Guide to website updates for small business owners

Key takeaways:

• Regular website updates support search visibility, performance, and user trust.
• Auditing your site before making changes helps focus on updates that matter most.
• The right tools and services can make site updates easier to manage and scale.

Is your website costing you customers? Slow load times and outdated websites deter visitors; pages that take longer than three seconds to load lose more than half of their mobile visitors. If your site hasn’t been updated recently, it may no longer meet user expectations or support your business goals.

Regular updates enhance usability and trust, making it easier for customers to find accurate information and complete actions, like filling out a form or making a purchase. In this guide, you’ll learn why website updates matter and how to efficiently make changes, along with practical steps to audit your site and avoid common mistakes. 

Why update your website 

Updating your website helps ensure it continues to support your business goals, meet user expectations, and perform well in search results. Regular updates improve usability and performance while helping your site achieve the following:

• Build trust and credibility: Regularly updating your website to keep it fresh and modern helps build trust and credibility with your audience. It shows your business is active, professional, and trustworthy.
• Improve SEO: Site updates also significantly amplify your search engine optimization efforts. Search engines prefer websites with updated, relevant content and optimized technical performance.
• Enhance overall user experience (UX): Site updates improve navigation, readability, and UX across devices. Optimized user experience reduces friction and guides them toward converting actions, creating a more user-friendly experience across devices.  
• Boost site performance: Faster websites tend to keep visitors engaged for longer and reduce abandonment rates. Even a one-second delay in page load time can lower conversion rates, making performance updates a direct contributor to revenue.  

How often should you update your site?  

How often you update your website depends on the type of content and how quickly information changes in your industry. For most SMBs, website updates should follow a structured cadence rather than reacting to issues.

Below is a practical update schedule to guide planning:

• Ongoing and monthly updates: Content updates, including blog posts, product details, service pages, and announcements, should be reviewed and refreshed at least once a month.
• Quarterly performance and SEO reviews: Quarterly check-ins help catch issues early and provide opportunities to adjust content, navigation, or internal linking before performance declines.
• Annual design and usability reviews: Conduct at least one review per year to assess your site’s design, layout, and usability, ensuring it continues to meet visitor expectations and business objectives.
• Major updates every 2–3 years: Larger updates, such as structural changes or partial redesigns, are typically needed every two to three years.

What are the best website practices when updating?  

Updating your website effectively means knowing what to change, such as content and design, and why these matter. The right updates improve search visibility, usability, performance, and conversions; all essential for attracting and keeping customers.

Below are the core areas every business should review and update on a regular basis:

1. Set clear goals 

Before making any updates, define what success looks like so every adjustment supports a measurable outcome, such as stronger visibility or higher conversions. Clear goals help website owners focus updates on measurable outcomes.

Common goals for site updates include:

• Improve SEO and search visibility: Focus on updating for keyword relevance, technical health, and content gaps. Businesses that serve a specific geographic area should also consider local SEO by updating location pages, contact details, and local keywords. Use tools such as Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Search Console, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and SE Ranking to identify ranking issues and opportunities for improvement.
• Increase engagement and conversion rates: Target actions like form submissions, phone calls, or purchases. Removing friction and simplifying navigation leads to stronger user engagement and more completed goals.
• Improve user experience (UX): This includes simplifying menus, improving readability, or adjusting layouts for mobile users. Better UX helps visitors find information faster and stay on the site longer, which supports both engagement and performance metrics.

2. Evaluate your current website performance 

Reviewing performance data before making changes ensures your updates are based on real user behavior rather than assumptions.

