25 replies to this topic

[cusump]

Hi,
I understand that google values fresh contents a lot.

Does google prefer new pages to be added to the website ?
or
Does google prefer fresh contents on existing pages?
or
Both.

Thanks.
Cusump

[mal4mac]

Don't ask if Google will value your fresh content, ask if your users will value your fresh content.

Sometimes fresh content is good, sometimes bad.

Imagine you throw up a quick and dirty page for making an Amazon affiliate sale for Newton's Principia. This is unlikely to be of equal value to a ten year old page produced by a Cambridge don.

Can you say that content added to a page is always bound to be more important than content added as a new page? Of course you can't! Therefore, if Google are sensible, they will count both types of content as equal.

Caveat 1 - usability issues should always be taken into account. These place limits on what the length of the page should be. So read Jakob Nielsen, an author that Google should be reading.

Caveat 2 - Google may not be sensible! But we should assume they are (or will be).

[DIGITALLYDEFINED]

Good Content is what matters, whether its on existing pages or old pages.

But adding new pages with equally good content on your website should be SE Mantra for you.

[the_host]

Adding new pages is preferred.
Adding to an already existing article can often confuse users, try not to do this unless editing or updating the article is necessary.

[rohgan03]

Cusump: Adding new content just for google will really not get you anywhere. Where will readers prefer your new content? Think about a news website that you visit daily ... they have new content on home page each day ...not cos google likes it that way but cos readers would rather see fresh content on home page of newspaper rather thank alink to "Todays News". Each case is different....evaluate your own case for your users.

If users do not need fresh contnet, concentrate on writing good solid content and optimizing it. This site has had the same content on home page (for the most part) for a long long time .

Think of your user's first.

[ChipJohns]

Google likes sites that offer fresh content to their visiotrs. WHen your visitors like your content and frequent your site, Google is going to like it too.

To make a more direct response to your question. If you can add quality content to your web site and you update your home page on a regular basis because to present the latest and greatest content to your audience, Google will send the spiders more often and they do like that. Google likes fresh content. Offer it and it will be noticed..

[mal4mac]

The top page for [a specific keyword phrase] in Google is not a decades long project from the University of Athens, or similar. Instead it's something thrown up by a hardware geek from Oregon last Thursday. It's just the whole book in a bad translation in plain text on one very long page!

So I guess you guys are right, new content really counts. And lots of it!

How come Google is so stupid?

MSN are even worse- an episode of the Simpson's comes top. Note, I like the Simpson's but the original Homer should surely win for this search phrase? Have they trained the neural net to maximise rankings for modern american sitcoms?

Yahoo also have that episode in the no.1 spot.

Doh!

Edited by Jill, 15 May 2006 - 06:31 AM.

[cusump]

Thanks everyone.

But then I know of sites which have not updated their contents for months nor have they added new pages. But they are stuck to Page 1 like power-magnets. Why - how....

Another question, a simple products website may not really have new contents to offer to its customer daily or weekly. So what shot they do?

Going by the replies, only News sites & Portals should occupy the top slot...... cause those are the most probable sites with lots & lots of fresh contents.

Please help.
Cusump

[Randy]

But then I know of sites which have not updated their contents for months nor have they added new pages. But they are stuck to Page 1 like power-magnets. Why - how....

Because they're doing more things right than the competition is. And have been doing more things right for much longer.

Freshness is not always a determining factor.

[ChipJohns]

Plus, Google's algorithm is a very intuitive *entity*. In some cases as is the case with educational Web sites, a page that doesn't change may be favored. If a page on a specific topic stays the same over time, even years, in some cases this may be a good thing.

Remember, there are no definitive answers when it comes to seo. If you have a site that deals with medieval history, many of your pages are not going to change, because, for the most part, history doesn't change. Google may prefer that pages NOT change in this instance.

it's possible that the algorithm can detect when a great number of pages about a specific subject generally do not change. If this seems to be the norm, it may figure out that this must be best, and for this group of pages, change is not good!

This is speculative, but when you look at the patent information that is available, this may very well be the case. But even in this case, a site that is adding new content is going to be spidered more often and the more often the pages of such a site show up in the top of the serps and are clicked on Google is going to give consideration to these pages as well. Thus the need for good content.

For the most part, however, fresh content is good, especially when it is good content. If you can add great content to your site on a regular basis, and what I have found that can particularly help is to have references on your home page that point to the new content on the site; this can be very effective at getting the spiders back to your site more often. How these pages show up in the serps (thus how optimized they are) is going to have an impact on this as well. If your pages constantly show up on the first couple of pages and people are coosing them, the spiders will come even more often.

Create great content, and then give the spiders a way to get to it as quickly as possible.

[copywriter]

First of all, welcome Cusump!

Like Randy said, Freshness is not always the determining factor. Just because you put new pages on your site doesn't mean they'll get ranked high. Just because you change the copy on your pages doesn't mean they'll get ranked high. Just because the spider comes 3 times a week doesn't mean anything.

The spider will come when something is changed. But just because the spider comes doesn't mean the pages will be indexed or ranked. It just means that spider came. Period.

Because copywriting is about 1/3 of the SEO equation, it can have a very powerful impact on your pages. The more you change the copy, the more often you start over with your rankings. Google may come and say, "Hmm... he only changes one paragraph. It's a good paragraph and the rest of the page is the same so I'll let him keep his rankings." On the other hand, if you were on your way to getting into the top 10 then suddenly change your copy, Google may devalue the new text and boot your way back to the bottom.

<I ramble!>

Anyway, I do have a point ... like the others have said, don't put up new pages just for Google. Don't change your existing copy constantly just to try and please Google.

If you do have valuable content that your visitors would like to read, I would suggest adding new pages rather than constantly rewriting existing ones. All of my sites have had the same home page copy for years and are all in the top 10.

[cusump]

Thx for all the replies.
I am getting the understanding better every passing day (or may be every read post)
Cusump

[lister]

Creating good copy of course is definitely important I am convinced by that, but how clever is google when it 'reads' content? Does it really notice that the content you wrote is well-written? Obviously i know that spiders etc take note of word structure and keywords but just how clever is it??

The reason i ask is - what is to prevent me just uploading lots of fairly crappy content to try and rank high, then once high - introduce better content??

[Jill]

The reason i ask is - what is to prevent me just uploading lots of fairly crappy content to try and rank high, then once high - introduce better content??

I'm sure your users will love to read your crappy content.

[lister]

I agree that my readers would not enjoy reading crappy content - what i was trying to suggest is how clever are spiders when the 'read' content - i mean can they detect that the pages they are reading are written by a descadent of Shakepeare?