I recently read an article all about page optimization and what some of the important factors are in developing a search friendly web site. They described all the pieces from the domain name to the coding elements like meta tags, keywords, the description, alt tags, good linking structure, but touted that "Content is King."



Now, I am not disagreeing with that statement. Content is certainly the largest block of the building. But what I felt was missing from their article was the fact that content should not be implemented then forgotten. If you have a great website, but it stays the same for months or even years it grows stagnant and will start to die over time.

Think for a second about www.cnn.com. How well would the site perform if they left news up on their homepage for a year? Now that is a very dramatic example, but the principle is the same even if it is on a much smaller level. Am I saying that everyone has to update their content every day to stay on top? No!

What I am saying is keep updated information on your site. Do you have events, sales, specials, holiday giveaways, or anything that you can add, especially to a homepage, that will show search engines your web site is a living document? How about new products, or asking a question to get feedback from site visitors, anything to show that you are vested in keeping your web site active and informative.

You have to take into consideration your market, your competition, and your own web site focus. Are other sites adding or changing content every 3 days? If they are most likely they are going to beat out any site that has had no changes in a long period of time. Do you run an informative site or e-commerce? Then fresh content, on a regular - frequent - basis is your lifeblood.

One good way to keep fresh content is by starting a personal or corporate blog and making a post or two a week. I tend to post a lot and I have search engines picking up my site every couple hours. Link those post titles to your homepage with some server-side code and see a huge jump in those bot visits!

There is so much you can do, and most of it can be something quick and simple. One or two hours a month even can show that you care about your web site. Write some content, share your news, sell a new product. Trust me, by giving a little, you will be gaining a lot.