Imagine, for a moment, that you go to the store for a nice fresh loaf of artisan bread to go along with your dinner. When you get to the bread section, the shelves are empty, except for one old, hard loaf that would break your teeth if you attempted to bite into it.

What would you do? If you had to have the bread with dinner?

You’d probably go to another store to get fresh bread.

Your website is kind of the same — especially when it comes to how Google judges it.

In this case, instead of fresh bread Google is looking for fresh content.

Since it’s a critical element of SEO, let’s take a look at what fresh content is, as well as how to most effectively implement it into your website …

The Freshness Factor …

Fresh content is an important factor in how well your website ranks in natural search results on Google. But it’s important to know exactly WHERE to add this fresh content.

Some SEO and web design firms will suggest adding fresh content to your homepage and subpages on a monthly basis. If someone suggests this to you, or even worse wants to put you on a monthly retainer to keep your content fresh in this manner … smile, say thanks for the advice, and RUN! This is not the way you want to add fresh content to your site. For more on this, check out, The Freshness Factor: The Right Way to Freshen Your Website Content.

Create Fresh Content on Your Blog

Using your blog to generate fresh content for Google — and your viewers — is a most excellent choice.
Why? Because every time you publish a blog post, Google’s algorithm gets excited and says, “oooh, fresh content,” and gives you a little bump in website authority.

In case you’re wondering, adding a minimum of one blog post per week can do wonders for your “freshness factor.” Two is better than one and three is a game changer (in most cases), but once a week will give you enough traction to actually make a difference.

The post Get Your Fresh Content Here! appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

In this installment of the series, we answer an important question regarding the “freshness factor” and your website: what is the best way to brew fresh content into your website?

There’s a lot of value packed into these five minutes, so be sure to check it out!

If you need assistance creating fresh content for your blog, optimizing your existing website — or web design services with SEO brewed right in, feel free to contact Cuppa SEO anytime.

The post The Best Way to Brew Fresh Content into Your Website appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Freshness is an important factor in how well your website ranks in natural search results on Google.

But where you add that fresh content to your site is just as important as how rich, relevant and useful it is.

Many novice SEO (search engine optimization) practitioners will tell you that the best way to inject new content into your site is to “freshen up” your homepage and subpages with new copy and keywords — sometimes on a monthly basis.

Taking this approach on a well-optimized, high-ranking site will most likely backfire.

SEO is Like a Phone Number

Let’s take a look at why constantly freshening up your actual web pages is a bad idea. Which leads me the the question …

Would you change your phone number each month?

Of course not. Customers and colleagues are depending on your being on the other end of a specific set of ten digits when they make a call to get in touch. It’s the same with Google, who is counting not just on your URL for a particular page’s location — but also on the content, keywords and imagery (which of course is optimized, right?) that live on each web page.

Like a phone number, Google is depending on you to keep the same definers in place for your web pages. And when you change the information, like changing a phone number, you’re no longer where Google expects you to be. Depending on how much content and keywords are altered, this may mean that you go back to ZERO in Google’s eyes for page authority (which affects where you rank in natural search results).

Where Fresh Content Should Go

Now that you know what not to do, the next question is where do we put our fresh content? Google’s algorithm is looking for it, and so are our visitors, so we can’t just forgo implementing a fresh content strategy.

The answer is actually pretty simple. Fresh content goes on your blog. Now, every time you publish a blog post, Google notices and gives your website credit for having some new, fresh content. If blogging is new to you, check our article, Blogging 101 Tips: Creating a Blog Campaign, to help get you started. You can also sign up for our free Blogging 101 Webinar to learn more about the art of blogging.

The Subpage vs. Subdomain Dilemma

In order for your blog to count as fresh content on your website, it has to be a subpage of your site, not a subdomain. If this doesn’t make sense, check out our bleet on the topic, Blogging 101 Tips: Subpage vs. Subdomain.

Thank you for visiting Cuppa SEO! I hope this clarifies where and how to publish fresh content!

The post The Freshness Factor: The Right Way to Freshen Your Website Content appeared first on Cuppa SEO.