Even before Google announced their “Freshness” update back in 2011, Online Profit Strategy was preaching the importance of updated content and consistent blogging.
Google has officially stated that their algorithms have been adjusted to put a much higher emphasis on recent content. Their goal is to allow users to view a larger number of sites with fresh content, rather than providing search results that may be months or even years old.
Google estimates that the Freshness Update affected as many as 35{c55e560418ce770390e014a82a8daba02ae2bc5167395c1376161ff6ec3b989b} of existing search queries. This is triple of the amount of searches impacted by their previous “Panda” update.
Experts in the field suspect that this has the greatest effect on businesses who fail to update their web content regularly.
The bottom line for the small business owner will be the need to emphasize:
- More content development
- Content updated more frequently
- Content relevant to the overall topic of the site
The fastest and easiest way to meet these requirements will be with the integration of a blog into your existing site. If you do not yet have a site, you’ll want to make sure that you plan on consistent blogging as part of your online marketing strategy.
Gone are the days where you could build a website and then just forget about it. If you want search engine rankings and significant web traffic, you’ll need to invest some time and energy into developing fresh content regularly.
Think of the Google Freshness Update as a positive change. You will actually be rewarded for your work with higher rankings and pass up your competitors who do not make the same effort!
