The Hidden Cost of Leaving Blog Content Behind: A Tale of Two Property Managers
When it comes to SEO, your blog is more than just helpful advice—it’s digital equity. For property managers, your content library is a key player in helping you rank organically for high-intent, local searches that drive new business. But what happens when that content gets left behind in a website migration or redesign?
Unfortunately, two real-life case studies show us just how costly that decision can be.
Case Study #1: The Boomerang Client Who Lost Years of SEO Momentum
One of our long-time clients decided to switch to another provider who promised a "fresher" website. The transition looked seamless—until we noticed a massive drop in rankings across key organic positions.
What went wrong? Their new provider failed to bring over nearly a decade’s worth of blog content. Valuable URLs, internal links, and keyword-optimized posts—gone. Traffic plummeted. Leads dried up.
After just a few months, the client came back to us.
Now we’re working closely with their team to recover old posts (thank you, Wayback Machine and old backups), update them for current SEO best practices, and re-publish them with 301 redirects in place to try and regain lost ground. It’s working—but the road to recovery is slow and costly.
Lesson learned: A new website without your old content is like opening a store but throwing away your customer list.
Case Study #2: The Skeptic Who Didn’t Want to Bring His Blog
Another client, new to our platform, was convinced his blog content wasn’t valuable. He insisted on launching his new site without it.
Despite our recommendations, we moved forward as requested—and almost immediately, the data told the story. Rankings dropped significantly, especially for informational-intent keywords.
Within weeks, he saw the effects: fewer calls, fewer inquiries, and drastically lower visibility in organic search. Now, we’re in the process of migrating and optimizing his old content. But much like the first case, the damage has already been done.
We can mitigate some of the loss, but rebuilding momentum takes time.
Lesson learned: Even “okay” blog content that’s aged on your domain holds SEO value. It's almost always worth preserving, even if you later plan to rewrite or update it.
Don’t Let Your Content Equity Go to Waste
Whether you’re switching website providers or just doing a redesign, never underestimate the value of your blog archive. Even old posts can drive traffic, build topical authority, and support SEO rankings across dozens of keywords.
Before you migrate, ask yourself:
- Are all existing blog posts coming with me?
- Are URLs staying the same (or being properly redirected)?
- Is my SEO team involved in the migration strategy?
At Property Manager Websites, we don’t just launch pretty sites—we protect and grow your content footprint.