Start your evaluation by reviewing the following key areas:

• Page speed: Slow load times can frustrate users and cause them to leave before interacting with your content. As a general benchmark, websites that load within 2–3 seconds tend to keep users engaged, while longer load times often lead to higher abandonment. Tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and Google Search Console can help identify speed issues and opportunities for improvement.
• Bounce rates: Bounce rate shows the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. A healthy bounce rate typically falls between 40% and 60%, depending on industry and page type. Reviewing bounce rate trends in GA4 can help determine whether visitors find your site’s content useful or leave due to slow performance, unclear messaging, or poor layout.
• SEO rankings and visibility: Search rankings indicate how easily potential customers can find your website. Google Search Console provides insight into search queries, impressions, and click-through rates, while tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and SE Ranking help track keyword positions and uncover optimization gaps.
• Mobile-friendliness: Mobile-friendliness evaluates how well your site performs on smartphones and tablets. Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, your mobile version is the primary version considered for ranking. Use Google Search Console and mobile testing tools to confirm mobile-responsiveness for smaller screens.

3. Consider changing your hosting provider

A reliable hosting platform can simplify website updates with features such as automatic backups, security monitoring, and software updates. These features reduce the risk of data loss during updates and make it easier to test changes.

You may want to review your hosting setup if you notice:

• Slow page load times even after optimizing images and content
• Repeated security warnings or outdated software
• Limited storage or bandwidth as your site grows
• Lack of support when technical issues arise

Switching to a hosting provider that supports modern website needs helps remove technical barriers and support ongoing updates. For example, our hosting services are designed to support business websites with reliable uptime, scalable plans, security features, and tools that make managing updates easier.

4. Identify outdated content  

Start by reviewing pages that receive traffic but no longer reflect your current offerings or business priorities. Common examples include old blog posts, expired promotions, discontinued offerings, and pages with outdated statistics or screenshots.

Outdated content can hurt performance in several ways:

• Lower search visibility when information no longer matches the current search intent
• Poor user experience if visitors encounter incorrect or incomplete details
• Weakened brand trust when content appears neglected or inaccurate

Use tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 to find pages with declining traffic, high bounce rates, or low engagement. SEO tools like Semrush and Ahrefs can help uncover pages that have lost keyword rankings or lower performance.

Once identified, decide whether each page should be refreshed, consolidated with another page, redirected, or removed. Updating content to target new keyword trends, such as voice search and conversational queries, helps maintain relevance.

5. Make strategic, new content  

Creating new content gives your website fresh entry points for search traffic and new ways to engage visitors. Start by pulling data from your site audit, then conduct keyword research to guide what content to create or refresh. Pages that already attract traffic but fall short on engagement or rankings are strong candidates for improvement.

For strategic content updates, you’ll want to:

• Refresh older blog posts: Review existing posts to update statistics, examples, formatting, and tone. SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and SE Ranking can help identify content gaps, keyword opportunities, and competitor benchmarks. You can also use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity to check for missing topics or unclear sections before final edits.
• Repurpose existing content: Turn high-performing blog posts into FAQs, guides, videos, or social content.
• Update headlines and metadata: Revise page titles and meta descriptions to reflect current search intent and improve click-through rates.
• Rework calls to action (CTAs): Review whether CTAs match the page’s intent and user expectations, making sure they follow best practices for maximum conversion. If necessary, adjust the wording, placement, or design to support actions such as contacting your business or requesting information.
• Add customer-focused content: Include testimonials, case studies, FAQs, and service explanations that address real customer questions.
• Identify new topics using search trends: Tools like Google Trends can reveal rising topics, seasonal interest, and changing search behavior. These insights help guide the creation of new content that matches what your audience is currently seeking.

6. Create a content calendar

A content calendar helps you manage site updates consistently instead of reacting to issues as they arise. Start by scheduling regular reviews of key pages such as service pages, product listings, and high-traffic blog posts. Evergreen content should be reviewed at least quarterly to confirm statistics, links, and messaging remain accurate and relevant.

Your content calendar should also account for:

• Planned business updates such as product launches, promotions, or new services
• Seasonal trends that affect customer interest and search behavior
• SEO-driven updates based on keyword performance, content gaps, or ranking changes
• Technical reviews tied to platform updates, hosting changes, or performance checks

Pro tip: Document what was updated to help track progress and prevent duplicated work.

7. Check technical aspects

Technical issues can block pages from being indexed, slow down performance, or create usability problems that reduce traffic and engagement. Addressing these issues during updates helps protect rankings, prevent security breaches, and protect user privacy.

