SEO – How regularly should you update your content?
Search Engine Optimization or SEO as its more well known, is a grey area for many businesses who are trying to get themselves ranked highly on Google. Questions often asked are ‘Why the hell are they higher than us!” or more commonly “How do we get to the top of page 1!?!”. These are both valid questions and this blog aims to answer them for you.
Lets break it down step by step so you have a clear understanding of what SEO is exactly and what Google are looking for you to do:
What is SEO?
In Lehman’s terms it is the process of affecting the visibility of your site to ensure that you appear somewhere near the top of Page 1 on Google. We normally say anything below page 1 is almost redundant. You could have the best business and website but if no one can find it, what’s the point?
So how do I ensure I’m on Page 1?
The truth is, no one really knows for sure except Google of course. There is no exact formula for instantly appearing on Page 1. However all is not lost, there are several very effective methods that will get you where you want to be. All will be revealed if you keep reading!
What do we know Google are looking for?
In Google’s most recent update ‘Penguin’ they effectively changed all previous conceptions about what constituted good SEO. While SEO tricks worked before, Google have now started actively punishing anyone who is using linking schemes. Google want your website to be built for the end user, with their best interests in mind. Simple and to the point!
Ok great, but how to do I build a website for the end user??
**SALES PLUG** Take Technicweb for example. We build all of our website to be search engine friendly. This among other things means structuring your site to make it crawlable, increasing page speed, making the design responsive and ensuring there are no bad links to your site. Roll all of this up and put it behind a beautiful minimalistic design and you are half of the way there!
I’ve got the new website, straight to the top of Google right?
Yes & No. It has been well documented that often a brand new site will be crawled by Google and shoot straight to the top of page one for all of your keywords, however these gains are often short lived. This isn’t just by coincidence though; a lot of work is needed before to get to this point.
Your website build is just one aspect of SEO. Maintenance is key!
First off you need to define a content strategy that matches all of the search terms that you are looking to be found under. Secondly ensure your web pages fulfil a compelling value proposition, solve a problem for your users and add something of value in a unique way. Try and think about what information you would want to find if you landed on a website that appeared under your search term. A great way to build a content strategy is getting research data from your users so you fully understand their wants and needs.
Having a News blog on your site is important but you must ensure it is regularly updated with new fresh content. Use social media and authorative sites to share you news and blogs, this will not only help you increase traffic to your site but people being linked to your site from these locations will drive power into your site and give Google a good impression of your website.
How regularly should I update my content?
This depends on your market, if you were to take the property industry, there is always something new to write about and it covers such a broad spectrum of information you should be updating your news blog at least 3 times a week!
Conclusion
SEO is an art rather than an applied science. Google want the best experience possible for the end user and expect you to bring them value through your site content. Market research and PR will help you on your way to the top of Google and remember to keep updating your content!
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