Fresh Content: The Key to Conversions?
Fresh and original content is quickly becoming the next big topic for SEO. As more people begin to browse the web using social and repetitive patterns, it makes sense that consumers don’t want to read the same content over and over again. The Internet is constantly evolving, allowing people to connect to information fast. Having out-of-date or commonplace information can drag traffic and conversion rates down dramatically.
Why are people so focused on content? SEO, or search engine optimization, rules are constantly changing, and the latest updates to Google’s algorithm change the way people find things online. Google now pushes old content further down in the search results, making it harder for users to find. When Google realized success and revenue increases with this method, in addition to an overwhelmingly positive user response, other search engines decided to follow suit.
Not only do search engines take the publication date into account, but also a new set of requirements and modification that increase search traffic to particular pages. Some older content may have risen to the top of the search results simply by stuffing keywords into sentences. That’s because older algorithms took simpler rules for content into account. When the algorithm changed, these rules were replaced with new ones. Now search engines look for more than keywords, they look for well-formulated sentences and original content.
Keeping content fresh has inspired many websites to change the formatting of the information provided. Blogs are becoming increasingly popular among businesses because they are a way to provide readers with more up-to-date information while building a brand. Instead of replacing the old, out-of-date information, businesses use new content that caters to the new algorithms while archiving older posts.
The most important part of content, whether it is old or new, is how it affects the company’s bottom line. The best way to generate relevant content is through empathy. It is important to put yourself in the shoes of a visitor. By finding an engaging site, visitor’s are often inspired to come back a few times in the search for new content. If long periods pass without relevant content updates, potential customers might assume that the offerings or expertise are stale, and never return for another site visit. A large portion of any website’s clicks should be repeat visitors with a low bounce rate, and in order to achieve this metric, a regular supply of new content is necessary.
In addition to search engines, consumers often use the dates of information as important decision-making tools. Most customers that buy goods or services online make their decision based on the age of the website, and particularly, the age of reviews and recommendations. If a website looks like it hasn’t been updated in quite some time, consumers are less likely to buy. In addition, if there are no new posts, specials, reviews, or recommendations, customers may be hesitant to buy. Reviews were formerly organized by relevance, increasingly, the reviews are listed by date in reverse chronological order. In short, in order to keep conversion rates up, it is critical to publish current and relevant information in a manner that satisfies the SEO requirements of proper grammatical formulation and original content.
