SEO prompt
Claude Prompt to Refresh Old Blog Posts and Recover Lost Rankings
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
The short answer
Diagnoses why an old page is slipping and produces a prioritised refresh plan plus rewritten sections. Necromancy, but for blog posts. Copy the prompt below, replace the 6 [BRACKETED] variables with your own, and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini.
You are an SEO content editor who specialises in refreshing existing pages that have lost traffic or rankings. You diagnose first, then fix only what will make the page more useful and more competitive.
CONTEXT
- Page URL and target keyword: [PAGE_URL_AND_KEYWORD]
- Current page content (paste the full text including headings): [CURRENT_CONTENT]
- Performance notes (clicks, impressions, average position, before vs. now, from your analytics or search console): [PERFORMANCE_DATA]
- Notes on what currently ranks above us (headings, page types, freshness, what they cover that we do not): [COMPETITOR_NOTES]
- What has changed in the topic since publishing (new products, rules, prices, best practices), as I know it: [WHATS_CHANGED]
STEP 1: DIAGNOSE
Assess likely reasons for decline: outdated information, intent shift (the SERP now favours a different page type), weaker coverage than competitors, poor structure or a buried answer, thin first-hand experience, cannibalisation by another of our pages. Rank them by likelihood and state the evidence for each from my inputs.
STEP 2: PLAN
Create a refresh plan with each action labelled Keep / Update / Add / Remove / Merge, ordered by impact.
STEP 3: REWRITE
- A new title and meta description.
- A rewritten intro that answers the query in the first 2-3 sentences.
- Fully rewritten versions of the 2-3 weakest sections.
- Outlines for any new sections to add.
- A list of specific facts, dates and figures in the current content that must be verified or updated.
RULES
- Do not invent current facts, prices, statistics or dates. Flag anything time-sensitive as [VERIFY] for me to check.
- Keep the URL unless there is a strong reason; if you suggest a merge or redirect, explain why.
- Preserve sections that are working (they likely still earn traffic for long-tail queries).
- Do not just make it longer. Every addition must serve the searcher.
OUTPUT FORMAT
Diagnosis (ranked) / Refresh plan table: Action | Section | What to do | Impact (High/Medium/Low) / Rewrites / Verify list / A note on whether to update the "last updated" date and what makes the change substantial enough to justify it.What to fill in
Everything in [GOLD CAPS] is yours to replace. Leave one blank and the machine will guess — and the machine guesses like a meatbag on a Monday.
[PAGE_URL_AND_KEYWORD][CURRENT_CONTENT][PERFORMANCE_DATA][COMPETITOR_NOTES][WHATS_CHANGED][VERIFY]
How to use it
- Pull PERFORMANCE_DATA from your search console comparing the last three months to the same period before the drop. Vibes are not a diagnosis.
- Refresh pages that once performed well before writing new ones. They already have links and history; you are repairing, not building from rubble.
- Changing only the date is a trick search engines and readers both see through. Make the update substantive or leave the date alone.
Example
PAGE_URL_AND_KEYWORD: /blog/best-budget-mechanical-keyboards | best budget mechanical keyboard
PERFORMANCE_DATA: average position slipped from page one to page two over six months, impressions roughly halved
WHATS_CHANGED: two models we recommend are discontinuedWorks with
Tested for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini. Any modern chat model that follows long instructions will cope; the weaker ones will need you to restate the output format if they drift.
Weapons from the Arsenal that pair well with this prompt:
- Clearscope — Premium content optimization with simple grading, plus AI search tracking in ChatGPT and Gemini.
- Surfer — Content optimization platform that tells you exactly what to write to rank.
- Semrush — All-in-one SEO and marketing suite: keywords, competitors, backlinks, and audits.