrases, the period-labeled counts that support the review, and what the page currently does not answer. Keep unrelated searches out of the change brief. If no useful rows appear, write “No useful query detail shown” and use the observed factual or task gap from the page.
Decide what to keep and what to improve before editing. Each change needs a reader benefit and a source for any important fact.
In Change brief, list each affected section and choose Keep, Correct, Add, or Remove. For each choice, write the current passage or gap, the intended change, its reader benefit, and the supporting source or fact-checker. Review the whole page so an edit does not contradict another section.
Keep accurate sections that already help the task. Correct a fact when a current reliable source or knowledgeable owner confirms it is wrong. Add an answer when it belongs to this page’s task and you can support it. Remove only a repeated, unsupported, or off-topic passage after preserving the original.
Fictional example: a tomato-pot guide says any pot will do, then never explains drainage. A reliable growing source supports a pot with drainage holes. Plan Correct for the pot instruction, Add for how to check drainage, and Keep for its accurate watering explanation and original photo. Queries about tomato pot size help identify the task; they do not prove that a missing drainage answer caused a click decline.
Check the important facts in the change brief with their named source or owner. Mark each proposed change Ready or Needs answer in Change brief. Leave an unconfirmed claim out of the edit when it could mislead a reader; resolve it before publishing if the page cannot serve its task without it.
Use the existing on-page procedure for editing. Bring your change brief and original files with you.
Follow the linked SOP for this existing page’s content, headings, active SEO-plugin fields, images, and links. Use Change brief as the plan, keep the public URL from Page, and keep useful original material. Complete its preview, Save/Update, and public-page checks before returning here.
In Saved changes, record the saved date/time, editor, unchanged public URL, and each completed change with its source and reader benefit. Record where each kept section, media item, and citation remains. Save an After – [page name] – [date] PDF in the folder and note any optional work with its owner.
Finish today with a working page and a usable follow-up task. Later performance is a separate check.
Open the public URL from Page in a fresh browser tab and inspect the whole saved page.
Confirm the address is unchanged and the corrected or added material is visible. Read as a newcomer: can you now finish the task? Compare the Keep items with the before PDF and confirm they remain. In Saved changes, write the result and checked date.
Open the saved page at desktop and phone widths. Check preserved and changed images/media, source links, internal links, and the page’s next action. Reopen the editor to read back changed SEO title/description values when needed. Fix failures, save again, and record the final check in Saved changes.
Create the follow-up task in Follow-up and give it a named owner.
In Follow-up, copy the property, Web Search type, exact Page URL/filter, other filters, saved baseline dates/file names, and relevant query phrases. Set exact planned after-period start/end dates of the same length, starting after the saved update. Write the review date, owner, and context to check, such as seasonality, changed offers, other site edits, or missing query data.
Fictional example: an update saved on 6 October uses 8 September–5 October as its 28-day before period. Plan 7 October–3 November as its after period and a review on 6 November, once those days are available. A seasonal page may need the same season last year instead. Your owner chooses the dates; report delays may require a later review. Record this choice in Follow-up.
Put a link to this refresh task in your team’s task list or calendar for the chosen owner/date. At that later review, follow the linked SOP with the saved periods and filters to compare page and query patterns. Record unavailable data honestly. A change after the update does not by itself prove the update caused it.
If the update belongs in a recurring SEO report, give the report owner the refresh folder and saved date, and use the linked SOP at the next reporting review.
