Do you really need a blog to stay "fresh"?

36 replies
  • SEO
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Blogs help to make a site look fresh and updated and get indexed and re-indexed faster. But there are competitors who have never made a blog in several months. Instead they are active in social media and are ranking high. What makes a site rank high with no blog updates? Is it be cause they are established already and have a high trust from being on the web for so long?
#blog #fresh #stay
  • Profile picture of the author inxie
    No.

    Publishing blog posts frequently has absolutely no influence on rankings. Think about it, if Google wants to show a user the best results for a given search term, why does it matter if the site in question doesn't have a blog, or posts regularly?

    It doesn't.

    That being said, creating content for your site does allow you to rank for a broader range of search terms and build links through outreach. But you should focus on the quality of each piece rather than the frequency at which they appear on your site which as mentioned, has zero influence.
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  • Profile picture of the author windrider07
    Yea, hence why I said "indexed" not ranked. If a site gets indexed and re-indexed a lot on a daily basis, could it outrank an already established site if more content is getting pushed out? Because doesn't a site's ranking change everytime it gets crawled and indexed?
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  • Profile picture of the author inxie
    Nope, it doesn't change everytime it gets crawled.

    Even if it did, crawl rate is not a ranking factor, nor is content being "pushed out", so there's no benefit there.

    You're focusing on something that should be of no interest to your objective, which I assume is to rank your site (since we're in the SEO section of this forum).
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  • Profile picture of the author windrider07
    I know SEO is opinionated so I'll take what you say with a grain of salt unless 10 more people reply to this thread with the same opinion.

    Why do people care so much about blogging and getting indexed if they are already indexed?
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    • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
      Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

      I know SEO is opinionated so I'll take what you say with a grain of salt unless 10 more people reply to this thread with the same opinion.
      Lol'd. Man, you've chosen the wrong place to do this. Have you been looking around? You can easily find threads that have dozens of people confidently posting absolute BS.

      Well, "if 100 people like this" is sort of humorous to me as a concept.

      Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

      Why do people care so much about blogging and getting indexed if they are already indexed?
      Some people and companies need that new content to sell their products, or to remind that they exist. They need fresh fodder for their audience whatever and wherever it happens to be. Quite a few do not seem too interested in SEO, but if the content helps rankings that's a plus.

      It's also possible that "keeping the site alive" is a goal. I guess that's sort of expected when the company grows beyond a certain size, or is otherwise trying to sell actively. Blog is also often written in a different style than other forms of corporate communications which makes it easier to talk to people.

      If you have a circle of blogging friends or contacts, and you're willing to blog about current topics you might get some really juicy links.

      Probably there's a few who try to take advantage in what I call "Google's honeymoon for new content". They're often giving a small boost to new articles. I'm guessing that it's meant to push current topics above the noise. The effect doesn't last long, and your "evergreen" pieces may always rank higher than something new.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Looks like some poor sap in Charlotte North Carolina bought a nofollow link package.

    Good luck with that.
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    • Profile picture of the author windrider07
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      Looks like some poor sap in Charlotte North Carolina bought a nofollow link package.

      Good luck with that.
      You sound blunt in your replies. But you don't offer much advice.. Yea, the backlink portfolio sucks. Working on it. I'm more of an on-page guy and it's tough when your competitors have thousands of backlinks on them.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

        You sound blunt in your replies. But you don't offer much advice.. Yea, the backlink portfolio sucks. Working on it. I'm more of an on-page guy and it's tough when your competitors have thousands of backlinks on them.
        Yes blunt, to the point, no BS, etc... No reason to sugar coat junk links.

        My advice is for your client to hire an SEO.
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        • Profile picture of the author windrider07
          Originally Posted by yukon View Post

          Yes blunt, to the point, no BS, etc... No reason to sugar coat junk links.

          My advice is for your client to hire an SEO.
          which would be me. but this is a new challenge for me but I learn real fast. our competitors have a HUGE backlink portfolio so I am challenged with the task to try and outrank websites that are well established. I already have a strategy in mind, but I also wonder what strategies other people use in ranking. we need more do-follows than anything else. Still trying to figure out if there are any big sites that promotes small businesses in tech industry.

