Smarter Content Updates: SEO Wins Without the Overwhelm with Alyssa Corso

In this insightful and refreshingly practical episode of the Simple and Smart SEO Show, Crystal sits down with Alyssa Corso—SEO strategist and healthcare content pro—to talk all things content refresh. 

Alyssa breaks down her favorite ways to optimize existing content without burning it all down.

Whether you're running a blog in a Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) niche or just wondering if updating the year in your title is enough (spoiler alert: it's not 😅), this episode is packed with real-world tips to make your SEO strategy work smarter, not harder.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Not All Updates Are Equal: A content refresh doesn’t have to mean a full rewrite. Small additions like FAQs or new sources can move the needle.
• YMYL Content = Higher Standards: If your content impacts someone’s health, money, or safety, Google expects top-notch trust and quality signals.
• Check the SERP Features: See what’s ranking (video packs, AI overviews, People Also Ask), then optimize accordingly.
• Don’t Be That Brand: Simply changing the publish date isn’t an update—it’s shady and ineffective.
• Internal & External Links Matter: Link to your own valuable content and trustworthy external sources like .gov or .edu sites to build EEAT.
• AI Isn’t Replacing You (Yet): Use ChatGPT for brainstorming, but don’t let it do all the thinking for you.

🔥 Memorable Quotes:

• “A content update doesn’t have to be an overhaul... It can be an FAQ insert or updating your sources and links.” - Alyssa Corso
• “If you’re ranking #1 but not in the featured snippet—why not try and go for it?” - Alyssa Corso

✅ Listener Action Items:

• 📝 Audit your older posts—can you add a helpful FAQ or new source?
• 🔍 Search your target keyword and note what SERP features appear.
• 🔗 Add new internal and external links to boost EEAT.

📬 Connect with Alyssa at alyssacorso.com or drop her a line at alyssa@alyssacorso.com.

Chapters

• 0:00 And like I said earlier, a content update doesn't have to
• 0:03 be an overhaul or a rewrite.
• 5:26 Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Content
• 6:44 Ethical Content Updates
• 8:00 Leveraging Internal and External Links
• 10:08 Evaluating Content for Updates
• 13:09 The Role of AI in SEO

Transcript

Alyssa Corso: [00:00:00] And like I said earlier, a content update doesn't have to be an overhaul or a rewrite. It can be an FAQ insert. It could be updating your sources and links. 

If you want to update your content, I would even just take a look at those small things. 

And actually provide more value than what was already on the page.

Crystal Waddell: Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO show podcast, where we talk all things, brand building, SEO, helping you connect with your audience, elevate your visibility and grow your business. 

I'm your host, Crystal Waddell, here to bridge the gap between SEO strategy and real world business success. By bringing you insights, stories, and conversations from the SEO community and beyond. 

Whether you're an entrepreneur, marketer, or SEO enthusiast, this is your place to learn, share, and build a brand that stands out. 

So grab a coffee or your favorite tea. And let's dive into Smarter SEO for your business.

when you have content that's already ranking and it stays ranking for a long time.

Do you leave it alone or is it just a matter of, [00:01:00] okay. 

Update it no matter what. To see if you can push it even further. 

Alyssa Corso: Yes. That's a really good question. 

There's a few different situations in which there's some nuance here. 

I would say if. Your piece of content is ranking number one for your target keyword, and it's hitting that goal that you have for it. 

In terms of traffic and revenue. 

Meaning if you chose that keyword to, to drive certain conversions or business engagement, whatever it might be. 

Then I think it's totally fine to just leave it alone except for.

The case of a Y-M-Y-L niche. Which is that you might still rank number one if it has outdated information. 

But if it impacts someone's life. I think that always, to me, is more valuable than a ranking or growing traffic to a page. 

And honestly, like even if you update certain information, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll lose that ranking. Or lose that positioning.

You might actually find that. If you're ranking number one, but you're not in the featured snippet. 

If you update the content, you'll [00:02:00] find that you might be in the featured snippet. 