Key technical areas to review include:

• HTTPS and security settings: Websites, especially e-commerce and financial websites, should use HTTPS to protect user data and comply with data privacy laws. Google treats HTTPS as a ranking signal, and unsecured sites may display browser warnings that discourage visitors. Review SSL certificates and confirm all pages load securely.
• Core Web Vitals: Core Web Vitals measure loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. These metrics are direct ranking factors that significantly impact user experience, particularly in terms of bounce rates and engagement. Google Search Console provides reports that highlight pages needing improvement.
• Robots.txt configuration: An incorrect or missing robots.txt file can prevent search engines from crawling important pages. Review this file to confirm it allows access to key sections of your site while blocking unnecessary areas.
• Broken links and errors: Broken internal or external links create poor user experiences and waste crawl budget. Regularly scan your site to find and fix links that lead to missing pages or errors.
• Canonical tags: Canonical tags help search engines understand which version of a page should be indexed. Missing or incorrect canonical tags can cause duplicate content issues and weaken rankings.
• Sitemap issues: XML sitemaps help search engines discover and index your pages. Check for outdated URLs, errors, or missing pages, and resubmit your sitemap after major updates.
• Internal linking structure: Strengthening internal links improves page discovery and distributes ranking value across relevant pages. Use descriptive anchor text to help users and search engines understand linked content.
• Alt text for images: Adding descriptive alt text improves usability for screen readers and helps search engines understand visual content.

Tools such as Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, and SEMrush can help identify technical issues and track improvements over time.

8. Evaluate competitor websites 

Start by reviewing competitors that rank well for your target keywords or serve the same audience. Pay attention to both content and structure to see what users may prefer.

Key areas to analyze include:

• Page layouts and structure: Review how competitors organize their pages, navigation, and menus. Clear layouts can make information easier to find and improve engagement.
• Content depth and coverage: Check whether competitors cover topics more thoroughly or answer questions your site does not. Look for missing pages, outdated sections, or opportunities to expand on existing content.
• Visual design elements: Compare imagery, spacing, typography, and multimedia use. Strong visuals can help communicate value more effectively and keep users engaged for longer.
• CTA strategies: Observe how competitors guide visitors toward actions such as contacting the business, signing up, or requesting a quote. Placement and wording can influence conversion behavior.
• Key performance indicators: Use tools like Semrush and Ahrefs to review estimated traffic levels, top-performing content, keyword rankings, and backlink profiles.

Documenting competitor findings helps guide your update priorities and prevents guesswork.

9. Improve website design and usability  

Start by reviewing whether your current website’s layout and design support how visitors actually use your website. Strong web design supports usability and navigation, while confusing navigation causes users to leave, even if the content itself is of high quality.

Key areas to focus on include:

• Clear navigation and page hierarchy: Menus should guide visitors to important pages without forcing them to click multiple times.
• Consistent layout and branding: Fonts, colors, and spacing should feel cohesive across all pages. Consistency supports brand recognition and makes the site easier to scan.
• Multimedia elements: Adding images, videos, charts, and icons can make content easier to understand and create a visually appealing experience that keeps visitors engaged. Multimedia also breaks up long blocks of text, helping visitors absorb information faster.
• Mobile usability: Buttons must be easy to tap, text should remain readable, and layouts should adjust without horizontal scrolling. Design updates should also account for website accessibility requirements, such as including search bars or assistive technologies. Accessibility ensures websites are accessible to individuals with disabilities, meeting legal requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
• Modern design references: To stay current, review competitor websites and explore design-focused platforms such as Dribbble and Behance. These platforms help you identify layout trends, visual styles, and interface ideas that fit your industry.

Small changes, such as adding accessibility features or improving visual balance, often lead to noticeable improvements in engagement and conversions.

10. Perform A/B testing

A/B testing helps you compare two versions of a webpage to see which one performs better with real users. One version of a page remains unchanged while another includes a single variation, such as a different headline, button text, layout, or image. Traffic is split between the two versions, and performance is measured based on specific goals, such as clicks, form submissions, or time on page.