          Some of my competitors have no blog updates so I wonder how they rank. I'm guessing huge referall/organic traffic and word of mouth keeps them up.
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          • Profile picture of the author yukon
            Banned
            Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

            which would be me. but this is a new challenge for me but I learn real fast. our competitors have a HUGE backlink portfolio so I am challenged with the task to try and outrank websites that are well established. I already have a strategy in mind, but I also wonder what strategies other people use in ranking. we need more do-follows than anything else. Still trying to figure out if there are any big sites that promotes small businesses in tech industry.

            Some of my competitors have no blog updates so I wonder how they rank. I'm guessing huge referall/organic traffic and word of mouth keeps them up.


            You're not an SEO.

            An SEO would never sabotage a clients backlink profile with junk links on irrelevant forums.

            You obviously don't learn fast considering you're still spamming the client links in your forum sig.
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          • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
            Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

            Some of my competitors have no blog updates so I wonder how they rank. I'm guessing huge referall/organic traffic and word of mouth keeps them up.
            You don't need to update a site ever to rank well. I would think that someone offering SEO services would know this already though.
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            • Profile picture of the author DABK
              They rank because they have some good links... at least 1 more than the next guy.

              You don't need to have as many links as they have.

              One strategy would be to take a look at all the links the #1 page has, and get the very same links from the very same source, than get 1 more (assuming equal onpage optimization).

              Another strategy would be to do the above but only with the good links they have.

              Another strategy would be to just create good links till you overtake them. Create a bunch, wait a 3 or 4 days, see what happened. If you're not #1, create more.

              The question of where you get good links? Either from where #1 1 got his/hers or you figure out who in a related niche would benefit from linking to you and how (Sometimes, you have to pay them; sometimes you create content they publish on their site).

              Or, you create your own sites... and I mean, good, useful sites... in the same industry, and you link to yourself.... A private network, if you will, but not like most people think of it... a bunch of sites created just for the backlinks... I'm talking 'real' sites that users could use, buy from... Would buy from.
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          • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
            Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

            Some of my competitors have no blog updates so I wonder how they rank. I'm guessing huge referall/organic traffic and word of mouth keeps them up.
            Traffic is NOT a ranking factor. Google tracks only a small percentage of all sites so don't have even any means of using it in a way that would make sense. Clicks from SERPs might be a factor, though.

            You've already pointed out why they're doing so well: they've got strong backlink profiles. Authority and trust are pretty much the same thing in this context.
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            Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
            Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

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            • Profile picture of the author Devilfish168
              I feel Fresh contents is a need ..depend on your niche ..

              some never update for many months yet still can rank well.

              I check their stats wow so much backlinks ...etc

              I not an expert.

              I also still learning..how to rank my site etc.. I treat SEO is like a " Magic ".

              Sometimes is very very weird ...
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  • Profile picture of the author Mehdib
    I agree with @inxie publishing blog mere for the purpose of ranking in search is not a good strategy. Fresh content helps to grab visitors and help with search results but is not the best of tactics. One thing is good is to share your blogs in social media actively though, not just the link but the post itself.
    That helps with your ranking in the long run.
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    Works as digital marketing manager at ID printers

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  • Profile picture of the author alvinchua91
    Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

    Blogs help to make a site look fresh and updated and get indexed and re-indexed faster. But there are competitors who have never made a blog in several months. Instead they are active in social media and are ranking high. What makes a site rank high with no blog updates? Is it be cause they are established already and have a high trust from being on the web for so long?
    Yes you need a blog to stay 'fresh'. (If you define it as having fresh content added on a regular basis.)

    But you don't need a blog to rank well on search engines. (It can help, but it's far from necessary.)

    It's hard to tell about your competitors because I don't know who they are, but it's likely attributable to:
    - They simply have more powerful back links from relevant and authority sites
    - They started SEO before you did, have been doing it right and for a really long period of time

    *Age of domain doesn't magically improve their 'trust' and push up their rankings.

