Getting on the first page of Google is extremely challenging and takes quite a bit of tweaking before you start to see real results.
SEO has evolved into a complex process. An essential component of that is quality content. Google’s latest changes to algorithms over the past four months show that the search engine is focusing more on quality content over keyword density.
A recent study states that 2019 will create more data than the previous 5,000 years of humanity. Google knows this and prioritizes the more relevant and practical information over the rest. It does so by focusing on the best content first. As a search engine, it is their job to provide searchers with links to the most relevant information, and one way to do this is to filter out the outdated and old content from the more relevant and ‘fresh’ content.
So, if you’re looking to improve your ranking on Google, it’s a good idea to fill in any gaps in your website’s content with more relevant and actionable text.
What is Fresh Content and Why is it Necessary?
Creating fresh content is the process of updating the information you currently have with more relevant and practical information.
Information tends to get obsolete faster, and what’s relevant today won’t be relevant next month — thus there is always a requirement for new information, aka fresh content.
There are differences in how often content should be spiced up or produced. For instance, current events broadcasted by BBC today won’t be the same as those a week from now. BCC updates their ‘current events’ almost every hour and thus needs fresh content. But BBC is a news site; it needs to produce content more often. Similarly, websites that offer products and services need real-time and relevant content to remain competitive. However, for industry-specific sites, producing content two times per week or two times per month is enough to keep the site from becoming stagnant for SEO purposes.
Best Ways to Produce Fresh Content
There are clear signals you can send to google to show your website is ‘fresh’ and deserves a higher ranking. For simplicity, I’ve broken them down into the following steps:
1) Produce More Evergreen Content
If you find yourself having to create fresh content more often, it’s because you are most likely producing thin content. This gets obsolete much faster.
Evergreen content is content that by nature stays relevant year-round, forever. Content that stands the test of time tends to be more practical and actionable. For instance, offering unique insight and expertise on any given topic backed by research and results is more effective than a simple ‘tips and tricks’ listicle.
Other ways to produce evergreen content is by creating content that visitors are continually looking for. Content like frequently asked questions (FAQs).
2) Update Old Content:
Updating old content is just as crucial as producing new material. Neglected and old content tends to die down and all your hard work and energy poured into creating it will go to waste. Thus, it’s a good idea to occasionally go back to old pages and articles and revamp them. Create new resources and make additions that will make them more practical and useful in today’s world.
Research your industry’s latest innovations and write about them. Learn about the latest ideas through webinars, news feeds, competitor web pages, and other online sources. Visit sites like the Manta blog for more resources, or The Academy. You can also set up email feeds with “Marketing” as a keyword to get tailored feeds to your email about the latest marketing news across different services like Gmail and Yahoo.
3) Regularly Update the Main Pages:
When was the last time you glanced over your ‘about page’ or ‘contact page’? It’s probably been a while, and by now your pages are likely irrelevant to what you currently offer. Moreover, your visitors frequently visit those pages. If they aren’t well-maintained and accurate — they won’t trust you.
You can reach out to companies that focus on small business expert services to help with marketing efforts, content and SEO.
4) Consistently Produce Quality Content
People often populate their websites with too much content. Unless you’re a news website — you don’t need to post as often. Consistently publishing twice a month maintains that ‘freshness’ Google likes.
5) Utilize Multimedia
Content that has a diverse mix of multimedia (images, audio, video) receives special privileges. Besides being easier to read, they also perform much better on search engines. Likewise, articles with a mix of multimedia tend to receive more engagement. So, it’s always a good idea to add multimedia and increase the diversity of your content.
Final Thoughts on Fresh Content
Now that you have a better understanding of the importance of fresh content, it’s essential to make it a routine and implement it. The goal here shouldn’t be only to update your content for SEO. Instead, focus on updating your website in a timely manner that benefits users.
Remember, updating content isn’t just about being ‘fresh’ and relevant, but instead being useful and practical.
