The year 2012 may be Year of the Dragon but for Google and the millions of e-commerce merchants and their Internet marketing service providers, it is the Year of Content.
In a report for the Internet Retailer, the search engine giant emphasized the need for fresh content as part of an updated search ranking algorithm. Fresh content includes (but are not limited to) news updates, article, blogs and even v-logs. According to Google, freshness of content affects 35% of searches.
This reminder from Google should come in handy as 2011 comes to a close. Many entrepreneurs and Internet marketing service providers are now planning or even polishing Internet marketing strategies for the next year and the need to churn out fresh, quality content should be on top of the priority list.
In the article, industry experts anticipate the freshness effect to kick in at around the second
quarter of 2012 but online retailers and Internet marketing service providers are encouraged to prepare as early as now. This emphasis on fresh content also increases the significance of a solid social media campaign in influencing organic search results—another point to note for Internet marketing service providers and their clients. Of course, when we talk of social media these days, it’s no longer just Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. There’s LinkedIn, Foursquare and of course, Google+. When it comes to social media, it’s all about a “strong social presence”—one that translates into links which then implies good content, something that Google heavily favors.