    *Social media doesn't help boost SEO rankings (at least as of now, there is no hard and/or conclusive evidence showing that). It's still good to engage on the right social media platforms not for its direct SEO benefits (if any), but because it would look weird if people searched for you on social media and see nothing. Some people see that as fishy (especially if yours is a local business). Nothing to do with SEO, but with potential sales, so it's still good to engage on relevant social media platforms.
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  • Profile picture of the author PBScott
    I figure one day Google will realize that REAL blog post are sporadic, and label everything else as spam. Seriously how long does it take for a Real blogger to get inspired enough to want to write something of value?
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Just so you know a dynamic style Home page can bury internal pages in Google SERPs & cause the Home page to constantly bounce around the SERPs.

    Solution: Static Home page & aim to rank internal landing pages per each main keyword/s (silo).
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    • Profile picture of the author windrider07
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      You're not an SEO.

      An SEO would never sabotage a clients backlink profile with junk links on irrelevant forums.

      You obviously don't learn fast considering you're still spamming the client links in your forum sig.
      The only forum that the site's backlinks are on is this one and it's a no-follow, and yea you're right....it is an irrelevant forum...I'll remove it one of these days. It doesn't hurt to see if you will get traffic from weird places because people, for some odd reason, have some interest in what you offer. I see fitness websites and other services in other people's signatures on this forum. Some of them are actually interesting. I'm not "spamming" anything. I have over 150 posts.....is it my fault that I consider myself an active poster and that my forum signature replicates itself on every post I make?

      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      You don't need to update a site ever to rank well. I would think that someone offering SEO services would know this already though.
      I do know that but what factors contribute to ranking whether indirectly or directly...you will get different thoughts from different people in the field.

      Originally Posted by DABK View Post

      They rank because they have some good links... at least 1 more than the next guy.

      You don't need to have as many links as they have.

      One strategy would be to take a look at all the links the #1 page has, and get the very same links from the very same source, than get 1 more (assuming equal onpage optimization).

      Another strategy would be to do the above but only with the good links they have.

      Another strategy would be to just create good links till you overtake them. Create a bunch, wait a 3 or 4 days, see what happened. If you're not #1, create more.

      The question of where you get good links? Either from where #1 1 got his/hers or you figure out who in a related niche would benefit from linking to you and how (Sometimes, you have to pay them; sometimes you create content they publish on their site).

      Or, you create your own sites... and I mean, good, useful sites... in the same industry, and you link to yourself.... A private network, if you will, but not like most people think of it... a bunch of sites created just for the backlinks... I'm talking 'real' sites that users could use, buy from... Would buy from.
      Good strategy
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

        The only forum that the site's backlinks are on is this one and it's a no-follow, and yea you're right....it is an irrelevant forum...I'll remove it one of these days. It doesn't hurt to see if you will get traffic from weird places because people, for some odd reason, have some interest in what you offer. I see fitness websites and other services in other people's signatures on this forum. Some of them are actually interesting. I'm not "spamming" anything. I have over 150 posts.....is it my fault that I consider myself an active poster and that my forum signature replicates itself on every post I make?
        Thanks for clearing that up.

        I find it hard to believe your commuting from the Philippines to Charlotte NC.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

        I do know that but what factors contribute to ranking whether indirectly or directly...you will get different thoughts from different people in the field.

        How can you be taking money from people for SEO when you do not know this?

        You're practically stealing.
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        • Profile picture of the author windrider07
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          How can you be taking money from people for SEO when you do not know this?

          You're practically stealing.
          As I said, SEO is an open game where everyone has a different opinion. Tell me, do you know everything about SEO? Most likely not. Is your SEO stronger than mine? Perhaps...I don't know. I never said I did not know. It's just my viewpoint of it is a bit different, probably. An SEO is supposed to know SEO up to a certain extent and have certain capabilities. They should also be able to make certain predictions but absolutely no guarantees since SEO is constantly changing.

          You don't need to update a site ever to rank well.
          Good point and I appreciate your opinion and thought. From what I know (and seen), I can also agree. A site does not need to update itself to rank well. But how does it maintain its ranking? And do new sites have to update itself to rank well? I would think that a new site should update itself so people know the site is worth going to. I seriously doubt a site nobody goes to will rank. If it does rank, its competitors suck or it has no competitors at all. Because it does not make any sense for Google to rank a site with no traffic....bad for user experience.

