Well, the answer to the question is Yes! It is always advisable to edit your article multiple times after posting. However, there are always certain guidelines which one must follow before editing and updating the article. We’ll talk about it later on, as of now let’s talk about that why it’s advisable to edit the article multiple times -

1. Sets you as authority - I’ll give you an example over here. I wrote an article on how to update WordPress in flat 2 mins., as you’ll read the post, you’ll find out that it’s possible only with the help of WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin. Now, lets say that the plugin developer stops the development of that wonderful plugin and I don’t update the blog post and a new reader (not so techie) reads the article and tries to to upgrade and end up ruining up everything, then how will he/she feel at that moment ?

However, if I edit that post and inform that the plugin has been discontinued and it’s rather good to follow the conventional update method then, they’ll understand that I’m serious about the topic and that I genuinely want to help people and that I’m always up to date with industry.

2. Shows your passion - As mentioned in the above example that this will not only help you set more authority, it will also show that how passionate you are about your subject. I’m a big of Darren Rowse as his blog on blogging is a live example of pure passion! He’s passionate about the subject and has build his complete business around it and I’ve seen that he regularly updates his blog posts to ensure that readers get the latest information.

3. Google starts loving you - Google has always loved those pages more which get updated over a period of time. WikiPedia is the best example as it’s pages constantly get updated and the result is in front of us, most of the search results will have WikiPedia as one of the search result on the first page itself. So, whenever you update your blog post, ensure that you put something more in it to make it complete post.

What guidelines must be followed ?

There is no hard and fast rule, however if you follow these points then it will look more genuine and ethical -

1. Strike out the old content - One of the best ways of showing that you have edited the article, is by simply striking out the old content(strike out old content example) and writing the new content in front of it. This will ensure that readers will be aware of what exactly was your opinion about something and what has changed.

2. Mention the date and time - Another way showing that the post has been edited is by simply writing the updated information at the end of the blog post, with the date and time for e.g. -

Blog post content goes here

— Edit 1 : October 4th, 2008—

Updated content goes here.

These are some of the reasons, why I will suggest that it’s always good to edit the article multiple times. This only helps you and saves you from looking stupid. Do you see any other benefit of editing the article multiple time or do you see any negative side of editing of the article multiple times?