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Exactly Why is Fresh Content Good for SEO?

Julie — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:35:32 +0000

After a client implemented their company blog this week, they asked how often they needed to update it. You know, they didn’t start their website to be a writer, and they didn’t plan of having to update their site weekly, daily, even monthly. So the VERY next question is: Why is Fresh Content Good for SEO?

I realized that the answer(s) are not obvious to many site owners. They’ve read that they have to do this. They have been told by their SEO company. They really don’t wanna. So WHY is it that they have to?

Several reasons come to mind. Of course, not even considering SEO perspective, having a company blog does add to a user experience and can potentially turn clicks into conversions. Potential Client gets to know you, Potential Client learns about how to choose a product, Potential Client realizes you are an expert in your field, etc.

But without the SEO value, some site owners could still skip the whole blog/fresh content bit, and still be successful. The SEO reasons I can think of are:

Frequent site updates encourage frequent indexing. You want Search Engines to visit your site often. When a search engine visits your site and finds nothing new over and over, they will visit less often. If they visit 1x a week, and there is new info, they will visit more than 1x a week. If they visit daily and there is always something new, they continue to visit daily. Remember a search engine wants to index the most recent relevant information to deliver to its readers, so it doesn’t want to miss out on anything you feed it.
Google values content. So SEOs do it. I personally am frustrated by this. I read SEOs going on about how much better your website will be with tons of content; become an authority on your topic; don’t build a blog for the search engines, build it for clients; the only way to rank is to be an authority; give people something worth linking to. This is definitely true, but what about the sites that just don’t lend themselves to unending content? What about someone that can say all they need to say about their wedding invitations in a handful of guides, how much more relevant news are we going to read about wedding invitations? Write about weddings, advice, tips they say—well why do I need to buy my wedding invitations from a wedding expert? I just want beautiful invites, and a good guide or two is plenty. Selection, customer service, and pricing are more important to me than scads of articles on weddings, or even than a guide. However, Google decided that more content is better, and so we do it. This is artificially manipulating a search engine just as much as link building if you ask me, but it’s what the search engines like, so you have to do it. Nuf said.
More content gives you more opportunity to tell Google what your pages is about. Continual fresh content will naturally be keyword rich and very very often some long-tail niche keywords will naturally occur in your text. The more chances search engines have to determine what the site is about, the better.
A recent article has a very good chance of ranking in the top 10 temporarily, especially a dated article as in an blog. Again, SEs want the latest news, so they will value a new item and potentially rank it higher.

So bite the bullet and find ways to add content to your sites. You do not need to go overboard, even 1 article a week is sufficient. I’ve shared some content ideas on a previous entry. Honestly it gets easier as you get used to it, and worst case you can always hire it out.

Brain Sparks for Content Ideas

Julie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:23:53 +0000

Some companies have people on staff that are so prolific with the writing and ideas for content on their site, they are channeling Stephen King without the creepy horror. But so often the content tapers off, even for us. I have been jotting down ideas that I come up with or collect from reading all over the next and looking at other sites, this is a list we pull from when clients, or even our own writers, get stuck.

Announce any new product or special offer.
The reasons your clients do business with you: this should provide a very long list of blog entries. Every single selling point about your company will make at least one article. Why small business is better, a price comparison (even why it is not worth it to go cheap), describe a new higher quality source you found for your product/service, or the reasons your products/service are higher quality (imported or made in USA, you buy in bulk and pass the savings on), all your work is done in house and not outsourced, and on and on.
Employee profiles.
In depth product reviews, one at a time.
Buying guides for your products, or how to choose a provider guides for service industries.
Share humorous office stories, or customer stories; get personal.
Share customer testimonials with a guest writer, or repeat what you heard.
answer a client question that has come up more than once (re-write your FAQ in your blog, one question at a time)
News news news: any single news item that in any way relates to your industry: summarize it and share how it affects you, or your opinion.
Company news: this covers more than you think on the surface. Anniversary, added a staffer, moved offices, got a new copier (ok I’m exaggerating there), but trivial is fine. Other ideas: Any charitable contributions or activities you or your staff are involved in, received an aware, new strategy, new behind the scenes software or improved efficiency, speaking at ANY event, conduct a survey and announce results, attending a seminar or further education of staff, new significant clients.
Things to avoid, products to avoid, the negative spin on What Not to Do.
Recommendations of companies you do business with: your web designer, your cellphone service.
Look at your competitors. It is allowed and will spark your mind for ideas. also look at related sites that are not competitors but complementary.
Make lists. Make Top Fives. Top Five mistakes you see. Top Five Sellers and why. Top Five trends.

Ideally your content is useful to your users, and increases their confidence in you. But sometimes it is also OK to just yammer about things when you get stuck, it will often keep you going and at least keep your content fresh. Then with the next article you’ll be back to adding significant value to your site again.

Ten Methods to Incorporate Fresh Content into your Site Regularly

Julie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:23:55 +0000

It is a fact that Google and other search engines value content. Old news. Any SEO company is going to tell you that for a dollar. And apparently not going anywhere. This concept can be frustrating, as filling up some sites with content is not really natural, necessary, or valuable to the end user. Of course, in many cases it is very valuable, but there are only so many leather buying guides I want to see when i’m shopping for a wallet; it gets overdone really quickly.

However I digress. The fact is that content needs to be continually added to any site that needs to rank. So here are some basic ideas for how to incorporate continuous content into your site.

1. Blog. Every site does not HAVE to have a blog, but just about any site CAN incorporate a company blog into it’s format. Link to it from the homepage. Featuring the most recent articles on your homepage is good too. If you think you have nothing to blog about, think again: Here are some content ideas that will keep you busy.

2. A collection of articles: these can be organized as resources on your site, categorized using your keywords, and continually updated.

3. Industry News: if your site lends itself to current events in your industry, an entire section can be built and kept updated at least weekly with articles.

4. Buying Guides and Advice: the ideas and “How To Choose” articles here can be organized along with your categories. Or can incorporate into your collection of articles. Every feature that a client has to choose can be broken down within the categories. Sizing guides, features guides, what to look for in a service, anything to help your customer make their decision without leaving your site to do their research.

5. User generated content: customer reviews of products (offer a coupon if they fill one out), customer testimonials, customer suggestions, customer top 5 lists

6. Glossary: this may not continually update, but can be updated occasionally and is a great way to get more content on a site.

7. Case studies. Huge selling factor in addition to the content factor.

8. Related companies, with a blurb about them, using affiliate links potentially to generate some other revenue.

9. Frequently Asked Questions: again make this useful as well as keyword rich for SEO, and it can cut down on your customer support resources.

10. Specials/promos: every time you have a new special, create a page highlighting the details, and link to your buying guides when appropriate.