Ever since Google first rocked the world with its brilliant “Scoring of Fresh Content” system that was first implemented in 2003, it has continually updated the methods by which people can search for things online. Fresh content is king, and only the companies who can keep up with this trend will become top contenders within their respective industries.
However, the quality of content matters almost as much as the freshness. For a few years, many content software programs became available to business owners who were looking to “cheat the system” by buying ready-made content and adding it. Within the last couple of years, these types of programs have become virtually worthless. Google keeps changing the way its spiders crawl for content, as well as the way it ranks fresh content.
There are still entrepreneurs out there who think that “respinning” articles is one way to get around Google’s parameters, however, if you are one of those business owners who reuses the same information but just rewords it carefully, then beware. It might actually do more harm than good. As you can read about in this case study, one of my own clients suffered from a case of “backlinks gone bad” and then we rushed to the rescue.
Google ranks websites based on a number of things, such as how many links it has coming and going, as well as how frequently fresh content is added. The search engines then give each page a “score” according to the types of searches people use, whether it is one word or an entire string of words. These are called key words and key phrases.
So, if your website has been stagnant or is outdated, then Google most likely ranks it lower in value than a site that is constantly managed or maintained. If you have a website that features events, hot topics, news, updates, blogs, tips and more, then you are more ahead of the game than a website that just sits there and looks pretty.
Here are some of the criteria that Google bots use to score a site:
- Date the content is released: Google scores the “freshness” of the content based upon the first time it is posted, but it loses impact as it ages.
- Frequency of Changes: Google scores the regularity upon which new content or changes are made. So, keeping your content up for a long time without updating it can eventually drag it down in rankings.
- New pages: You can earn higher scores by adding more pages to your website. Shoot for 30 – 40% more content pages per year.
- Link growth: Spammy links will actually harm your site, but quality links from other websites can help you score higher. Especially links from fresh websites! Try becoming a frequent guest within your specialty. i.e. – If you are a lawyer, for example, then offer advice on legal sites or become a contributor to Yahoo or Huffington Post, etc.
- User interest: Along with fresh content, you should keep important things fresh, such as events, schedules, news, etc. because user activity is also rated. So if people keep leaving your website due to old information, then it will start to drop down the list.
Search bot
What can we can take away from this is that Google bots give users the most relevant information, therefore if you keep up with the web content by constantly adding updates, including videos or images with captions, then you will give your business more leverage than a competitor who does very little to maintain their website.
Do you want the secret to fresh content and higher rankings in search engines? Blogging, blogging, blogging. Although keeping a blog is not the be all, end all, it does truly help with SEO. If this is difficult for you to manage, you can always hire a great web design company in Philadelphia to help you manage your content!
