With the change in the Google algorithm, there has been a shift from the conventional methods of Search Engine Optimization. Google being the undisputed leader in the virtual world, especially with its monopolized search engine market, has brought about a change in the way it used to rate a website, which in turn decided its position on the search pages. For a considerable amount of time, website owners around the world focused on certain set parameters to increase the page rank of a web page. With time, and continued abuse of those parameters, pages even with poor content and low relevance appeared on top, over the more relevant websites, solely on the basis of the tried and tested methods like link building. All the so called ‘Search Engine Professionals’ did was continue to build links to innumerable website which would redirect the visitor to the concerned site. In addition, a handful of keywords would be optimized, irrespective of their relevance in the context of the website subject and content. These measures gave rise to more number of irrelevant websites with inflated page ranks with was a result of a constant abuse of the SEO tricks. This led Google to change its algorithm, which in other words, refers to the set of rules, based on which Google ranks web pages.
Among a host of such new methods on which Google has stressed to increase a page’s ranking and relevance, major focus is given on fresh and relevant content of a webpage. This has manifold effect. While, it would ensure that websites which have so far depended on a bunch of keywords without much focus on their relevance, will have to relook at their strategies. In addition there are several websites which have used hired SEO experts to optimize ‘keywords’ which, when used to search a particular subject, pulls out that website simply on the strength of the optimized keyword. This is a malpractice, when a website tries to populate its content with keywords which are not even a part of its scheme of things.
In today’s virtual web world, there is a growing and renewed focus on fresh and relevant content to fulfill the needs of a visitor. This implies that when I, as a visitor, am trying to look for relevant information on any subject, the search engine will pull out and show those web pages which have fresh content which are regularly monitored and updated. Further it will factor in parameters like, whether the website content is in line with the website name, the website anchor tags, the meta tags used. Whether it has been populated with keywords which are not relevant to the business or industry it caters to. Therefore, when I review the search result, I will be able to see relevant pages on top. This ensures that I, as the visitor, am not misled by irrelevant content. Further, every website will have to stress on proper informative content in the website rather than populating it with just keywords and tags, which don’t mean a thing to a layman.
There should be a frequency of regular updates on a quarterly or on a monthly basis. This will ensure that neither the concerned site, nor the targeted keyword, will suffer a beating. Freshness of content can be further classified on the following basis like, freshness since its first inception, changes made to the document, rate of change; new page creation could influence freshness; changes in important content matters; fresh content helped by social search; and fresh sites offering fresh value in term of links.
Apart from the above, there is always relevance for fresh and quality content. If the contents of your website are regularly updated, then the relevant keyword is sure to get much higher Google ranking. Again, the keyword density has to be controlled to keep it anywhere between 5 to 8%.
If your website could maintain the frequency of freshness in relevant content, then it will bring in new visitors to your site. Over the last few years, social media is taking a leading role in the marketing of a website. It will be relevant for both new and existing customers. Search Engine Optimization can influence the potential advantages of Face book, LinkedIn or Twitter. Another, standalone marketing strategy is Blogging. A blog site or Blog section in your website focuses more on the specifics of a relevant content. Blogging should be consistent and the blog site should be regularly updated. This will increase its exposure by increasing its Google ranking. In terms of local search, Google+ is focusing on the freshness of the Content. It will help in the local listing of a website.
In order to keep your website fresh as a daisy, there is need for constant updating. The updates should be throughout the content and not just token. With the use of same keywords, a fresh content should be posted on a certain frequency. The presentation of the new content should in a new format and then only it will go through regular indexing by search engines. Prominent search engines only care for frequently updated contents. Modern contents should desist from being descriptive, or it will not be able to attract visitors and end up focusing more on the specifics. If a certain visitor does not find the topic interesting or does not get any type of relevant information, then he will skip it and visit another site. If a certain website presents contents on the same set of keywords, then recycling could be an option. However recycling should be done thoroughly and not half done else the site would fail to get a higher ranking.
Therefore, whatever your website stressed on so far, with the shift in Google’s outlook to rate and rank a webpage, it would be prudent for a website owner to now ask your SEO team to focus more on new and improved content for your website, which is fresh, relevant and informative. The same is applicable for your blogs and articles on your website.
