SEO Strategy and Google ‘Freshness’ Updates

On Thursday, November 3rd Google announced an update to their indexing algorithm which will reportedly affect 35% of searches, meaning SEO’s all over the world will have to tweak their SEO strategy. This is nothing new, of course, as SEO is a science that is constantly shifting to adapt to Google’s ranking criteria, as we have mentioned in previous posts. However, this latest update is rather interesting. The update is an add-on to the previous “caffeine update”. The stated purposefrom Google of that update was to provide “50 percent fresher results for web searches than our last index, and [the] largest collection of web content we’ve offered.” The primary difference here, as compared to their traditional indexing algorithm, is that the old index consisted of multiple layers, some being analyzed faster than others. With the Caffeine index, analysis of the web occurs in small portions, updating the search index on a continual basis, globally.

The Freshness update and SEO Strategy

This most recent update to the Google Caffeine indexing algorithm specifically targets areas where ‘freshness’ matters most, such as recent news events, current media reviews, breaking news stories, and general hot topics. According to Google, this new update spawns from the recognition that searches have a variety of freshness needs, and so the intent of the update is to be able to weigh the freshness need of a given search and return results accordingly.

A good example here is for a breaking news story on, say, terrorism. If there are pages that would normally rank highly for a search on terrorism news, but there is newer material on the most recent breaking terrorism news story, Google will consider that ‘freshness’ factor in its indexing, and the newer, more relevant story will be returned in the results.

According to Google, searches for recent events will now return results that were posted just a few minutes prior. For example, if a user types in ‘Denver Broncos record’, it is far more likely that the results that are returned are relevant to the most recent Denver Broncos season record (2011) rather than returning old, but well established pages (in terms of SEO) . These updates are a clear indication that Google understands that users aren’t just looking for keyword relevant results, but results that are relevant right now. This realization should be noted by all SEO’s, as it places further importance on keeping a page’s content fresh and up-to-date.

Are you ready to adapt your SEO strategy?

Google is constantly advancing their indexing algorithms, and an understanding of those advancements is critical to your SEO success. Contact your Denver SEO Company today; we have the expertise that can take your SEO strategy to the next level, achieving not only increased leads, but ultimately, conversions of those leads to real revenue for your business.

About author: Matt Green

Matt is the Director of Client Operations at Ethical SEO Consulting, a premier Denver SEO Company. Matt specializes in SEO project management and conversion optimization. More About Matt Green+