          So in a way, in certain cases, a site does need to be updated to rank, but I would consider this an indirect ranking factor.....more of a quality metric.
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          • Profile picture of the author DABK
            I ranked for 3 years (#2 and #1 for my keywords, keywords in the mortgage industry with 1000-6600 monthly searches) a crappy site. Crappy form a structure point of view, crappy from a content point of view.

            I did not update the site. I did not keep creating links.

            I ranked so long because I had created more and better links upfront...

            It ranked till Google figured out it was a 'thin' site and de-indexed it.

            By the way, it was part of one of my PBN's, and it was the only one de-indexed. The other sites were and are really good sites (good from the point of view of visitors... I offer information that most other mortgage sites do not, and some that none do... )

            That's for those people who say don't bother with PBN's (because they don't know how to do it right). Just to make it clear, peeps, I got a manual penalty... which means someone actually looked at my site and what it was linking to... Figured out it existed only so I could get links to other sites, but did not penalize the other sites!

            Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post


            Good point and I appreciate your opinion and thought. From what I know (and seen), I can also agree. A site does not need to update itself to rank well. But how does it maintain its ranking? And do new sites have to update itself to rank well? I would think that a new site should update itself so people know the site is worth going to. I seriously doubt a site nobody goes to will rank. If it does rank, its competitors suck or it has no competitors at all. Because it does not make any sense for Google to rank a site with no traffic....bad for user experience.

            So in a way, in certain cases, a site does need to be updated to rank, but I would consider this an indirect ranking factor.....more of a quality metric.
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  • Profile picture of the author deepakrajput
    Google likes quality content whenever you do blogpost, index automatically & give priority in ranking & traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by deepakrajput View Post

      Google likes quality content whenever you do blogpost, index automatically & give priority in ranking & traffic.
      Translation: You don't know what you're talking about.
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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        Shhh! You're not supposed to notice that. They're trying to sell SEO!

        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        Translation: You don't know what you're talking about.
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        • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
          Originally Posted by Devilfish168 View Post

          I treat SEO is like a " Magic ".
          That might be a very bad idea. We're dealing with complex algorithms (mostly). SEO might be "weird", but that's because there's a hidden processing engine that deals with a lot of conflicting inputs.

          There's quote a lot of weird ideas and beliefs around this topic. If you see a tactic that's controversial, or if there seems to be no mechanism for the tactic to even work it's best to just weed it out from your own process.

          Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

          As I said, SEO is an open game where everyone has a different opinion. Tell me, do you know everything about SEO? Most likely not. Is your SEO stronger than mine? Perhaps...I don't know. I never said I did not know. It's just my viewpoint of it is a bit different, probably.
          I'm on my first cup of coffee, so I can't pinpoint the exact fallacy in your "do you know everything" argument, but it's there.

          It's nice to have different opinions, but that works just up to a point. You've said some stuff that goes against what's commonly known to work. Some of SEO is a fairly technical and straightforward, and if Google doesn't seem to count e.g. traffic it's pretty futile to throw around ad hoc hypotheses about traffic influencing SERP rankings (directly). However, marketing always deals with the human psychology, and I think there's much more room for opinions and viewpoints in that space. Content is also part of SEO.

          So depends on what you're talking about.
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          Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
          Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

          What's your excuse?
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  • Profile picture of the author windrider07
    It's nice to have different opinions, but that works just up to a point. You've said some stuff that goes against what's commonly known to work. Some of SEO is a fairly technical and straightforward, and if Google doesn't seem to count e.g. traffic it's pretty futile to throw around ad hoc hypotheses about traffic influencing SERP rankings (directly). However, marketing always deals with the human psychology, and I think there's much more room for opinions and viewpoints in that space. Content is also part of SEO.

    So depends on what you're talking about.
    Fair enough.

