Is It Time To Update Your Content?

| SEO

Is It Time To Update Your Content?

 

You probably very rarely cast a critical eye over your website, and if you do it is probably aimed at the design rather than any other elements.

Most estate agents neglect the content within their website but it is a crucial part of any website. You would be surprised by how quickly content can become dated and just how many small mistakes can slip through the cracks and go unnoticed for months.

The last time you read your content was probably when your website went live, so maybe it is time to review your content...

Why should you review your content?

There are several reasons why you should review and update your content, the primary reasoning this is to keep up with Google’s lastest ongoing updates. Some content tricks from previous years that could have given your website a boost in the rankings then, could now actually earn you a heavy penalisation.

So is it time for you to rewrite your content? Here’s a list of things you need to check:

1) Keywords within Anchor Text

This was once considered an SEO standard but now with Google’s latest algorithm update, it could land you with a heavy penalisation.

Of course, there are some cases where you will have linked keywords, which is fine as long as it is natural and expected.

You should avoid keyword anchor text if:

  • You have included lots of keyword anchor text within the content of the page.
  • Link anchor text that isn’t grammatically correct. 
  • Certain keywords are linked to multiple internal pages.

2) Your content is stuffed with keywords

Keyword stuffing has been against Google’s guidelines for quite a few years now and needs to be avoided.

All the content on your website has to sound natural. Adding in keywords for the sake of adding in keywords won’t benefit your rankings.

People don’t like reading unnatural keywords within content, meaning neither does Google. It is a very obvious technique so ensure your content is natural and reads well.

3) Weak content

Google calls these pages ‘thin’ and it refers to those page that have been written to attract the search engines and not the user.

No page should be used to manipulate the search engines in order to achieve higher rankings. This means you should remove or rewrite all pages that are:

  • Very similar to another page.
  • Tedious to read
  • Duplicated, not original or unique

4) Poorly written, bad spelling, poor grammar and poorly structuring

Most people over look this yet it is one of the most important elements. You need to be very hard on your content and ask yourself:

  • Is the content scannable? Can you read through it quickly?
  • Does it flow well?
  • Does it sound like it is in your own words?
  • Is it clear and easy to take in?
  • Is there any spelling errors? Do a spellcheck!
  • Does it have the proper header tags included? H1, H2, etc…
  • Is it laid out neatly?
  • Does it represent your business correctly?

Be sure to get others to proofread your content as well.

 

Being critical of your own website isn’t easy, especially if you wrote the content and helped to design the site. It is important that you are impartial when reviewing your website, as only you will lose out if it isn’t done correctly. Try to put yourself into your customers and potential customers shoes, how does it look and sound?

If you are unsure whether your content is up-to-scratch with the new Google regulations then why not request a free web review

Luke Stanley