Or an AI overview. Or people also ask box. 

These areas that could be very valuable to users. 

Because that, to me, is always the most important part. 

Is that this article is valuable to the user.

And then of course, we want it to rank highly. And to bring in traffic and revenue. 

They could even be small changes. 

If you're writing about something that impacts someone's life, whatever it might be. 

Whether it's healthcare or another type of niche. 

You could make a small update and then you can even reflect that it was updated in a certain time or a certain day.

To show that it was refreshed. And I think that is honestly a win-win for everyone. 

The search engine for your business and for the user. 

Crystal Waddell: You mentioned there might be opportunities to rank in like a featured snippet. 

Or some of the other, search engine results, page elements. 

How do you determine if there's other opportunities and other elements to rank [00:03:00] for?

Say a people also ask or a featured snippet or whatever. 

Alyssa Corso: Yeah. 

You could determine that by searching your target keyword in Google. 

And taking a look at where your article is. And where it isn't. 

So first, one of the most important things is to see. What is Google displaying for this keyword?

Are they displaying a video pack? 

Which means, you might wanna add a video to your article. 

Are they displaying an AI overview? 

With kind of those, the list of websites to the right side, and then the ai, overview on the left side. 

And then there are certain ways that you can update your content so that you can get into those into those SERPs.

One way that I like to update is if I don't already have an FAQ section on my article. 

I like to go to the people, also ask box, which is usually found toward the middle of the search results page. Or maybe a little bit above that. 

And take those questions and see am I ranking in these?

Questions because they're related to your target keyword. 

[00:04:00] And then you could just add those questions as an F A Q. 

And answer them. 

They don't have to be long at all. 

Maybe, depending on the question, three to five sentences. 

You could even do it yourself if you don't want to really engage your writer at the moment. And you want to just quickly do it right.

And that's a great way to provide a simple, valuable update. It. Like I said, updates don't have to be complicated. 

And that's one way of doing it. 

And then, like I said. If there's like an a video or image pack, which means google is showing a selection of relevant videos to your target keyword.

That might be something that you want to add as well to your article.

So this is really aligning the article with intent of what the user is actually looking for when they're searching it. 

Not just based on what you decided to write or put in your article at the time. 

And another important part of this is that things can change over time. 

So, meaning. You might have written your article in a certain way and it could be really, it could be a great article. 

Six months or [00:05:00] 12 months down the line, things might change.

Google maybe probably added an AI overview, right? 

Like they're all over the place now. 

But also your competitors might have started adding videos to their content. 

And then Google said, actually. Users can use a video to find this answer. 

If users are then searching and like clicking on the videos, then that shows that it's valuable.

So these are ways that you can make your content more valuable through updates. 

Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Content

Crystal Waddell: I don't think we've ever talked about your money, your life on this podcast. 

So could you define YMYL?

Yes. 

Alyssa Corso: YMYL. Is your money or your life. 

Which means that a topic or piece of content will significantly or even just relatively impact someone's life. 

So it would impact the decision that they would make. It would impact where they spend their money. 

Or their health or kind of their lifestyle. 

So content and topics that fall under this niche are held to a higher standard by Google. [00:06:00] 

Because they are just more sensitive to a person's life. So that's primarily the niche that I've worked in throughout my career. 

So I've developed a lot of strategies. 

And different areas where I like to really hone in on it. 

Because I also, I'm passionate about, I guess like people and like people's, like lives, which is why I like the healthcare niche. 

So that is also valuable. 

And, I guess like important to me. So I like to make sure the content that I produce, whether it's YMYL or not. 

Really focuses on the user and can positively impact their lives instead of course advise them to do something that wouldn't be helpful. 

Or wouldn't be beneficial to them.

Crystal Waddell: Okay, so let's talk about not beneficial or not helpful for a second. 

Ethical Content Updates

Crystal Waddell: What about people who just update the year on their content and call that updating? 

