Content ROI: New vs Refresh Calculator
Should you publish new articles or refresh old ones? The math decides.
Inputs
Results
Adjust the inputs to see your forecast.
What this number means
Payback is investment divided by monthly value - how fast each option earns itself back. At the defaults, 20 new articles cost $6,000 and return $12,000/month (payback 0.5 months), while 20 refreshes cost $2,400 and return $7,200/month (payback 0.3 months).
12-month ROI annualizes the return: 2,300% for new, 3,500% for refresh. Refresh wins on both payback and ROI - but note the trade-off the table makes visible: new articles still generate more absolute dollars per month ($12,000 vs $7,200). Refresh wins on efficiency; new wins on scale.
The formula
In plain English: each option is priced, its monthly value is computed, and the two are raced.
- New investment = Articles x Cost per new article
- Refresh investment = Articles x Cost per refresh
- New monthly value = Articles x Traffic per article x Value per visitor
- Refresh monthly value = Articles x Traffic per article x Uplift x Value per visitor
- Payback = Investment / Monthly value; 12-month ROI = (Monthly value x 12 - Investment) / Investment
Worked example
A content team debates 20 new articles ($300 each = $6,000) against refreshing 20 decaying posts ($120 each = $2,400). Each article earns 400 visits/month worth $1.50 each. New articles return $12,000/month with a 0.5-month payback; refreshes return $7,200/month with a 0.3-month payback and a 3,500% 12-month ROI.
The winner callout says Refresh wins - but the strategist reads the footnote: refresh cannot grow the site forever. The right play is usually refresh first for fast payback, then redeploy the winnings into new articles.
Assumptions and limitations
- Uplift is the fragile input. Refresh gains vary from 10% to 200%+ by decay depth - use measured results from past refreshes, not hope.
- New-article traffic is not instant. Fresh posts take months to rank; the model treats their traffic as immediate, which flatters the new option.
- Diminishing returns are ignored. The twentieth refresh in a quarter usually gains less than the first.
- Absolute vs relative. ROI percentages favor the cheaper option; check absolute dollars before deciding.
- All figures are planning estimates.