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Too Busy For Long Blog Posts? Google May Love You Anyway

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Services for Real Estate Pros with MOVE UP in Google Search Learn How Here

Busy? That could be a good thing if you reflect it online. Especially true if you're a blogger who likes to get to the point and get there fast and frequently. Nobody likes a long winded talker and why should they like a long winded writer either?

Have you been struggling to make that magic number- the obligatory 300 or 500 or 600 word post? It may not be as valuable as creating something unique- even a first crack at a listing- a blog post about your property before you put it up on the MLS to be consumed by content aggregators? 

Google's Officio-Blog posted 17 algorithm updates for all to see, including us SEOs. Most SEOs pounced on news about Panda, the boogeyman that scares all- and makes for great post fodder. Opinions have been prolific.

Little noticed is that 3 of the 17 mentions touched on freshness and uniqueness. And, in a subtle way, allowable duplicate content if it related to recurring events.

Google likes Fresh Content for SEOSeveral decidedly unscientific tests by yours truly have shown consistent results where Google favors and quickly indexes frequent posts if even moderately unique. I had one test post index in Google in under 30 seconds. I think they like it.

Comments(8)

Ginny Gorman
RI Real Estate Services ~ 401-529-7849~ RI Waterfront Real Estate - North Kingstown, RI
Homes for Sale in Southern RI and beyond

Interesting Dave...thanks for the share on freshness and uniqueness of posts & trying to stay short!!

Feb 07, 2012 11:52 AM
Tammy Emineth
Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing - Frenchtown, MT
Content Marketer, SEO Teacher, Website Fixer

Yeah, I stopped freaking out about duplicate content.. of course no plagerizing, but reblogging, quoting, pulling sources and of course retweets and such are all adding the information you wish to convey to your audience. Sometimes I have a lot to say, and sometimes my point is made in 200 words or less. HA! *Suggested*

Feb 07, 2012 01:06 PM
Sidney Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula
Realty Works Temecula - Temecula, CA
Realty Works Temecula

Dave:  I've noticed some of my really short posts getting decent ranking. This is good news!

Feb 07, 2012 01:48 PM
Kathleen Daniels, Probate & Trust Specialist
KD Realty - 408.972.1822 - San Jose, CA
Probate Real Estate Services

Dave,  This is good news.  I will check out Google's official blog and see if I can make sense out of it.  I've been reading a lot of posts recently talking about "refreshing" older posts ... giving them a little face lift ... change the title ... and Google will like it ... and rank it as new content. <Suggested>

Feb 07, 2012 02:55 PM
Mark Delgado
houses for rent, Solano County & Glen Cove - Benicia, CA
Benicia and Vallejo, Property Management, rental h

Wow. Great news. I've been thinking of "breaking down" some old, long posts into several shorter posts and your information encourages me to do just that. 

Feb 07, 2012 03:17 PM
Dave Keys
MOVE UP in Google Search Learn How Here - Brea, CA
Chief Search Strategist Real Estate SEO Expert

@Tammy You're exactly right. The social signals tie right into this. Google has jumped onto, for good or bad, the what's hot right now bandwagon.

@Jane It lets Google know you're staying relevant and they like it.

@Kathleen I'd not hesitate to take something you wrote earlier and do an update. You can even cite things that you feel have changed since you last wrote it. I used to write that external links were something like 60-70% of the ranking algorithm. That's definitely no longer true. My rewrites point that out.

@Mark If the content is relevant and you can add new value to it that benefits your readers, it's a good opportunity.

 

With all the negatives that Google has handed real estate marketers in recent years, this is a welcome plus.

Feb 07, 2012 03:30 PM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Very good article - short and to the point- suggested! 

Feb 08, 2012 03:50 AM
MaryKay Shumway
The Kellstrom Ray Agency, Inc. (Est. 1948) - Sister Bay, WI
Door County Wisconsin's Real Estate Expert

Thank you for the suggestions!

Mar 08, 2012 06:16 AM