Alyssa Corso: Yeah, so I would not advise updating just the year or just the month or day. 

That is not putting the user first. That is definitely putting your own [00:07:00] business and website first.

It's really not ethical. But also it's, I don't think that, Google Bot and Google search engines are, it's very, it's advanced at this point in 2024. 

So they will likely see that you just updated the date and not the content. 

It's very unlikely that you would reap the benefits of an actual update.

And then also, furthermore. 

If you have a blog, you can assume, and you could even ask your customers if they read your blog. 

And those are people that are invested in your company. And likely think highly of you. 

So you really want to think of them and think of the user. And say, am I providing the best content to them?

And like I said earlier. A content update doesn't have to be an overhaul or a rewrite. It can be an FAQ insert. It could be updating your sources and links. 

If you want to update your content, I would even just take a look at those small things. And actually provide more value than what was already on the page.

Crystal Waddell: Wow. I love that. And I think that's so [00:08:00] important. 

Leveraging Internal and External Links

Crystal Waddell: I was thinking also about internal links. 

Is that something that you recommend in terms of okay, that could be an easy way to update? 

Crystal Waddell: And external links. Is that something that you should do for your content? Or do you really just wanna make sure people stay on your site?

Alyssa Corso: So for internal links, that's a very good point, Crystal for internal links. 

If you're consistently publishing new content. 

Then there are likely links that you have not internally linked to the original piece of content that you might be updating. So content updates, that's a great area, that's a great aspect to update, which is to add new links to this older piece of content.

So that's definitely a great chance to do that. And then for external links. 

They can be quite valuable, in my experience. 

Whenever I am advising a healthcare client, I always say to add a source to as many claims as you can. 

Because that will also impact EEAT. 

So that is, experience, [00:09:00] expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.

Which is essentially also very important in the YMYL space. So external links are going to show that you have, done your research. 

And that this claim comes from a valuable and reliable source. So sources that I like to include in articles are dot gov, links dot edu. 

Or Scientific journal Scientific studies.

To show that there is value to this. 

And we didn't just see it on a random website and now we're including it. 

One tip that a lot of companies find very valuable that I share. 

Is a great way to find very valuable external links, is to look at your competitors external links.

And usually if it's an important website that you know invests a lot in SEO. 

You might be able to scroll down to the bottom and find their sources section and then pull those and use them in your article. 

That's, it's a very great tip, especially if you're in a Y-M-Y-L niche [00:10:00] because then you will be sending those same trust signals to your website. 

And that essentially is, staying competitive and being competitive in that space.

Crystal Waddell: Awesome. 

Evaluating Content for Updates

Crystal Waddell: That is a really great tip. 

And I'm thinking now just back to Google Search Console. And, evaluating your content and the keywords. 

I'm still looking for that process. 

These are the things that we could do, but. 

If you were evaluating a piece of content and let's say it had plateaued, you recognize it's time for an update to happen.

What signals or what information can you pull from that page's data that can help you make better updates? 

Alyssa Corso: Yes, absolutely. Love that question. 

So, first thing that you'll want to do is to put your target keyword into Google. And. Understand who's ranking above you. 

Like, who are your competitors.

And I went over this in my talk because there are a few areas that you also want to consider. 

Because the search results could be a lot different from when you first published the [00:11:00] article. 

Did a highly authoritative website update their content? 

They are just going to rank above you, unfortunately, now. 

But it doesn't mean you shouldn't update it, it's just something to be aware of.

But then there are also things like AI overviews. 

Which can actually decrease the traffic coming to your website. 

Which can make it like a little unsure, like, should I still update this? 

If an AI review is taking some of my traffic? 

But then there's also things like Reddit and Quora, which might be ranking above you as well. 

Which just means maybe the search intent has changed.

Now people are looking for forums. And for other people's input. 

But with all that said, there's still a lot of areas for. For people to consider when they update their content and creating a process. 

So are you missing essential headers? 

That's one area, which is that you can look at your competitors' headers, H ones, H twos, H threes. 