    You've said some stuff that goes against what's commonly known to work.
    which would be?
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  • Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

    Blogs help to make a site look fresh and updated and get indexed and re-indexed faster. But there are competitors who have never made a blog in several months. Instead they are active in social media and are ranking high. What makes a site rank high with no blog updates? Is it be cause they are established already and have a high trust from being on the web for so long?
    Social media has nothing to do with high rankings or rankings in general. You cannot get link juice from a nofollow site.
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    • Profile picture of the author windrider07
      Originally Posted by DABK View Post

      I ranked for 3 years (#2 and #1 for my keywords, keywords in the mortgage industry with 1000-6600 monthly searches) a crappy site. Crappy form a structure point of view, crappy from a content point of view.

      I did not update the site. I did not keep creating links.

      I ranked so long because I had created more and better links upfront...

      It ranked till Google figured out it was a 'thin' site and de-indexed it.

      By the way, it was part of one of my PBN's, and it was the only one de-indexed. The other sites were and are really good sites (good from the point of view of visitors... I offer information that most other mortgage sites do not, and some that none do... )

      That's for those people who say don't bother with PBN's (because they don't know how to do it right). Just to make it clear, peeps, I got a manual penalty... which means someone actually looked at my site and what it was linking to... Figured out it existed only so I could get links to other sites, but did not penalize the other sites!
      Which makes me curious. When you are running a PBN, how do you manage it without getting penalized? Do you have to manage EVERY single site on the network? I know some SEOs use PBNs to rank quickly.

      Originally Posted by TotalWebsiteControl View Post

      Social media has nothing to do with high rankings or rankings in general. You cannot get link juice from a nofollow site.
      Yea, I know. Social media is more on trust. Helps drive traffic and contributes to people liking your site and trusting it.
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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        If by 'manage' you mean make sure nobody takes over, you renew the domain name, update plugins, etc., yes.

        If by 'manage' you mean add new pages/posts, do SEO, no.

        Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

        Which makes me curious. When you are running a PBN, how do you manage it without getting penalized? Do you have to manage EVERY single site on the network? I know some SEOs use PBNs to rank quickly.



        Yea, I know. Social media is more on trust. Helps drive traffic and contributes to people liking your site and trusting it.
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  • Profile picture of the author SMworkcafe
    Originally Posted by windrider07 View Post

    Blogs help to make a site look fresh and updated and get indexed and re-indexed faster. But there are competitors who have never made a blog in several months. Instead they are active in social media and are ranking high. What makes a site rank high with no blog updates? Is it be cause they are established already and have a high trust from being on the web for so long?
    I have a website since 2010 and it's on the 1st page of Google. It has 17 articles only. No social media networks associated with it, no backlinks - no nothing! Unique visitors are around 5000/ month (haven't checked it recently). It is still making sales. I have not updated it since then.

    I was ready to say it goodbye when the Panda and Hummingbird bombs dropped on many similar sites. I am not a SEO expert hence I cannot give any technical answer. Have no idea why is it still there. However, here's a real life example in front of you.

    ETA: I never mind the commissions I receive from it
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  • Profile picture of the author johnfsander
    Blog is a great source to keep any website up-to-date and to engage customers, visitors and readers on your website but the only concern about successful blogging is to have high quality and relevant content. Always try hard to write best content than your competitors, in this way you can get benefits of content.
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  • Profile picture of the author ethan greys
    They active social media and they gain traffic from that.

    People come to their website and find useful information, so they stay in the website, browse more. As a result, your competitor's website have more pageviews, low bounce rate.


    Google just care about the most useful content for users, if the information is still good, you don't need to update it.
    For your question, you SHOULD post more content frequently, it will help you have a some EXTRA points with google. That is not mean that you will get the 1st rank if you post more content frequently. ok?


    SEO includes a lot of factors, and each factor has a different important level. So you must see the overview of your website and your competitor. Not only one factor
    Regards,
    Ethan
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    • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
      Originally Posted by ethan greys View Post

      They active social media and they gain traffic from that.

      People come to their website and find useful information, so they stay in the website, browse more. As a result, your competitor's website have more pageviews, low bounce rate.
      It's good to have people visiting, but these have almost nothing to do with search engine rankings. Social media, traffic, time on site, pageviews, and bounce rate in general do not seem to have an effect.
      Signature
      Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
      Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

      What's your excuse?
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