In blogging and Web publishing, what do you think is most important, freshness or quality? It’s a discussion that never seems to end.
Actually, Chris Crum first raised the intriguing question in his post at WebProNews in June of 2010. His post was entitled: “What’s More Important in Search? Freshness or Quality?”
Mr. Crum thoughtfully spotted a Google Q&A webmaster video featuring Google’s Matt Cutts.
In the video, Mr. Cutts explains the difference between what is important to users of your site vis-à-vis what’s important in SEO for search engine prominence.
Repeat visitors to your site probably appreciate being able to return to your site and enjoy new content.
That gives them a reason to keep checking out your site and is, of course, the advantage that mega sites have over small blogs because they have more resources. They can insert new content every few hours.
However, the situation is different for search engines. If a blogger has to make a choice between frequency and quality, Google’s Mr. Cutts advocates quality over frequency.
He states your site will fare better with quality on Google. He also asserts your site will attract more links in the long run.
That’s not to say you should necessarily forego focusing on frequency. When asked about real-time indexing of sites, Mr. Cutts comments in another video.
If a blogger has to make a choice between frequency and quality, Google’s Mr. Cutts advocates quality over frequency.
Mr. Crum also presents some interesting thoughts about freshness and the new Google SERP redesign (search engine results page).
“…the smaller brand sites have a better shot at showing up the more frequently they are updated, wrote Mr. Crum in another post. The bigger brands tend to rank higher, the wider the range of time selected.”
He also wrote about how smaller sites succeed: “Brian Klais, General Manager and VP of Product Mangagement at Covario had a very interesting post at Search Engine Land looking at how the time filter may even help smaller brands get some visibility.”
So, it’s a thought-provoking blog by Mr. Crum. My sense is value is important. But do what you can to accomplish both – delivering value as frequently as you can.
From the Coach’s Corner, some publishers have experienced a sudden decline in their search engine rankings.
Here are the solutions:
5 Factors to Get Peak Google Results for Your Web Site – Study — What do top Web sites have in common? Successful sites produce a high number of Facebook and Twitter messages, but the sites minimize the volume of ads on its pages according to an authoritative study. Those are the salient lessons from a 2012 study by Searchmetrics, a search and social analytics firm.
Checklist: 14 Strategies to Rock on Google — Periodic changes in Google’s search criteria and algorithms have indeed hurt many Web sites. But it’s possible to bullet-proof your site’s prominence on Google by taking 14 precautions, which is worth your time and energy. Google has perennially owned about a 66 percent search-market share in the U.S. and a 90 percent share worldwide.
Google Tips – 23 Key Questions about Your Web Site — Google has unveiled vital information about what it considers important for Web site ranking. Without divulging proprietary information, Google emphasized it’s all about value – quality for Internet users. In other words, there are no shortcuts for success. There’s been a lot of buzz about Google’s algorithm updates, and how they affect Internet sites.
Do You Want to Prevail on Google? Watch the Cheesy Stuff — If you want to win on Google, heed its warning. Sure, every online publisher wants to earn money from advertising these days. Note the emphasis on the word, “earn.” But there are ways to do right and ways to do it wrong.
“With Google I’m starting to burn out on knowing the answer to everything. People in the year 2020 are going to be nostalgic for the sensation of feeling clueless.”
-Doug Coupland
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