And see are you missing actually key points to this topic that could provide significant value.

So I like to use a Google Doc. 

[00:12:00] And copy and paste your article. 

Go into suggestive edits. And then start making some changes that you would like to see. 

Whether you have an editor or writer doing these edits, or maybe it's you. 

It's still like really nice to see those changes on the Google Doc.

So maybe you wanna add a new H two H three. But then another important aspect to this process: is there actually information that you should remove? 

Because it's too much and it's not even really relevant to the topic anymore? 

Maybe it was when you first published it. But removing the content can actually make it more valuable because you're niching. 

You're essentially niching down the topic. 

I know that could be painful for a lot of people. 

Because you might have paid right to get this content.

Now you're removing it, but you could consider making it a new article. You could put that content somewhere else on your website, to repurpose it. 

And bring more value to another page. So there are so many things that you can change. On your website, that's not even necessarily adding, it could be taking away.

So there, these are a [00:13:00] few areas to, to consider when you're ready to make that update. 

Crystal Waddell: Okay. 

I know we're running outta time here 'cause I'm like, oh my gosh, like you covered so much. 

The Role of AI in SEO

Crystal Waddell: But I still have a couple of questions. 

I think I would totally miss the mark for 2025 if I didn't ask about this. 

Because I was thinking about Bing, and I was thinking about chat GPT.

Going to Google to see how you're performing is important. 

Do you think you should also do the same in a chat GPT- like search engine? 

Or is there anything else that you would do additionally because of these changes in search?

Alyssa Corso: Yes. This was the first question I got when I stepped off the stage at Brighton. 

And I was like, I wish I could have added this to my talk, but I just did not have enough time. 

And I also wanted to be really focused on stage, on like the topic. But I do really like this question.

I would say, one thing that you can do. 

Is to copy and paste your article into ChatGPT. 

And say I'm going to update this piece of content. What should I add or what should [00:14:00] I remove? 

You could simply do that, and see what it says. 

I always say, take ChatGPT with a grain of salt. 

Because for SEO, we don't always know the impact that it has when we're using it for search engines. And we also want to make sure that, again, going back to the YMYL. 

Is that we're adding value and we're not just going by now another search engine of ChatGPT or another, LLM. 

To add value, we want to put the user first. So I would say, you could even ask to what information could be helpful to the user? 

And see and see what it comes back with. 

You could also use it for external links. 

And see if it could give you studies or external URLs that would be helpful to add. 

And that you might be missing for claims that you might have in the article.

And. Also another area that is not just for content updates, but like the way that I have been using it lately. 

Is just for content briefs. Like you can create essentially like a new content brief using Chat GPT. And crosscheck it. 

Searching the keyword yourself in Google. And [00:15:00] seeing like what areas you might be missing. 

Where you could provide more value and things like that.

So right now I'm not super advanced like with using AI in, in the content updates, but I do absolutely see it's value. 

And it really can streamline the process and ultimately make your content a lot better, which is the goal. 

Crystal Waddell: Oh my goodness, alyssa. Thank you so much for tying that all up.

It was fantastic. So you mentioned that you work with healthcare brands. 

If someone wants to work with you, how can they get in contact with you? And of course, I'll drop these links in the show notes as well. 

Alyssa Corso: Awesome. Yeah. To get in contact with me, you could visit my website, which is alyssacorso.com.

You could also find me on LinkedIn, just Alyssa Corso. And you could also email me if you'd like. 

I'm super open. I love chatting about this topic.

For people who want tips or even wanna see my slides from Brighton, I'm happy to share them. Which is just alyssa@alyssacorso.com.

Crystal Waddell: All of this was just so great and so valuable. 

I appreciate you taking the time to come and talk to me today. 

And coming [00:16:00] on the simple and smart SEO show podcast.

Alyssa Corso: Yes. Thank you so much Crystal, for having me. I really enjoyed being here. 

Crystal Waddell: Awesome. I will catch you guys next time and have a great week.