Dynamic Content – simple SEO (its all common sense)

Some SEO concepts are very simple, so simple in fact that creating a full page article out of them seems a bit of a stretch. (I mean, for instance, how much is there to be said on the subject of writing good quality articles, without treating your reader like a third grade student?)

One particular concept that is relatively straightforward is that of dynamic content, which essentially means continually adding new material to (or modifying existing content on) a website. In practice this usually means running a blog, but you can in fact add material to any page of a dynamic website. (Websites, incidentally, are often referred to as static or dynamic, which means that they either have a fixed body of content, or they have a fluid body of content. Five years ago the categorization of dynamic and static sites made more sense, when it was not unusual to have a site built for your business on a static platform, these days however most sites are built on a CMS [content management system] and allow for easily updated material. In fact the entire concept of ‘Web 2.0′ means self-administered web properties which allow for user-generated content.)

So, what are the advantages of blogging when it comes to SEO?

When you constantly add new material to a website, you achieve certain things. Firstly you are likely to attract the searchbots, which are alerted to changes on your site; WordPress actually pings the ‘searchbots’ automatically, alerting them to changes, and this means your site is being continually re-evaluated, giving you a greater opportunity to rise in the rankings. Also by continually adding material to your site, you have a greater chance of being viewed as an authority, which is a highly desirable end goal.

Fresh content can also be topical, which clearly is not possible with static content. Topicality again is attractive to search engines, because they want to serve relevant information to readers, so, to take a very simplistic example, a person with an article in 2011 titled, say, “Useful Social Tools” which talks about Google+ and Facebook is going to look a lot more relevant than a stale page from 2005 talking about Bebo and Myspace.

Another reason why the search engines tend to ‘like’ blogs is perhaps an epistemological one, insofar that they may well view knowledge itself as a dynamic concept, and therefore view a dynamic site as the best expression thereof. What is certain is that the real authority sites tend to have multiple contributors regularly submitting fresh articles on a continual basis. In fact this is, broadly speaking, the journalistic model that Google uses in accrediting News sites, (News being one of their search functions,*) so they obviously work to some degree as a news editing and dissemination organ. (It is worth noting that ‘guest blogging’ – hosting different authors on your site on a reciprocal basis – is a good way to extend your authority and reader base.)

There are also a host of tangential reasons why blogging is likely to have a benefit on your search evaluation, but they are dependent on your blogging being effective. So, if you create new content, and then you have an established reader base referencing your content with mentions and backlinks, or if you successfully promote your material on social networks, bringing more readers in, then you establish with the search engines that your material is genuinely qualitative, which in turn will have a beneficial effect on your site evaluation. The bottom line is that the effects of creating new content are greatly enhanced when the content is well-received; Google weighs material in terms of its social reach and impact, and a blog is a powerful way to develop a reader base, who can regularly tune in to your output, and in turn feed your output to other people, denoting its value and relevance.

What is the best way to integrate your blog into your existing site?

There are different ways to run a blog. You can for instance completely separate your blog from your website, (treating the latter as a static entity), or you can integrate your blog into your website, either as a sub-directory, or as a page on the site. For instance my blog is integrated into my website here on the “SEO News” page. Although how you position your blog will have an impact on your site architecture, (which is another important SEO consideration), you are probably best off setting it up in the way that best suits yourself and your readers. I.E. set it up for usability. Ultimately what your readers do when they reach your site is equally as important as getting them there, so if running a blog parallel to your website is the best set-up for your needs, go with that.

Blogging – in practice

If you write quality articles on a consistent basis, you should see the ranking of your site slowly rise. You should also find yourself ranking well for long-tail and minor keywords. E.G. my last blog post ranks first on Google for “synthetic backlinks“.

The question then is how often should you write? The standard consensus is that when you write articles they should be a minimum of 600 words, and that you should post them on a consistent basis. Ideally, (again, this is received wisdom really), you should aim to write 3 articles a week. These are rules of thumb though, and, as the search engines evolve, the real emphasis is starting to fall in different areas. You want your articles to be well-received, and to generate interest. In this context one well-written article that gets multiple references and gets people talking should carry a lot more weight in the future. In fact I would go so far as to say these days it is all about quality, and anything repetitive and mechanical will be looked at sceptically by Google.

Ok, if you are following sequentially, we will go next to site architecture, (which is a bit more complicated).

* I.E. you can run a news search, rather than a general search