Importance of Fresh Content in Google Search Ranking

Imagine you are seated at your desk and have opened your laptop to search for something on Google. After writing down your query on the search bar and clicking the “Google Seach” option, the first link you see is of a blog written 3 years ago, next you see a website that has not been updated for ages and just like that, you keep on searching for a pool of the latest data in an ocean of results with outdated content. Will you ever use Google again?

That’s exactly what Google does not want you to stop doing i.e. keep using it daily to get access to information on literally everything! That’s why the top results on Google’s Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) always carry the latest & most relevant information.

What we mean is that fresh content always plays an important role in helping websites obtain a good ranking on Google. New content has always been the secret to improving page ranks while the old ones or out-of-date articles eventually lose their value. In this article, we will understand why Google SEO ranking values fresh content and how it can facilitate your website’s organic presence. 

Why Fresh Content is Best Content?

There are 2 reasons. Firstly, for Google, sites with consistently fresh content are “alive” or active while those that are static are “dead.” This is because more and more content gets indexed from a “living” website by Google bots to boost the chances of appearing higher in the SERPs. Indexing is the process of adding new or updated websites to Google’s database to appear on search engine results. Googlebots are Google’s crawlers, that crawl, or you can say scan through websites for new or fresh pages and content. This eventually determines the ranking in the search engine index. 

As a result of what’s mentioned above, Google usually ignores and pushes those “dead” sites to the bottom of the rankings. So it’s in Google’s algorithm to organically promote what’s new. 

Secondly, Google greatly supports online users’ need for fresh and relevant information. Thus, they do their best to give only the top spots to the updated sites and give poor marks to old ones. Think about it, fresh content helps just not Google but also helps you to maintain returning readers. Not only you are given a green flag by Google for better ranking, but you have also paved the way for an increase in web traffic from the target audience. 

How to Know when your Content is Outdated?

Just like every disease has its symptoms, some signs will suggest that the relevancy of your work, especially when it’s old, has reached its end road:

1. No update or development of new content in a long time. 
2. There’s been no growth in the web page traffic for the longest time. 
3. Your web page is not responsive either.
4. Outdated media content like old images, videos, etc. 
5. The information is inconsistent with the ongoing trends.
6. The footer copywrite date is not the current year. 
7. The category dedicated to new products has no new products anymore. 
8. The loading speed is also slow. 

How to boost search engine ranking with fresh content?

1. Rework Old Content

In the internet world, to be left behind is to perish so update with fresh content any way you can. Also, you never know about the likeliness of a reader arriving at something of quality but written a long time ago, so there’s your extra motivation to update older pages and post. 

The best time to update your content is as soon as you hear & confirm new developments about the topic you initially developed the content around, especially when there’s a change of facts. But this doesn’t mean that sites that are constantly updated will automatically secure a top spot in the ranking. Work and efforts in SEO are still needed to be one of the higher-ranking sites.

2. Create Content on New & Diverse Topics

This is an obvious suggestion but what you have to take into account is that you should not have multiple contents built on the same topic and triggering the same set of keywords, no matter how trending they are. This initiates a phenomenon called keyword cannibalization. 

Keyword cannibalization occurs when your website’s web pages with the same set of keywords compete against each other for the search ranking, therefore, adversely affecting the chances of your Google ranking. This is why you should aim at diverse topics besides finding the latest topics to create content on. When you are out of ongoing topics in trend to cover, you can always write on what’s about to scale before it peaks. Google Trends is the perfect tool to browse for finding those topics. 

3. Have a Good Content Management System (CMS)

Content Management System refers to software involved in the development and update of digital content using a database so that you don’t have to go through the headache of building a different system to keep the information about the development and update of your website integrated. WordPress, HubSpot & WooCommerce are some examples of good CMS. CMS websites and blogs have become a favorite among business owners who are operating online because these help them attain a good position on Google. For high-quality, fresh content, these two are regularly updated and that’s why their ranks are always above the static sites which hadn’t been brought up to date for a long time.

4. Comprehend & Collaborate with Readers

For updating your site with fresh information for new or old readers, keep in mind that your web posts must not be just about anything, but they must be something relevant and should be helpful to your audience niche. If you will try to share content that is not related to your website or not useful for your target audience, you are likely to face the consequence of losing good points on Google.

You can even ask your readers for a little help. Encourage them to be guest authors on your site. If there are no volunteers, you can offer something in return like letting them post a link to their site.

5. Learn From Your Past Success

If you have written an article that got a very good response, you can use it as an inspiration for creating a new one. But what details you should look for that can help you trace the pattern to consistently curate quality content? First, you should gauge the approach that caught the readers’ attention. This can be noticed either in the headline or the introductory paragraph. Often, keeping the headline catchy and using storytelling in the introduction with imagery keeps the content readers hooked at least for the first part. 

Next, you should check the composition of the rest of your article. Content with short paragraphs, bullet points and multimedia content like images and videos in between keeps the article readable and gives the reader an exposure to different means of information consumption. 

Finally, it also depends on what you create the content about. If you covered your article at a time when its topic was trending, then it serves as the main reason why that article was successful. If the topic is still in trend, then you can create part two of the same, but make sure the keywords aren’t the same.

6. Revisit Your Keyword Selection

“Change is the only constant” which stands very true for search intent, trends and keywords. Because of that, you need to modify your keyword strategy accordingly for fresh content at different times & trends. Search for trending keywords on Google Trends to know what’s mainstream on the internet and is either on the verge of reaching its peak or is already viral. Make the most of which keywords are trending and ignite new content ideas from them.  

7. Outsource Professional Writers

If you can’t create good content, then hiring a professional content writer is your last resort. You can also purchase articles from fine authors and use them on your site.

There are numerous strategies for your website to attain a higher Google search ranking but the easiest and fastest way is to post new content often, for that, you might hire multiple writers if needed. Keep your site fresh at all times, being up-to-date is not just good for your audience but for SEO purposes too. 

Conclusion:

The main agenda of keeping your content fresh and updated is to ensure that the information provided on your website is up to date to better serve your visitors. When you follow this and keep your content updated, the number of clicks on your page increases which in turn increases user engagement and attracts links organically. All of this verifies and gives a signal to Google that your website or page should be at the top of the search results, besides the success of effective crawling by Googlebot. 

Also, when you keep your content fresh and updated, this gives a chance to the search engines as well to have freshly put content over the internet and have a source of new and updated information for search requests. So, if you keep your website fresh and updated with good and meaningful content, the search engines will love your website and prioritize it over the others, allowing you to remain at the top of the search engine page results. In short, optimizing content for SEO is treating search engines like one of the informed readers you care for.