Website Regeneration SOP: Updating Content Without Breaking URLs

This SOP covers how to regenerate or update site content without changing URLs or losing rankings. Content regeneration is necessary over time, but it must preserve URL structure. See Website Operations for Local Businesses for the operational context.

Objective

Update content for accuracy, freshness, and completeness without changing URLs, breaking internal links, or disrupting indexation.

Procedure

1. 1Audit the existing content

   Review the page for accuracy, completeness, and freshness. Identify outdated information, broken links, and missing sections.

2. 2Preserve the URL

   Do not change the URL slug. The URL is the identity search engines and inbound links reference.

3. 3Update the content

   Revise the body, headings, and metadata. Keep the H1 and primary topic consistent unless the page's purpose is changing.

4. 4Update internal links

   Add or update contextual links to related pages. Do not remove links unless the target page is being retired.

5. 5Update the modified date

   If the update is material, update the dateModified in structured data. Do not update the date for trivial changes.

6. 6Validate

   Check the page renders correctly, schema validates, and no internal links are broken.

7. 7Request indexing

   Use URL Inspection to request re-crawling of the updated page.