How To Create Fresh Content For SEO (Is It a Ranking Factor)

As a blogger you may have heard about fresh content is crucial for improving search engine rankings.

Lets take an example, on one side there is a website that updates fresh content regularly.

And on the other side, one website is completely dead and never gets updated.

What do you think is more valuable for Google?

I guess the first one!

Therefore in this post, you are going to learn what exactly freshness means in the SEO world, what google freshness algorithm is, fresh content importance, how you can create it and more.

What is Freshness in Seo?

Freshness in SEO refers to the content which has been recently published and recently updated.

Fresh content is a very critical factor in SEO because users want to see results that are most relevant and recent.

Nobody is interested in reading old outdated information.

This is the reason almost all the websites on the web need fresh content to keep attracting customers and increase search engine rankings.

Google Freshness Algorithm

Google’s caffeine update in June 2010 was aimed to give more rankings to fresh content

The update meant that pages will be crawled and indexed by Google more frequently.

Search results for which the information can change frequently or could be different on a daily or weekly basis for example news, events, technology updates, sports etc.

These topics need recent information and freshness of content is more important for these queries than others.

Therefore, Google’s freshness algorithm started measuring the frequency of content created for some topics.

The update affected 35% of all the search results which meant fresh content was the most important factor for ranking.

Importance of Fresh Content For SEO?

Google bots continuously look for web pages that are new and recently updated.

Then add the content to the Google index.

If you update the content with useful and relevant information, you can have a good chance to rank higher on search engines.

The more fresh content you add to your website, the more frequently search engines will index your page.

The search engines then rearrange your rankings based on the content you added.

Also, when you add more content there will be more potential keywords for which you can rank.

But do not try to bombard your article with hundreds of keywords just for the sake of ranking.

Google is smart and it can recognise what you are doing.

You can get penalized for it.

In simple words, update your site with fresh valuable information and try to meet the user’s search intent.

How To Create Fresh Content?

Update Old Posts

One of the easiest ways to freshen up your site content is updating your old posts with more up to date information.

Without writing a blog post from scratch you can boost your search engine rankings with little work.

Because 80% of your website organic traffic most likely comes from your old posts.

According to the reports, the bloggers who update their old posts are likely to get 3x results.

So if you are not updating your older posts then you can lose a lot of potential revenue.

Rewrite Failed Posts

Some blog posts completely fail but the topic is still good enough to write about.

You may have also invested a lot of time into these blog posts.

There are several reasons for failed blog posts.

Maybe your writing style was bad or you think that the blog post is good enough but it’s not!

Now it is time to rewrite them and it is a great technique to add fresh value to your website.

Remember you are writing the blog post for your audience not for yourself.

Aim to at least add 50% more value to the blog post.

Write Evergreen Posts

When we use the word evergreen it means the post will remain relevant and popular over time.

The target audience does not lose interest in these topics over time and there is no expiry date for the posts.

So make sure to publish evergreen posts frequently to your website.

Add New Infographics

Infographic refers to data visualisation for example pie charts and bar graphs to give an overview on a specific topic.

They are easy to understand and look attractive to viewers.

More than just engaging, they should help to understand and remember the value you want to provide to the audience.

Adding infographics to existing content boosts the freshness of the content.

You can also attract backlinks from relevant bloggers and industry experts.

Look for Guest Posts

You can look for influencers to write a new blog post for your website.

They can benefit from getting backlinks from your website and you can have fresh valuable content on your website.

You should choose the guest blog poster who can write on-topic, relevant to your audience.

Or you can hire a professional to write guest blog posts because you can be consistent and provide expert knowledge.

It can help you boost your search engine rankings and authority in your niche.

Create Content Calendar

It takes a lot of effort and time to write a single good blog post.

And even if you are good at writing awesome blog posts but if you do not have any idea about when you are going to add fresh content to your site then you are going to lose a lot of time.

To avoid this situation, create a content calendar.

A content calendar will determine topics, writing time, editing time and publishing time.

Preplanning in advance is always a good idea rather than a blank mind at the time of writing.

It helps you to keep organized as well as your website will always get updated with fresh content.

Interview Industry Experts

An industry expert interview is a powerful way to provide useful and fresh content.

By leading an interview with experts you will get social shares, boost organic traffic and build relationships with important individuals in your niche.

Inviting these individuals will showcase your respect for them.

They will be more than happy to share their expert knowledge with you and your audience.

You will also get quality backlinks and boost the authority of your website.

Update Last Published Date

Whenever you update content on your website it is mostly invisible to Google and your audience.

Here is an example how google showcases last published date:-

Especially if you are using the WordPress platform.

While Google does reindex the content and pushes your website to some extent.

But if your publish date is not updated, you will not see the results you deserve.

You can use a WordPress plugin called the last modified info plugin to update your last published date.

And as soon as you use this tool, you can see amazing results in search engine rankings.

Update Large Portion of Content

The amount of change is a major factor in determining the content freshness for search engines.

The content of the large portion updated will be ranked differently than the content of the small portion updated.

Infographic from Cyrus Shephard on the Moz blog

So you should update content in large portions rather than small changes.

FAQ

What is the freshness factor?

The freshness factor is giving more value to new content as compared to old content for some specific queries. For example trending topics, news, sports, awards etc.

This factor ranks new content higher in search engines and prevents old content from ranking first.

Does Google like fresh content?

Google does not favour fresh content. Some queries need fresh content while others may not.

Is Content Freshness A Ranking Factor?

It depends on your niche and audience.

If your topic needs a daily fresh post then you should post daily For example if your website is about news and magazine websites, recurring events, sports, trending topics etc.

You should post daily.

And, if your topic does not require daily posting then you can plan your content accordingly.

Google uses over 200 ranking factors in their algorithm to rank a website.

So it is a ranking factor for some websites and other websites will remain unaffected by it.

Although it can be a ranking factor in an indirect way because when you add fresh content to your website you will rank for several keywords, Google Bots will crawl your website more often and index your website faster.

Hence it increases the chances for your website to rank for content you have updated.

But one thing is for sure that you should focus on your target audience.

If your target audience is happy with you then eventually, google will be happier with you too.

Analyse your audience intent using statistical data from Google Analytics and Google search console.

You will see all the essential data to improve the end-user experience on your website.

Final Thoughts

Fresh content is an important factor in SEO.

Some queries need fresh content on a daily or weekly basis and some queries can also work even if it is not updated daily.

Having fresh content on the website does not mean that you will rank higher on search engines except on some websites.

If you focus on producing high-quality and relevant to your audience then you can rank higher.

Want more? No problem!

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