Intent Based Search | Even more reason to keep your content fresh

If you're a frequent reader of this blog, you'll probably have picked up that we're an advocate of fresh content, and that means that if you have a blog, a news section or an online catalogue on your site, we'd probably suggest that you're on the right track in order to mount a reasonable SEO campaign. In fact, we'd probably go as far as saying that fresh content is the most important aspect to any online marketing effort.

Fresh content is fundamental to Search Engine Optimisation in particular, as the frequency of visiting Search Engine Bots, is directly related to the frequency of content update. If you leave your site to become stagnant, Googlebot, along with the other spiders, will visit your site less and less. Fewer visits per month equates to a lesser authority status being given to your site by the Search Engines.

Whilst there are some out there who would disagree with this claim, we have seen the effects of fresh content at first hand. On top of that, renowned industry specialists - and Google representatives such as Matt Cutts, also promote this method of optimisation.

The most interesting part to all this is that Hitwise has released data which indicates that the frequency of search terms containing more than 5 words has increased by 10% between January 2008 and the same month in 2009. This suggests a shift in the manner in which people are using the Internet. People no longer simply search using generic terms, they are searching with intent and are expecting the Search Engines to comprehend the meaning of their requests. This all ties in rather nicely with Google's aim to incorporate 'Intent-Based Search' into their services, but what does it mean to you?

If more people are going to be searching for services which you offer through longer search criteria, you must ensure that your website is seen as relevant to these longer terms. The only way to do this is to include examples of these terms within your page copy, so that the various Search Engine bots can build up a thorough understanding of exactly what your site is about. With no thorough means of finding out exactly what people will be searching for, it is up to you to write as much content as you can, as often as you can, in order to cover all bases.

Author - Ivan

Back to Latest Blog