It seems that the pages we create have a short shelf time on search engines. What this means is that after a while we start to notice the disappearance of unread, overlooked, and unindexed content. There are billions of pages on the internet, making search engines one big black hole where the page you created two years ago is no longer relevant and completely forgotten.
There is, however, a way to avoid losing your pages to the black hole. By keeping your pages fresh, up-to-date and applicable with what users want, it will continue to gain search traffic and readers long after its first publication. How to keep your pages relevant:
- Define and Explain. Definitions will never go out of style. Google will pull definitions of words, meanings, acronyms, etc. out of pages and place them at the absolute top of the search page. Start the page off with the definition of whatever it is you are describing, and then be sure to follow up with some content!
- How-To Type Articles. Everyone, including Google, loves a good How-To guide. Users are consistently checking the internet for step by step guidelines for everyday situations. ‘How to braid hair‘, ‘How to tie a scarf‘, ‘How to make homemade bread‘, etc.
- Tips. Tip articles last a long time because just like how-to articles, they are a relevant search tool. ‘Tips on how to prepare for a first interview‘, ‘Tips on studying‘
- Keep your pages fresh and up-to-date. Occasionally update your page to keep Google’s attention. Google has a sort of freshness factor that they like to implement. The more content you change or update, the greater the freshness of the article in the search engines.