Why Fresh Content is Important to SEO

Do you ever wonder why so many businesses maintain a blog? Even if the blog is not a prominent part of the sales funnel for customers visiting the site, most mid-sized and large companies post updates monthly or even more frequently than that. This is true for many small businesses as well.

Part of the reason for these frequent updates and additions is SEO. Below, we discuss some of the top ways in which fresh content can enhance your site’s SEO.

1. Get indexed often.

Back in 2010, Google rolled out an update called “Caffeine,” which was focused on maintaining the freshness of search results.

When you update the content on your site frequently, search engines like Google tend to crawl your pages more as well, which can facilitate rapid indexing.

2. Search engines like fresh content.

Google classifies some queries under the category of “Query Deserves Freshness,” or QDF.

These are queries that Google believes specifically warrant fresher results. Anything related to recent news would be an example. So would anything involving consumer options for products or services (i.e. “Best Digital Cameras in 2020” will outrank “Best Digital Cameras in 2010”).

Beware—simply updating the date on an article or post will not give you a boost. Google is looking to see significant content changes or fresh articles. Otherwise, the search engine knows you didn’t actually provide fresher content to users.

3. You can add more keywords to your site without stuffing.

Anytime you add fresh content to your site, be it a new article, post or page, you can insert more relevant keywords and phrases.

It is very important not to stuff keywords or put them on your site without relevant context. Fresh content can be that context.

4. You can interlink on-site and find opportunities to build quality backlinks to your site.

As you add content to your site, you can link between your pages to improve on-site SEO. You also can look for opportunities to build backlinks on relevant, authoritative sites that lead back to your articles for a further SEO boost.

5. Increase your chances of showing up in Google featured snippets.

If you add content to your site that answers questions users may type into Google, there is a chance that some of your content will end up in Google’s featured snippets. These snippets are prominent, and may draw more traffic to your site.

6. Become an authority.

Building backlinks from quality domains is one way you can boost your site’s authority—but having authoritative content is another key factor. Posting fresh content regularly will help you to build up your site’s library of such content, establishing you as an expert in your niche.

7. Make the most of the traffic you get.

When a potential customer visits your website, one of the things they are going to notice is whether your site is up-to-date and features fresh content or not. If the site is dated, you look uninvolved with your business. In fact, the visitor may even question if you are still active in your business at all.

But if visitors see regular updates, they will know that you are active, and moreover, that you are on top of the latest developments in your field. They are more likely to spend time exploring your site, or even pick up the phone and give you a call.

Get Fresh, Relevant Content for Your Site

Have questions about how fresh content impacts SEO, looking for an audit of your existing content, or need help keeping your site up-to-date? Support Shield can take the hard work of updating your site with fresh content off your hands. Choose a plan today and give your site the boost it needs.