How do I judge how old articles on a content website will hold up?

Begin with a list of the site’s older articles ranked by visits and income. For each of the top ones, ask: would this still be correct today? Articles about lasting skills, basic concepts or how-to steps usually age slowly. Articles that compare products, quote costs, discuss regulations or follow trends go stale fast and may already be misleading readers.

Open the oldest pages and click every link. Broken links, dead images, references to events long past and screenshots of old versions are signs nobody has looked after them. Check the dates shown on the pages and ask whether the seller has updated old pieces or only added new ones. Look at how traffic to each old article has moved over recent months. A slow slide may mean the page is losing out to fresher results.

Then count the work. Ask the seller how often articles were refreshed, who did it and what it cost. If most of the traffic comes from pieces that need regular updates, plan for that effort and the writers it takes. Make a short list of the articles that need attention first. Treat older articles on a lasting subject as a strength only if they are still accurate and well written.

Key takeaways

• Rank older articles by traffic, then test whether each is still correct.
• Click every link and check dates, screenshots and quoted costs.
• Ask how often the seller refreshed pages, and who did it.