Default Do Search Engines Get Bored ?

[obhety]

If a site seems to 'work' - the visitors (mostly new) appear happy with the content/structure etc, and the search engines are happy to rank it - is there any value in making small, regular changes to the content to make it appear 'fresher' to the engines, even if this does nothing for the visitor ?

I've read that fairly static sites may get crawled less frequently but so what ?

I tend to the view that 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' - unless you can make the visitor experience more worthwhile. On the other hand, algorithms don't have feelings.
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[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by obhety

is there any value in making small, regular changes to the content to make it appear 'fresher' to the engines, even if this does nothing for the visitor ?

Not really, but adding new content everyday can help:

1. Gives the spiders reasons to continue to comeback to your website to crawl new content

2. Gives you more chances to rank for targeted keyword phrases

[webwoman]

Probably one of the best ways to add meaninful content that changes and refreshes regularly would be to add a blog to your site. Regular blog entries (they don't have to be long, often a paragraph works) bring the search engines to your site as often as a new post is made and blogs often rank higher than a regular website.

[Stu Wright]

I always check out our similar sites to ours, mainly to try and see who has a higher ranking site. I have noticed on more than 1 occasion where an almost dormant site has maintained top position. They have had no content change and no additional links found on a Google search. I don't think I will ever truly understand what makes them get such a good postion.

Regards

Stu

[craigmn3]

Freshness of content is a sore subject with me......one of our competitors sites has been updated in 2 years and he still ranks well. (the guy has been the guest of our states penal system so I know no work has been done) He enjoys this status on Yahoo and MSN. For my own sites, some need to be refreshed often or they begine to slide. and others haven't changed in months and enjoy top poisitions on google and yahoo. so I don't know the answer, but I would like to.

[bijan814]

Actually search engine do like new content . The more content u add, the more they like it.

[datetopia]

New relevant content shows higher in search engine results. Freshness of content is an important factor in rank calculation in addition to keyword relevance and back link popularity.

[justicewhite]

There are always exceptions to the rules but frequently updated sites should prevail in the end. I suspect the case with the most sites that haven't been updated for a while is that they are old enough and there is enough content that the algos treat them with respect.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by craigmn3

Freshness of content is a sore subject with me......one of our competitors sites has been updated in 2 years and he still ranks well. (the guy has been the guest of our states penal system so I know no work has been done) He enjoys this status on Yahoo and MSN. For my own sites, some need to be refreshed often or they begine to slide. and others haven't changed in months and enjoy top poisitions on google and yahoo. so I don't know the answer, but I would like to.

I am observing since 8 years now the site ranking #1 for the term "accessibility consultant" accessibility consultant - Google Search

It was updated only once, and that by the site redesign.

I hope this answer's your question. And be sure this is only one of many sites I am observing.

PEACE!

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

Not really, but adding new content everyday can help:
2. Gives you more chances to rank for targeted keyword phrases

Can you explain how that works?

[incrediblehelp]

Well it is just common sense, the more targeted content you create the more chances you have to rank for your targeted phrases. Of course the page needs to be created and optimized properly, but that goes without saying.. Not really sure what needs to be explained.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

Well it is just common sense, the more targeted content you create the more chances you have to rank for your targeted phrases. Of course the page needs to be created and optimized properly, but that goes without saying.. Not really sure what needs to be explained.

Ah... now I got you!

That is why I added a forum to my site.

[ericajoieake]

reach and informative content is very attractive to visitors and even to spiders!

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by ericajoieake

reach and informative content is very attractive to visitors and even to spiders!

Is that true?

[WDC]

Originally Posted by Webnauts

Is that true?

Visitors I don't know but for crawlers or spiders it is TRUe

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by WDC

Visitors I don't know but for crawlers or spiders it is TRUe

I know.

I was just kidding.

[pomra]

It seems to be the consensus that google likes fresh content. As some have said though re-indexing pages could presumably lead to a recalculation of that pages value and position. I did a quick search and see nothing in the way of firm tests one way or the other.

[mjancosek]

I have noticed as well that some changes do not have to be content changes but just a little change to description or title will be enough to help increase rank.

Lets face facts that content changes can be tedious especially if you have alot of sites to monitor. By doing this will buy you some extra time. However, I do make sure I change something (meta tags, content) at least once a month if not more.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by pomra

It seems to be the consensus that google likes fresh content. As some have said though re-indexing pages could presumably lead to a recalculation of that pages value and position. I did a quick search and see nothing in the way of firm tests one way or the other.

That is fully incorrect. If you do not believe me I can back my statement up. You are talking about a non-sense process loop.

[Bill Treloar]

The very first site I ever optimized was a simple, out of the box FrontPage web site for my wife's tutoring business. That web site hasn't been updated in about 8 years -- no new content, no changes to typical SEO things like alt tags, page titles, headings, etc.

But a Google search for "NJ tutors" brings up her site in the #2 position to this very day. A search for "tutoring in NJ" brings her up at #1.

For exceedingly competitive search phrases things might be different. But for this site and those of most of my clients, fresh content isn't necessary to maintain excellent rankings.

[Peter (IMC)]

Originally Posted by obhety

If a site seems to 'work' - the visitors (mostly new) appear happy with the content/structure etc, and the search engines are happy to rank it - is there any value in making small, regular changes to the content to make it appear 'fresher' to the engines, even if this does nothing for the visitor ?

I've read that fairly static sites may get crawled less frequently but so what ?

I tend to the view that 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' - unless you can make the visitor experience more worthwhile. On the other hand, algorithms don't have feelings.

Different from the other replies I understood that you´re asking if making changes to the content in existing pages helps to increase the so called freshness of a page.

I guess it depends on what you mean by changes. If you just change a few words then that's a waste of time. But if the content changes based on new pages that are added (links to them for example) then yes, it makes sense for the search engines to visit more frequent.

[Peter (IMC)]

Originally Posted by obhety

On the other hand, algorithms don't have feelings.

Are you sure about that? Just like human beings, algorithms tend to follow what most people feel about something. So if you build something that is liked by many people, the algorithms will like it too. But if you build something that nobody likes, then the algorithms won't care a bit either.

Sometimes if just one certain (popular) person says he likes what you built, then all the sudden many people will like it. The algorithms can sometimes be much faster in noticing that, but may wait to see what effect is of the words of that one certain (popular) person.

Just something to think about..

[Janna122003]

Originally Posted by obhety

If a site seems to 'work' - the visitors (mostly new) appear happy with the content/structure etc, and the search engines are happy to rank it - is there any value in making small, regular changes to the content to make it appear 'fresher' to the engines, even if this does nothing for the visitor ?

Site would be useless if your content is not useful to your readers or visitors. Just make sure the content is unique then sider will surely crawl your site.