One question and two levels that belong together: Quality standards and content freshness
When we present content marketing strategies, customers almost always ask us how often they need new content. The question is absolutely legitimate. But there is no general answer. But the question has two levels on which we should orientate ourselves.
- On the one hand, it is a question of effort and demands: Regular articles only finally distinguish a magazine – in addition to the editorial style – from classic, static website content. But if you want content, you have to have time to write articles – or financial resources to let others write. So what’s the right amount?
- Second, it’s a question for search engine optimization. Search engines reward fresh content. But what is the right frequency? We give you an orientation.
The demand for quality should always be in the foreground
Let’s start right away with a takeaway rule:
Produce quality as often as you can.
When planning the weighting of your content, you have to weigh between two poles: frequency and quality. Both poles are relevant to the success of the strategy. If you only publish an article once a year, you will not succeed. Because with this you probably only occupy very few keywords and generate neither organic visibility nor traffic. But it also doesn’t work to artificially put together a few company news items every week to create new content, with photos from the company party and the new truck. Because neither the search engine finds that relevant nor the right user interesting.
Because content can be the first contact and position your brand, only the best is enough
Content must be published regularly and be relevant. If you have the choice between four moderately good articles a month and one really good, relevant reading piece, then you should go for the reading piece. If, on the other hand, you have already covered the big topics with great reading pieces for your company, you should rather write two very good, shorter articles instead of four medium-good ones. In content marketing, you should never stop insisting on the very highest quality.
If in doubt, turn down the frequency rather than the quality.
Because your articles are brand-building, help your sales, could be the first contact for users in acquiring new customers. So you are far too important to be just mediocre.
The search engine rewards expertise, authority, and trustworthiness with high rankings. A few very good, relevant articles raise the domain authority more than a lot of average good articles. This should also guide you in finding a topic for the content.
It is better to use fewer topics, but these very well.
Whether content freshness is a ranking factor for Google depends on the user intention
We hear again and again that “fresh content” would guarantee good rankings, more precisely: since the Fresh update in 2011. But this update is often misunderstood. Google does not like to be looked at in the cards. However, we know that the search engine clearly distinguishes advice and information content from news portals. Matt Cutts from Google has made clear statements on this in the past. The Quality Rater Guidelines confirm this even year later:
„For some queries, there may be “newsy” or recent information user intent, as well as more “timeless” information user intent. […] However, unmaintained/abandoned “old” websites or unmaintained and inaccurate/misleading content is a reason for a low Page Quality rating.“
Google Search Quality Rater Guidelines, Version vom September 2019
So it depends on the user’s intention – and thus on the keywords used – whether a website needs high-frequency “fresh” content in order to rank well.
Google differentiates the type and importance of content freshness on websites in …
1.
… thematically current content such as news, gossip, and trends, i.e. content that relates to topics that have a large search volume at very short notice. This content must always be up-to-date and very regularly, daily or weekly. Google then speaks of “QDF” content: Query Deserves Freshness, German: query deserves freshness (= topicality);
2.
newly published, but timeless, editorial-advisory content. It doesn’t have to come in high frequency. However, the website must not appear “unmaintained / abandoned” – something should happen that shows the search engine: Here an active team is responsible for great content.
An example: Does the user want to find out who won the Oscar in 2019 (news) – or what the “Academy Award of Merit” is exactly and since when it has been awarded (content)?
What does this differentiation mean for content marketing?
For the orienting, editorial content of content marketing, Google always relies on quality instead of high publication frequency. Whether the content is “fresh” in the sense of up-to-date (i.e. not out of date) and thus relevant for the keyword, Google then decides more on the click-through rate, backlinks, and social signals, less on the quantity and date of the initial indexing.
By the way: Google recognizes attempted ranking manipulation and punishes them. These two popular manipulation tricks no longer work:
- Just update the publication date of an old article?
The search engine knows the date of the first indexing. - Increase the number of re-indexed pages on a website by splitting content?
Google reliably recognizes content that has already been crawled elsewhere.
Content marketing, search engine optimization, and brand building, therefore, have something in common: They only have a long-term and authentic effect.
So rely on timeless content. Update the content if necessary. This is a signal to Google that you are maintaining the website. Clearly differentiate company news and editorial magazine content through the information architecture on your website.
