One of the main reasons to update content is to improve your visibility in the search engines as well, of course, as creating content interesting to your customers and prospects.

Search engines love to see new or fresh content - it gives them a reason to return to your website and see what's up. Google, for example, has updated their algorithm (the Panda update) several times to help their clients or users receive quality search results.

Creating new content also gives you the opportunity to be found for phrases you weren't previously talking about on your website. For example, when we place this article on our website it might help us be found by someone searching for how often to update their website!

There’s no real guide as to how often to update. There are various theories but it's generally agreed that frequently is good. However, you need to be familiar with how your website is doing on the search engines before you start, as adding new content or removing content from a page doing very well, and generating good traffic, could result in that page falling off page one or page two of the search engines!

Updating content can mean a number of things. It can mean adding new content to a page, adding a new page or article, removing old content (particularly that which is out of date or just plain wrong), removing a product, adding a product, adding images, updating links, logo or email address etc. So we’re not just talking about the text.

The first step is to decide how often. If you have a blog, make it weekly. If not you can either set up a time to review content and update something fortnightly or monthly or make it event focused – for example when you put out your newsletter.

The second step is to decide what would be most valuable for your customers or clients. Consider what topics they ask you about. You may want to add to your FAQs, add a new page on a topic, a blog, or something else.

The third is to decide who should write the new content. Investing in a great copywriter who understands the internet and the search engines can often be more valuable to you than spending your time writing something which doesn’t help your website or your customers! However, no-one knows your product better than you. Just remember - it’s not about quantity, its about quality.

Other considerations.

For help with updating your website, give us a call on 04 212 6160 or if you could complete our enquiry form.