A couple weeks ago I did a Google Caffeine 2011 video post, where I pointed out that Mr. G had improved the previous algorithm update that dealt with speed of indexing, freshness of content and so on.
With this newest update, they’re apparently even “awesomer” at spitting back SERPS that contain both the most relevant AND the most up-to-date content when time sensitive search queries are used.
The question I posed was how do you know if some of the not-so-obvious niches/topics will be perceived as time sensitive by Google…
For example, if someone is searching for “UFC results,” they’re almost likely wanting results from the most recent UFC event.
In this instance, Google will rank sites on the first page that have published new content on “UFC results” within minutes prior to the searchers’ query. This is intriguing because if a given blog post is only 2 minutes old, there really hasn’t been any time to allow for traditional link building — with the exception of perhaps a few likes or retweets.
I stated that this was a really cool opportunity for you and I as Internet marketers… and that your 2012 search engine optimization strategy should take this trend into account.
The main unknown with this whole ‘need for speed’ movement is whether topics like affiliate marketing, or weight loss or any other evergreen topic would be treated as time sensitive in Google’s algorithm.
This morning I jumped on the ole’ iMac and did what any not-so-disciplined Internet entrepreneur would do — I checked up on a few rankings with Market Samurai and even did a couple of manual Google searches for recent keywords I’ve been targeting.
One of those specific terms I’d reached #1 for just this week was at #2 today, but the interesting thing was which website was sitting in that top spot. The keyword is “affiliate marketing consultant” and here’s the screen shot…
Keeping It Fresh In SEO Land
As you can see, the site outdoing me was a guy’s consulting blog that had just been updated 4 hours ago. Plus, Google gives the searcher (in this case, ME) the option to click and see more results from within the past 24 hours.
Maybe even more surprising was that I clicked on the link and checked out his site, expecting to see the most recent article/post discussing the exact topic of “affiliate marketing consulting” — but this was not the case. In fact, I didn’t find that specific keyphrase anywhere on his site.
So why was this cat outranking me?
FRESHNESS.
Combined with proven credibility.
(… at least in my opinion… )
See, in examining his site and asking myself why Google thought this site was more relevant than mine, a few things stood out:
- This was a well-established, authority type site with a solid page rank 3 for the home page
- The site is updated frequently and consistently, and today already had 2 new blog posts
- The author covers relevant topics, but writes for humans and NOT for search engines
To be honest, I was anything but mad when I learned this little lesson this morning. Actually, all it did was confirm my suspicion that pretty much any niche/market/topic can and will benefit from providing fresh, relevant, and informative content.
This movement will only make it easier for YOU and I to dominate and rank highly for the super duper blog posts, videos and other content we’re cranking out for the passion-based Internet businesses we’re running.
HINT: you’ll probably see me posting a lot more regularly here on Planet Cool aka CashReview.net…
Does This Mean You Shouldn’t Worry About Back Links?
Absolutely not. Off-page SEO is still the juggernaut it’s always been.
Remember how I said above that it was the site’s already established authority COMBINED with fresh, relevant, quality content that allowed him to grab that top spot. And the only way to get authority is to prove your popularity with oodles of “votes” from lots of worthwhile websites across the web.
And although I can’t help you with your fresh-to-death on-page content, I do have a solution for that pesky link building that has to be done daily for top organic rankings.
It’s only for legit online marketers who realize that getting to the top of Google for buyer keyword phrases is paramount… and who also realize that spending your precious time creating backlinks is about the most non-entrepreneurial Internet marketing task you could possibly perform…
If that’s you, you’re gonna want to check out this video I created: Proven Hands-Free Entrepreneurial Link Building Package…
PS — I should point out that occurrences like the example I gave above more than likely won’t last longer than a day or two. What I mean is, the guy who was outranking me today probably won’t be outranking me by tomorrow…
… BUT, another site that just recently posted a few relevant posts could be…
So the point is, if you’re always the site with the most up-to-date and kick ass content surrounding your niche, it’ll be very hard for anyone to compete with you.
