At one point in time, all a content writer had to do was figure out the right keywords and stuff as many as possible of them into their websites and blog posts and watch their Google rankings rise. The content itself didn’t matter – it could be poorly written, contain little of real interest, and have only a single goal – promoting products or services for sale.
Creating amazing content will always be king
How things have changed. And those changes were not driven by Google. They were driven by consumers who began to demand that their searches produce real value. They wanted information, education, entertainment, and inspiration, and Google had no choice but to respond.
And so, algorithms began to be developed that crawled through content and looked for the things that consumers wanted. And it certainly was not oceans of keywords. In fact, Google began to punish content that continued to use this strategy and reward content that provided real value.
Algorithms Become More Sophisticated
Over time, as technology has become more sophisticated, Google has developed the means to crawl through content and evaluate the value that it provides to users. While it is quite secretive about its technologies, there is certain information that content writers can surmise, based upon the rankings that Google gives from generic searches – searches based upon popular long-tailed keyword phrases and related content that is fresh and valuable.
Algorithms continue to get more sophisticated, but one thing does not change. Websites and blogs that remain static will not be indexed well.
What is Static Content?
The term “static” refers to something that is unchanging. In the world of digital content, it means information that is old, poorly re-purposed, flat, and unengaging. When visitors/users access this type of content, they bounce pretty quickly and find other places that provide greater value – more current information, providing value that meets their needs, developing relationships, giving entertainment, and even promoting inspiration.
When visitors arrive at such sites and related blogs, they are compelled to stay and absorb the engaging content. They stay and navigate about, and they want to participate in discussions and share the content with their tribes. These are the sites that cause search engines to take notice, to index this fresh content and user responses, and to provide a higher ranking when the right long-tailed keyword phrases are also included in that content.
Fresh Content and Its Importance
Content writers must understand exactly what constitutes fresh content.
- It provides new information
- It provides something entertaining or inspirational
- It provides news items related to the industry
- It provides new media and/or interactive opportunities
- It gives newsy items about its team, its community service activities, etc.
- It is creatively produced to be engaging. Many content writers know what they want to say. But putting their ideas into engaging and creative text is a challenge, especially if they are a department of one. In these situations, it is best to get some professional help from a writing service like TrustMyPaper which can be found for creative writing teams.
When this type of content is created and published on a regular basis, people keep coming back and sharing that content, and incoming links to that content increase. These are the things that search engine crawlers notice and index. And the more frequently that fresh content is published, the more frequently the indexing occurs.
The Importance of Keywords in Fresh Content
Keyword stuffing results in penalties. And single-word keywords are no longer considered as valuable. Consumers now use phrases that are much more specific. An important role for any content writer is to keep abreast of the most popular long-tailed keywords in his niche and to ensure that they are naturally placed within the content. When they appear naturally, search engine crawlers are happy. In this case, quality is far more important than quantity.
Different types of content may require different keyword phrases. There are many tools that can be used to identify the most popular keywords based on specific content topics, and smart content writers will use them.
Indexing Frequency
The more frequently you add new content to your website/blog, the more frequently will it be indexed by web crawlers. This, of course, increases the chances that you get higher indexing.
Frequency is but one factor
But do not count on just this frequency as being the only factor involved. There are other elements to indexing, based upon Google algorithms, among them:
New incoming links to the website that is of quality
The term “quality” is especially critical. For a time, website owners, in an effort to increase the number of inbound links, set up collaborative relationships with others to link to one another’s sites. In other instances, they even bought such links. Google, of course, caught onto this quickly. An interior design website getting an inbound link from an auto parts seller made no sense, and both sites were punished for the activity. If you are going to set up such relationships, be certain they make sense and are naturally related to your content.
Quality of keywords
This was discussed above, but it bears repeating. Research for keywords/phrases must be an ongoing process because they are continually evolving. When content includes the most currently popular keywords, it is noticed.
The Uniqueness of new content
It’s certainly a good idea to regularly check out your competition’s content. But, unless you can make it somehow better, by adding something fresh, re-purposing it won’t benefit you at all. If you are now understanding that you have to have a new “angle” on any content you publish you’ve got this right.
Use of engaging and compelling visuals and media
Researchers tell us that humans process visual content about 60K times faster than the written word. And today’s consumer wants information, entertainment, and inspiration fast. So, give it to him through visuals, such as infographics, or, better through video or even AR/VR experiences.
How much more popular is a travel agency that provides real-time virtual tours of a resort rather than just still shots? How much more popular is a fashion retailer that allows a consumer to “virtually” try on items prior to purchasing? These types of experiences can go viral.
At DCP we understand the power of video content, by sharing useful content on YouTube we have managed to grow our channel fast.
We now have over 42,000 subscribers and an average of 250,000 views per month.
Now imagine if one of your videos goes viral and you get your business in front of 500,000 people! Well, it is possible, I know this as a fact as I did it myself.
Businesses need to solve problems
Content is valuable when it provides solutions. And those same solutions, originally cast in walls of text, can be re-purposed into explainer and “how-to” videos that will be considered fully fresh by web crawlers. Indexing and ranking will improve when this is done.
Consider, for example, the opening explainer video that was produced by Dollar Shave Club in 2012. It stated the problem and provided the solution in about 90 seconds of a hilarious video, perfectly designed for its targeted audience. It went viral within hours.
Comments and Discussions Count
Melanie Sovann, a content manager at Supreme Dissertations, says: “When your content provokes comments and discussion, Google does index these. So be certain that you are asking readers/viewers questions that stimulate comments, and respond to them. This may take some creativity, so get some professional help if you need it. Read through some paper writing services review, for many of them have creative copywriting departments suited for these tasks.”
Become the Authority
This should be your ultimate goal. When you adopt and implement the strategies above, Google cannot help but notice. And with every improvement in ranking, you become more of an authority in your niche. That’s where you want to be.
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SEO Tips Article by Nicole Garrison: DCP Web Designers London
