Even though most people may have different ideas as to why they build websites for their businesses, the most logical assumption would be that many do so to create a living entity that represents their brand on the internet. Your website should be the ever-present “customer service agent” online. It is the one place that people would go to find out:
- What your brand is all about
- Get informed about your current status as well as future intentions/innovations
- Interact with your brand
- Get the information they need about your brand such as your contacts and directions (if any)
Your website should be the one entity that brings everyone (visitors, customers, search engines, advertisers, critics, other brands, etc.) together for the betterment of your brand. It is therefore only logical that you keep this entity alive and well. You want it to be vibrant, evergreen and as user-friendly as possible.
Reasons Why Your Website Needs Fresh Content
As an essential entity that is supposed to be alive and well online, not uploading fresh content to your website is a sure fire way to ensure its death. This is how it works: a static website that does not get frequent updates of any kind (be it blog posts, web content in general or even refreshed content) will quickly be deemed stale and for all intents and purposes, dead by the search engine.
One of the main reasons why huge search engines such as Google go through so many updates so frequently is because they are constantly trying to find that sweet spot; that one formula that ensures their users are completely satisfied with the services they offer. As such, they have gone through various trends such as:
- Prioritizing video
- Encouraging images
- Insisting on mobile-friendly (responsive) websites
The one thing that has remained constant in all these updates is content. Google insists on you having highly credible, well-written and relevant content on your website. Without this, it doesn’t matter what else you do; they simply will not rank you as high as you want to be ranked because you provide no value to their users.
A frequently updated website that has well-written, researched, and relevant content is a haven for Google. They use it as a never-ending source to provide answers to the billions of queries posed by search engine users every day.
Simply put, if you frequently update your website with relevant content, then Google will be more than happy to suggest it as a source of trusted information for search requests. That’s what gradually ranks you higher and gives your brand better authority online.
A Few Other Reasons Why it is Important to Frequently Update Your Website
As a brand with a specific niche, one of your biggest concerns should be to be recognized as an authority in that very niche. This means constantly sharing material that is pertinent to that sector. Things like:
- What’s new in your field
- Proposed or expected advancements in the field
- Your own thoughts and opinions relevant to that field
You should also always stay on top of what is concerning your potential customers; this means being a member of several niche-related forums and taking part in discussions that appertain to your field. There is no better way to do this than to have a blog that is frequently updated with all this information and more.
Apart from keeping you relevant in your field, refreshing your business website and blog also means that you benefit from the following:
Frequent Indexing by Search Engines
Search engines have bots that scan the internet for fresh and relevant information based on a number of algorithmic factors set forth by the particular search engine. The trick is to try and attract these bots to your site as frequently as possible.
If you constantly update your website with the right kind of content (quality and relevant to the niche), then these bots will be in a better position to reassess your pages and index them accordingly so that they feature in the search results for niche-related keywords.
Bear in mind that just because your pages are being indexed frequently, it does not necessarily mean that you will automatically get higher rankings. Those results are determined by a combination of factors such as backlinks, relevant keywords, page structure and so on. However, frequent indexing increases your chances of better rankings.
More Content Means More Keywords
Google absolutely frowns upon keyword stuffing. As such, you cannot just put all of your niche-pertinent keywords in one or two articles. You can, however, write a whole bunch of articles all focusing on specific as well as LSI keywords. This gives you a better chance to rank for keywords that are not even necessarily specific to your niche.
Say for example you run an affiliate marketing website that focuses on selling B2B software such as HubSpot or Salesforce. While you could very well include technical articles about this software on your site, doing that will only position you as a direct competitor to the actual websites by those brands.
These are not websites you want to try and compete against because let’s face it if a user is trying to buy a product and all you have on your website is the same material that the product manufacturer has on their’s the user would rather go directly to the manufacturer’s website. It has more authority on the subject.
However, if you went above and beyond to provide more, easier to digest information on the different B2B software (maybe even compared several similar software in the same niche), the number of articles you write plus the different kinds of approaches you take gives you a unique position of power. You will be known as the go-to website for those who want to understand more about these sorts of things.
Google and other search engines will see that as well and begin to rank you even higher than the manufacturer websites for those products because you provided their readers with user-friendly solutions and information.
It’s all about positioning. Keeping your audience informed and updated on industry related news positions you as a relevant platform in their lives and this keeps them coming back for more, newer news. That is why you need to update and refresh your content frequently; because your readers and Google demand it! Plus, it’s good for your bottom-line.