It’s the start of a new season, so what better time to spring clean your blog? Little changes can lead to big results for user experience, page speed, SEO and traffic. Take advantage of the warm weather energy to set your website up for success for the rest of the year.

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The Ultimate Guide to Spring Cleaning Your Blog

Spring has returned, bringing longer days, blooming flowers and that irresistible urge to tidy up. Isn’t it lovely? But while you’re dusting shelves and decluttering closets and cabinets, it’s easy to forget your digital space.

A little spring cleaning for your website can breathe new life into your brand, improve performance and make a fresh impression on your visitors. When you make time for an intentional spring reset, you can take the pulse of your business and check off those tasks you never get around to! And while you’re at it, these simple clean-ups can help you with SEO, user experience and page speed — and ultimately grow your traffic!

So get out your calendar and plan a CEO day just for spring cleaning your blog. (Bonus points if the weather allows you to do it somewhere you can enjoy the warm weather, like your porch or the patio of favorite a coffee shop!) There are 7 steps here, so you could even tackle one every day of spring break. Let’s get started!

1. Start with a website audit.

What better place to start than your site as a whole? Taking time to conduct a website audit is a great place to start. Sign up below to get our website audit checklist! 👇

As you go over this list, you’ll find a mix of easy fixes you can make and ones you need to hire out. Some will be urgent and some won’t. Even if you’re not in a place to hire someone right now to help you with these fixes, write them down and prioritize them!

Don’t get overwhelmed if there’s things on your site that are less than ideal, just take this as an opportunity to make a list to tackle someday. (Ideally before next spring…)

2. Update seasonal content.

While you’re doing your website audit, you might find some things that need to be replaced with current seasonal content. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Valentine’s Day Desserts section on the homepage that I forgot to update last month…) Make a list of these, and plan some time to change them out.

Here are a few places to look:

• All homepage sections: Swap out outdated seasonal content and make sure everything reflects your current priorities.
• Recipe index or category pages: Ensure categories are organized, relevant and easy to navigate.
• Manually-edited Top Posts widgets: Refresh these with up-to-date content based on current traffic or seasonal trends.
• Copy on email signup forms and pop-ups: Make sure your messaging and offers feel timely and engaging.
• Freebie opt-ins and lead magnets: Confirm they’re still relevant, working properly and aligned with your current content strategy.
• Email templates: Update links, seasonal references and visuals to keep them feeling fresh and on-brand.
• Update social media cover images & profile pics: Swap out seasonal graphics and check for consistency across platforms.
• Audit affiliate links and product widgets: Make sure you’re not promoting expired deals, out-of-stock products or seasonal items that are no longer relevant. Refresh with current offers.

3. Update your pages.

When’s the last time you looked at your About page? If it’s been a while, you’re not alone — so many bloggers forget to update it regularly! Link out to your best content (which has probably changed since your last update) and take a few minutes to refresh anything outdated. Three cheers for always learning and growing!

Here are a few things to check:

• Remove outdated info: Delete anything that’s no longer true or relevant.
• Update personal details: Have you moved? Added a new family member or pet?
• Add new accomplishments: Include recent awards, features, certifications or brand partnerships.
• Refresh internal links: Make sure you’re linking to your most popular or pillar content.

Bonus tip: Set a reminder to review your About page every quarter — it only takes a few minutes and it keeps your brand story current and compelling to new readers and brands.

Other pages to update

This also goes for other pages you may have, such as:

• Start Here page: Some blogs use these pages in their email welcome sequences to introduce new readers to their content. Make sure it’s showing the stuff you want them to see!
• Work with Me page: Are your stats right? Are the brands you’ve worked with current? (While you’re at it, update your media kit too!)
• Portfolio page: If you have a page advertising other work you do, like writing or photography, make sure it has the best examples of your recent work.

4. Fix broken links.

Search engines use links as a measure of site healthiness and trustworthiness. If you’re linking to a bunch of pages that are 404ing (AKA no longer valid), then that can diminish your hard-earned E-E-A-T. What better time to clean them up than your spring cleaning sesh?

Use a plugin like Broken Link Checker or a tool like Clariti to help you find posts with broken links, and fix them. Update affiliate links that are no longer valid, too. If you’ve been blogging a long time, you might have lots of these, especially links to blogs and articles that may no longer exist. It can be a really big project, so it might be worth outsourcing to a VA.

5. Look for orphaned posts.

Like broken links, inbound links — links from your content to a page on your site — are an important SEO metric. If you have blog posts sitting around with no other post linking to them, then those posts are “orphaned.” Links tell search engines what that page is about, from contextual clues and your anchor text on the link. Use a tool like Yoast or Clariti to identify these posts, then go into other blog posts and add links back to them.

6. Clean your email list.

This one is going to sound scary, but it’s time to spring clean your email list too! What you’ll do is scrub your email of cold subscribers — meaning people who haven’t opened or engaged with your emails in a certain time period (usually 90 days). (And while you’re at it, you should update any tags or segments that you don’t use anymore.)

Why? Removing people from your list helps you create an engaged list that actually cares about receiving your content. What’s better — 5,000 subscribers with a low open rate, or 3,000 subscribers and a high open rate?

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) subscribers can use their reengagement sequence that sends emails to subscribers to see if they still want to get your emails. If they don’t open or click the “keep me on your list” link, then they will be removed. Our friend Allea Grummert from this podcast episode has a great blog post on how to re-engage and remove cold email subscribers.

7. Finish a lingering project.

The last thing on the spring cleaning list: Do that one thing that you’ve been meaning to do forever…

I promise, it probably is way more challenging in your mind than it is actually doing it and getting it done! So let’s check it off so you can enjoy your upcoming summer vacay with peace of mind.

Tip: If a project has been on your plate for a while and you still don’t want to do it… Well, you probably just need to outsource it! Hire a VA to do it, even if it’s a short-term project. You could even hire and teach a friend or family member who needs a little extra work.

Don’t be tempted to do more than one thing, though! Just pick the most important one and get. it. done. Here are some example projects that might already be on your list:

• organize your blog categories
• update meta descriptions
• add alt text to old photos
• set up an automation
• create a welcome sequence for new subscribers
• write or update your evergreen email sequence
• design and publish your ebook
• delete and redirect old posts
• chang recipe card plugins
• designing new blocks

That’s it! If you made it through this list, congratulations on tackling some hard things. Your blog (and hopefully your traffic!) will thank you!