Google recently rolled out an algorithm update and its all about “freshness.” Discussions have ensued, but the consensus appears to be that, though this was a very subtle update, its purpose is to better target the newest content possible. Those with traditional static web pages may see their rankings decrease and fall behind competitor sites who have moved towards blogging, social media and even forums. Strategically, this falls in line with our current web marketing philosophy. Over the past couple years, we have been advocating the implementation of WordPress into existing sites for the 3 reasons:
- Providing a login-based means of site content editing
- The ability to continually, and affordably, add fresh content that search engines will list
- Combined with the use of RSS (really simple syndication), we are able to feed this information to social media pages, thus giving our clients a single point of information entry that will branch out and implement a more comprehensive web marketing strategy
Even with this added capability, smaller websites may see more challenges in that a larger competitor can afford to employ more content generating bloggers. We received a newsletter from WebProNews recently with quotes from various industry personalities regarding the Google Fresh update. They picked this one from WebMasterWorld:
“So you think the pro staffed sites have been at an advantage before? How about now? On the surface, this looks like the dagger for a lot of folks. Hope I’m wrong. A small enterprise of a few cannot compete with freshness of hundreds of staffers. I haven’t dug into this, but certainly this adds to the already pile of BS that a lot of us have been dealing with and now it’s another heaping truck full on my door step.”
So, the reactions to this update are obviously divided. One thing is for sure, the traditional static website, particularly ones in media rich industries, will struggle in the future if they do not adapt. For us, we see the best strategy in dealing with fresh content, is to implement a WordPress news tool into their site and write relevant articles frequently. Feel free to contact us for a consultation if you are interested in pursuing such a strategy.
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Nelson & Co. is a Sugar Land, Texas based graphic design firm serving the Greater Houston area with turn-key print, multimedia and web design projects since 2002 and is proud to be listed in the Houston Business Journal’s Book of Lists as a Top 25 Graphic Design Firm serving corporate, mid-sized and even start-up businesses alike with powerful branding and marketing tools. For more information on Nelson & Co. visit www.nelsonandco.net or contact us at (832) 532-7220.