Changing an article contents affect rank?

Anyone have much experience with changing an articles body completely with an entirely new article, but still using the same keyword with a very similar density?

I had an article written on a subject I don't know much about and over the past year it's ranked very well, but I'm getting a lot of comments about it being innacurate and talks about the wrong thing.

I had a much much higher quality article written about the real subject and plan to replace it but keep the same title/url obviously.

Anyone done this before? Did you see a drop in rank?

I'm surprised it's even ranking as high as it is with all the mis-information it has.

If something is ranking, you don't change it. It's a complete gamble re-writing content that's already ranking; if nothing else, you will probably temporarily drop out of the serps while the page is being re-ranked.

Change the CSS to hide or obscure the negative comments, and get a big fat ad front and centre so your surfers are too busy clicking on your ad rather than reading your inaccurate article.

I'd think it depends on what the subject is about.
If your article was about the most expensive road car and was written a year ago, then at the time your article was probably 100% correct and accurate. Since then there could have been other cars built that cost more, so currently your article is incorrect, but despite this I'd leave it alone.

Hope that makes sense?

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that you want to retain the article

If it drops out of site that is likely to raise a red flag with big G - They want more content, not less - but, certainly of quality.

What you want to do is allow the article a natural course of attrition - by way of archiving. This way G algo's don't suddenly wonder what happen to it - and you keep a piece that has a rank history - adding to your credibility. If you want, you may decide to address the portion of that original article, and explain it's inaccuracy.

What could garner more support for your blog - as you possess honesty that is not often observed, in an admission of the error - Many of the left and right wing national news organizations today do that exact thing to maintain credibility. It's becoming commonplace. And, also allows one to avoid potential legal issues.

So again, archiving the "old piece," is the best way for spiders to verify its "continued existence" - while satisfying G that you are proving fresh content - it's a win win...

Two articles are better than one when it comes to G's need to see "more"; rather than a "1 for 1 exchange."

Do not "delete it."

This is my take and understanding. If someone has contrary information please post your take...

Hali~!

I feel if you're looking to be accurate on the topic and people are arriving there to learn/read/view accurate information- change it as it will recover and will end up providing more value in the long run (both in traffic and "value" to the search intent)

This has been my experience. I have done this on three sites.

1. Lingerie site originally focused on the keywords "wedding night lingerie" and "Bridal undergarments".

2. Computer repair web site that recommended a certain free computer repair anti-virus, and I switched when the product became a resource hog.

3. A natural pet products site and I had an article on it that I threw together based on inaccurate information about how to control fleas.

In number one, the lingerie site, I dumped all content and revamped the site for Christmass sales, abandoning the Bridal niche, and concentrating on fine lingerie gifts for your lover. Needless to say the site dropped from sight on the bridal words, but the new content was indexed quickly and began to rank fairly well right off. The site still hits for the bridal words, even though they are not on the site anymore, but the rankings are below 200 or so I assume the previous link building is the root of this, as these keywords are not prominent on the site anymore.

Made decent $$ this Christmas from it too. The change was done in the months of SEPT/OCT.

All things considered, the site did not suffer much at all. (I subsequently ruined it by buying a fiverr backlink pyramid gig.)

In number 2, the computer repair web site, I was careful not to change the page content much at all, just made my product changes, and changed the how to instructions to fit the new targeted software. This change was about a 30 percent change in the overall article content, with no real change it keyword density, and meta information. Before the change, the page was PR4, and hitting its keywords. After the change, it was PR4, and still hitting the same keywords. The site showed absouletely no reaction whatsoever. It has been 4 months now, and still looking good.

On site 3, I had to scrap a couple of pages, and redo them with new content. This required a complete change of content and meta information, although the subject matter and title of the page did not change.

In this case, the page took a hit, but the site did not. The new page caused a change in the keyword targeted, so I had to tweak it a little. The new page took a time to start moving up, but it did after a month or to, and settled about where the original page was finally.

Overall, possibly since my sites are usually at least 15 pages, all original content, the sites were able to stand the hit, and they returned to their previous position, keeping in mind that a page you change the content on will usually be targeting a new set of keywords.

If I were you, i would make a correction or two a week until you fix all the wrong information. Change a couple of paragraphs at a time, and allow a week or so between changes. Try to keep your meta info the same if you can.

Change of content can surely effect the ranking.

yaa i compleatly agree with it.