Relevance of Relevant Content

By Amrit Hallan

Search engines actively and regularly seek new content. As more and more search engine algorithms evolve into complex, human-centric logics, they seek content that is relevant to the search conducted by the surfer. They also want to present freshly updated content to their users. Google sends out its 'freshbot' spider to gather and index new material from all the sites which offer it.

But why do search engines want to offer fresh, relevant content to their users? The search engine market is growing at a great pace, and Google has proven that if a search engine gives its users what they are looking for, surfers use that search engine again and again, meaning more business for the search engine. If you found the same old content whenever you conducted searches, would you use that search engine with regularity? No. You'll go where you can find something new, something fresh, something relevant. These days search engines take their users very seriously. They take the content of your website very seriously therefore.

Since all searches (at least 98%) are text based searches, it matters a lot what text your web pages contain. For instance, if you're selling desktop images for mobile phone users, you should have lots of information on "desktop images for mobile phones" scattered all over your website. These words shouldn't be splattered around nonsensically...they should appear in the proper context, only then they are relevant. The search engine robots are so smart that they can recognize the needless spamming of keywords and key phrases. They have developed this strange knack for knowing which pages shows relevant content and which does not.

So if you want join, or remain in the race for high rankings in the search results in the search engines, you should take the freshness and the relevancy of your content damn seriously. The following points explain to you how you can keep your content regularly updated and relevant.

Post Regular News

Something or the other keeps happening to your online business that seems worthy of turning into some interesting content. You got a new project? Some employee quit? Some employee joined? You upgraded your office furniture or your computer hardware? There was an accident on the road in front of your office building? The dove couple in the ventilator just hatched eggs and increased their family?

Keep Relevant Content Updated

When you are providing a service or selling a product, you constantly change the parameters. You add new features and you upgrade the existing ones. There might be other things happening in the similar field that you'd like your customers and clients to be aware of. Mention that on your website.

Manage a Bulletin Board

A bulletin board is an unlimited source of updated relevant content, especially once it buzzes with activity. If can successfully orchestrate lively and relevant discussions, there will be no dearth of participants, and consequently, there will be no dearth of relevant and updated content.

Post Articles Regularly

Articles are a treasure trove of information and you should have plenty of them on your website. A good thing about having articles at your website is, if your articles are centered around your product or service, your relevant keywords and key phrases appear in them with greater frequency. In fact, online articles are attaining so much information that many webmasters pay me to write articles for their websites.

Archive Your Electronic Newsletter

If you publish a regular e-newsletter, you can have an archives section where you can upload all the past, present and the upcoming issues. Your e-newsletter mostly carried lots of information regarding your field so it is a good source of periodic relevant content.

Maintain a Blog

Ah! The current sensation! Even the neighborhood dog seems to be running his blog these days. Jokes apart, blogs are a powerful tool that helps you keep your website easily updated. You can read more about what is a weblog at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog. You can either manually maintain a blog or use software like MovableType, WordPress or Blogger.

Finally, fresh and relevant content keeps your website competitive because without such content your website will certainly down the search engine listings and hence loose business. Additionally, having something new keeps visitors coming back and attracts potential customers.

Copyright © 2005 Amrit Hallan