Keeping Up With Fresh Content

There used to be a saying in the newspaper business – “Yesterday’s news is today’s fish ‘n’ chips wrapping” – because that’s all yesterday’s news is worth. That concept is as valid today as it ever was for any information outlet hoping to keep its audience coming back for more.

Regularly introducing new substance to your website means that you are sharing knowledge in a steady stream, which tends to gain you revisits from an audience that found your product useful the first time around. Fresh content doesn’t always have to be pioneering. Updating and tweaking existing posts can be just as meaningful as finding new ones. That useful blog you posted can be refreshed to remain as useful as ever because relevant and memorable information can actually grow more useful over time. Take a look at some of your existing pieces. Those you find still relevant may only need to be re-written and adapted to small nuances or lesser important facts that may have changed. Even changing the layout of an article, rephrasing or even moving keywords around can be enough. New pieces really do have to be topical, current and germane. A loyal readership is happy to share your material with their contacts when they find it useful.

So, the more up-to-date what you have on offer, the more shareable it is.

In content marketing, one of the chief benefits of fresh subject matter, aside from the return of a loyal readership, is your progression to becoming a ‘thought authority’, a status that brings weight to everything you put on your site. The ‘Forbes.com’ website is a perfect example of this. Thought leadership is about being up-to-date on a subject and that you have new ideas or solutions relating to it. Authoritative sites attract new visitors. They increase website traffic and expanding loyal readership. If you no longer refresh your content or provide new material, interest will quickly evaporate and the competition will make full use of your absence.

Recurrently sharing new material, and the associated high turnover of traffic also happens to be something that search engines are designed to look for. Accurate facts, statistics and figures, particularly when featured in regular blogs, up-to-date links to related sites, and tackling trending topics are a dependable route to search increasing search engine rankings. Google’s algorithms are designed to flag active dynamic sites, not those that have taken early retirements. In 2010, Google publicly announced that it was prioritizing new content over old. It is now actively on the lookout for something relevant and current, and making simple changes are often enough to get Google to visit your page again boosting your SEO and making your site more relevant.

Interestingly though, it’s important to note that the frequency of posting is not as relevant as the quality. Peppering the website with unexceptional posts will only work for a short while. In the end, posting valuable material in a single blog on a regular basis is more effective for your readership and the search engines, then a string of mildly pertinent patches of information.

Sites that have interesting relatable and comprehensive subject matter also tend to have higher dwell times. This is also a factor that Google uses to boost a site’s ratings. The more interesting the material the longer a reader will stay to read it and share it. According to Brian Dean, founder of Backlinko, “Google pays very close attention to “dwell time”, how long people spend on your page when coming from a Google search. This is also sometimes referred to as ‘long clicks vs short clicks’. If people spend a lot of time on your site that can be used as a quality signal”. A good foundation to increasing the dwell rates of your visitors is the same as the one to attract them there in the first place. Make your website fresh and attractive.

Fresh and up-to-date material is important because a website with interesting, current and significant subject matter is like a good book. It makes you want to turn pages, find more of the same and not give up until you know what happens in the end!