When you think about newspapers, it would be astonishing if you visited their websites several days in a row and found no new stories on the front page of the site. Most likely, you would wonder whether the paper had gone out of business and you might even run a quick Google search to check.
In many ways, new content is the lifeblood of any online presence. Here we explore why adding regular content is useful for your audience and can help improve the search engine ranking to drive more traffic to your site.
We’re Still Here!
Visit a website that hasn’t been updated in months or has undated content where it’s impossible to know when the articles or blog posts were added to the site, and you’ll wonder whether the business behind the website has fallen asleep at the wheel?
The same is also true of websites that are sporting a copyright in the footer that is several years old. The thinking being that, “If they cannot be bothered to even update the copyright for several years, what else have they let slip?”.
Google Loves Freshness
At the present time, Google is overly fond of websites that regularly add new content and have soured on evergreen articles that offer quality information but haven’t been updated in a number of years. The older, still valuable site has been slipping down the rankings for its main keywords and the traffic will usually be down.
Newer is better, according to Google. As Google is the leading search engine at the present time, it pays to take note of what they like. And Google like its content fresh.
Live Social Media Feeds Are New Content Too
Even with sites that haven’t posted a new article or blog post in a while, having short form content added as a Facebook post, a tweet or even an Instagram photo, provides an indication that there is something new to look at. The search engines take note of this, starting indexing the site more frequently to update their records, and more often than not, pushing the site to a higher position which helps to drive more visitors to the website.
Social media is a great way to market and keep the brand in the minds of other businesses or consumers. That new Facebook post doesn’t need to be too long and a photo shared on the Instagram account is fast to take and share. It all adds to the newness of the live social media feeds on your site and indicates new activity.
Regular Content = Additional Pages To Rank For More Keywords
Adding regular content is a great way not only to share opinions, ideas and suggestions to visitors and customers, but it is also adds new content that can be indexed by the search engines. Google with its Googlebot and many other search engines will crawl the site, find the new pages, posts and other types of content, and index it all using appropriate keywords.
The new content can help your site rank for more keywords around the same topic which can indicate to Google that the site’s starting to become an authority on the subject matter. Alternatively, new content can help the site begin to rank for related keywords that its existing content didn’t show up for previously.
For instance, an Essex golfing site could already be ranking for keywords like “golf balls”, “Essex golf courses”, and “golfing lessons”, but it may not begin ranking on Google for “best golf courses in Essex” until this long-tail phrase is included in a new article added to the site. Each new phrase that the site ranks in Google for is another way that organic traffic can be driven from a search engine direct your website.
Using Different Types of Content Also Helps With SEO
There is a need to mix it up with different types of content posted to your site. This is because not only does mixed content appeal to a varied audience, but it gets shared in different ways.
A SlideShare slideshow with your branding and website can be created and embedded in a page or post on your site. It will also be visible on the SlideShare site and it can be embedded on other sites too. One piece of content; multiple distribution methods.
Video content can be added to your own YouTube video channel, embedded on your site, and other people can also include the videos on their own website if they find the content useful. The content can include links back to your site; YouTube videos rank extremely well because Google acquired YouTube from its founders.
Each piece of media can serve multiple masters by being re-purposed on different platforms, that all link back to your site. It helps to show that your business is an authority in the market and encourages more people to work with you if they wish to take advantage of your expertise. The inbound links also help boost ranking position which is a nice bonus.
Adding regular content to your site is critically important to ensure the site and your business remains relevant. Businesses are moving faster than ever, so it is important to be seen as a shaker and mover in your industry, not a silent, second tier participant. New content can educate, inform or entertain visitors who can find value in it. This will add to their respect for the company and encourage them to work with you.
Off The Peg Design can support your regular content needs through its collection of knowledgeable writers who have experience writing for a UK and international audience.
