Some Tips to Keep Your Website Copy Updated and Relevant

Content is what Search Engines want to index, sort and bring to the searchers. Relevant content is desired by all who want their site to be a stopping point in the daily life of the internet. But there is content that can actually harm your site or business if you are not careful to implement a few guidelines.

1. Review factual content to make sure it’s still correct and valid

The last thing you want to be known for is being “outdated.” Whatever your industry, make sure that the products, methods and services are “up to code” so-to-speak. Dispensing outdated information is the same as dispensing false information and will damage your credibility.

2. Don’t refer to dates if possible

Referring to articles or writing your own is great for your company’s website. It shows that you are a thought leader and have 3rd-party information that backs up your agenda. However, if the articles date is over a year old, it can start to show its age. It is worse for tech related companies since the environment changes rapidly. If the information is still foundational, remove the dates.

3. Give your old offers a decent burial

Everyone is looking for a deal and providing a coupon or special offer is expected. If your offer is for a limited time, then there are some precautions you should take. Such as putting an expiration date on your offer, take note of all the pages you post your offer and keep your offer from being indexed by using by modifying your robot.txt file. Remember, people have printers and will print out your offer or page. They will also scour your site for any clickable link and removing a link doesn’t make your page “go away.” The last thing you want is the potential of an old “unprofitable” offer coming up and having the awkward customer service experience of telling them you can’t offer it anymore.

4. Don’t delete the page

The page has been indexed, spidered, logged, cast in index iron … whatever.  The point is that it has aged and that carries some weight with the search bots.  So while you are going to  dump your old content, use the page in a better way with revised content, new coupons or offers or relevant links to other parts of the site you want to host newer content.

Remember that content is still king, but even the king needs an updated wardrobe now and then.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 6:31 am and is filed under SEO Copy Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.