A/B testing is invaluable for optimizing conversion rates because it allows you to:

• Base updates on user behavior rather than assumptions
• Reduce risk by testing changes before rolling them out site-wide
• Identify which elements support stronger engagement or conversions
• Make steady improvements over time instead of large, uncertain changes

Common elements to test include calls to action, page layouts, headlines, navigation labels, and form designs. Tools such as Optimizely, analytics platforms, or built-in testing features in some website builders can support this process.

11. Gather feedback

Before fully launching your updated website, gather feedback and test your changes. Here are some ways to test and gather comments on your website. 

• A/B testing: A/B testing runs two or more versions of a web page or element for comparison, helping you make data-driven decisions. Tools like Optimizely randomly show these versions to visitors and track metrics like clicks or conversions. 
• Heatmaps: Heatmaps help you visualize how users interact with your site, such as where they click and how far they scroll. You can use heatmap tools like Hotjar or Crazy Egg to see user behavior and highlight areas of interest or improvement. 
• User testing: Feedback from users provides invaluable insights for website updates. Ask real users to test your site and provide feedback on their experience. 
• Surveys: Collect feedback through simple surveys to understand user satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.

Use your feedback to adjust your updates and ensure the best possible results. You can also pair these with automated tools to make monitoring performance easier.

12. Promote your updated website  

After updating your website, the next step is to actively promote those changes so they reach both customers and search engines. Start by sharing updates through social media posts, email newsletters, or blog announcements that explain what’s new and how it benefits your audience.

Search visibility should also be part of your promotion plan. Submitting an updated sitemap through Google Search Console helps Google find and index new or refreshed pages more quickly, which supports faster visibility in search results.

For local exposure, be sure to claim and update your Google Business Profile. Confirm that your business name, website link, hours, and services are accurate. A current profile helps nearby customers find your business and connects local search traffic to your updated site.

You can further extend your reach by listing your updated website across trusted online directories. Our Business Directories service helps distribute your business information across multiple platforms, supporting local search visibility and discoverability.

13. Track results and plan for ongoing updates  

Website improvement is an ongoing process, so always monitor key metrics and identify areas for further improvement. Some key metrics to monitor include: 

• Traffic 
• Conversion rates 
• Bounce rates 
• Search engine rankings 

After taking metrics into account, schedule regular content, design, and SEO audits to keep your website up to date. To streamline these ongoing efforts, consider using various tools or templates to help with analytics, SEO analysis, and content management. 

Document what was updated, when it changed, and why. Maintaining a clear update log and schedule helps keep your website aligned with business goals over time.

What are the common website update mistakes?

Website updates can improve performance and visibility, but mistakes during the process can undo progress or create new issues. Understanding common update mistakes helps businesses avoid disruptions, protect search rankings, and keep users engaged.

Not backing up before making changes 

Skipping backups puts your website at risk if something breaks during an update. Without a recent backup, restoring lost content, design elements, or functionality can be time-consuming or impossible.

Ignoring mobile users 

Failing to check updates on mobile devices can lead to poor usability and lost traffic. Since most users browse on phones and Google uses mobile-first indexing, mobile issues can directly raise accessibility issues and affect visibility.

Breaking SEO by changing URLs without redirects 

Changing page URLs without setting up redirects can cause broken links and lost search rankings. Redirects help preserve traffic and ensure users and search engines reach the correct pages.

Updating everything at once 

Making too many changes at once makes it difficult to identify what works and what causes problems. Smaller, controlled updates are easier to test, track, and adjust.

Skipping the testing phase 

Publishing updates without testing can result in broken forms, layout issues, or missing content. Testing across browsers and devices helps catch issues before visitors encounter them.

Frequently asked questions 

Take your website to the next level with Network Solutions 

Keeping your website updated supports visibility, performance, and customer trust. From reviewing content to tracking results, regular updates help your site stay aligned with user intent and buyer journey.

Managing updates does not have to be complicated. We are your one-stop shop for reliable hosting solutions, domain management tools, and professional business directory listings to help your customers find you online.