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wickedspideruk · 4 years

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Use it or Lose it

Have you heard of the “use or or lose it” principle”?

My immediate thoughts about this phrase made me think about muscles. If you don’t do any exercise, or very little exercise, you will lose any muscle definition you had.

If you’ve ever not been well, or had a prolonged stay in hospital, that has meant you’ve spent a long time lying down then you have probably struggled to get going again. The worst case outcome of inactivity on the body is muscle wastage.

My next thought was about the brain. Did you know that thousands of new neurons are added into the adult hippocampus each day? I didn’t until just now. Research* has shown that many of these new neurons survive by learning. Learn new things, extend the mind and the neurons survive. This is another example of the “use it or lose it” principle.

I had a friend who did a cryptic crossword everyday. I used to look over her shoulder, frustrated, as she filled in the blanks far faster than I could. She had started doing these crosswords when she was young. She died in her 90s with a healthy mind, living independently until the end.

Whether it be muscles or neurons the principle of “use it or lose it” is about keeping healthy isn’t it?

Keeping websites healthy is also something to which the “use it or lose it” principle applies.

Every time I finish a new website and hand it over to a client I say “don’t forget to use it”.

How does Google decide if your website is healthy?

There are hundreds of criteria that Google uses to decide if you have a healthy website.

I am going to focus in this article on one of the most important factors to having a healthy website – the Google Freshness Algorithm.

This is also referred to as “freshness SEO”, “content freshness” or “content freshness SEO”.

Unlike many of Google’s algorithms the freshness algorithm makes so much sense.

Even better still, content freshness does not require any technical skills.

Let me give you an example:

A few weeks ago if you wrote a post about the “R” rate and the Coronavirus your website would be considered very up to date or “fresh” in Google’s terms. If you wrote a post today about the same subject it could be considered as “old news”.

How can you improve the content freshness SEO score?

Here are the easiest ways to improve the freshness SEO score of your website:

Update existing posts

If it’s relevant then updating your existing posts is a valuable and effective way to improve the freshness SEO score of your site.

Any business that uses science or technology could update previous posts whenever there is a new discovery or tweak.

Anyone working in the health & well-being field has new information coming at them all the time so updating an old post would be good.

Adding new posts

Adding new content to your website is more effective than just updating existing posts.

If you have integrated a blog into your website adding new posts is also the easiest way to keep your website doing well on the freshness SEO side of things.

What type of content improves the freshness SEO score?

Hot topics

Current trends

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marianadelamaodria-blog · 6 years

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Newspapers: the physical experience of a medium

I would like to start this blog post by telling you, my dear reader, that this will be a personal post about newspapers. You may ask, what could a newspaper have for a special or personal matter? To answer and start this post, let me tell a story.

When I was 10 years old, I began to develop a particular taste for writing. Every day, after school, I used to go to my grandparents´ house. My grandfather, who saw how I was interested in writing, gave me the newspapers of the day, knowing that I liked to read the news and write a kind of attempt to a summary in an opinion column outline. My grandfather used to work at the at Radio Nacional, here in Peru. He was very familiar with the media, likewise, he was passionate about writing. My grandfather, excited to see how he shared this fervor at my age, always kept the newspapers for me to read and make these summaries. I remember how he always liked to read what he wrote and make comments. I will never forget that he once told me "this is very good". As the years went by, I began to lose the practice, already more focused on worrying about the future and the strange priorities of adolescence, but my grandfather always kept the week’s newspapers, even when we started seeing each other only once a week. This was a practice that he maintained until the last of his days - and with his hopes that I become a journalist - and I always remember in my professional career.

I'm sure that, like me, everyone has a nostalgic memory with situations like this: The Sunday newspaper, the family doing the crossword puzzles, sitting down to read the newspaper in the afternoon and commenting on the news. Each one has some memory with this means of communication, which, unfortunately, may indicate that they are about to leave with our memories. That's why this week's post is about newspapers.

According to the data, for the year 2016, the circulation of newspapers has decreased by 50%, to less than 35 million. Remembering a popular song from the 80s of the Buggles band called Video Killed the Radio Star, we could say: Internet Killed the Newspaper's Star? Unfortunately, we talked about the decline of newspapers since 2001, at a time when the crisis came: newspaper companies, bankruptcy and an increase in dismissals were closed. The crisis came with the decrease in advertising investment caused by the change of direction by companies - from the physical to the digital. The easy access to the means of communication that allow the connectivity to the Internet - tablets, phones, and computers - caused that the habits of consumption are updated and there is the change of the paradigm: from the Gutenberg Galaxy to the Digital Galaxy.

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I belong to the group of Millennials and I have to admit that in my house we no longer buy newspapers in years, but I am a casual reader. I consider consumption in digital media easier. In my cell phone I have news from around the world in quick access and if I find a news of interest I keep it to continue reading it later and if I think it may be of interest to some of my contacts, I share it through Messenger or WhatsApp. Before, if you found an interesting article, you had to keep the newspapers and had to cut it to be able to have it with you. A ritual that before the massification of digital technologies was common, a practice of contact with this communication channel.

Print and digital newspaper readers by Generation. My generation is not killing the newspaper, yet. Source: Nielsen.

When we read a newspaper it is a personal and even intimate practice: you interact physically with the medium, fold it, highlight it, make notes, save it and read again. It creates a timeless relationship with the content. In the digital media the links can disappear or a news we read and forget it, especially with attention to other media and applications. There is no longer an intimate relationship with content, as well as consumption, everything is immediate. News now is more like notifications.

This is how I usually consume my daily news dosses of the day. Source: Twitter

This weekend, in an almost anthropological practice during a family visit, I was able to verify these behaviors. In the house of my grandmother and uncle, newspapers are still consumed and I was able to show how the consumption ritual of the news is created and to be part of the ritual, I also began to read the newspapers with the group, joining sort of a ritual. One can read a variety of news in a single format, clearly noticing the editorial lines in a single media product, comment with others about the news and share the newspaper. Of course, news on digital media is fast and you know by a matter of a second what is going on around the world. However, reading a newspaper is a matter of experience. Do you remember sharing the newspaper or the classic “can you please, pass me the newspaper?”. It is not something you say regarding your cell phone and online news.

This week’s newspapers I read during my family visit.

The newspapers will definitely follow the trends and have multi-formats: online and physical. The media has found in the digital tools the ease of immediacy of generating and sharing information. They have recognized that there has been a change in the consumption of media and demographics that have caused a change in the economic model. According to Mary Matthiesen-Jones, Professor at Western International University, comments: “Newspapers traditionally have generated the bulk of their revenue from advertising, with subscription accounting for only a small fraction of overall revenues. However, in today's digital world, advertisers are more likely to place ads on social media than in digital newspapers, in order to fund their operations, they are having to look at adapting subscription models to the digital world”. We can still see the presence of advertising in the newspapers, but we know that the main current focus is digital. The brands are still in the print media because there is still a group of niche that consumes this medium. My question is: What will happen when this niche disappears?

Beyond a nostalgic vision, I consider newspaper still have a period of media life. Further, the fact that a niche consumes them, it gives the impression that the printed word still has an important value. Verba volant, Scripta manent, spoken words are carried by the wind but written words remain. In times of uncertainty in digital news media, printed words are still valuable. On the other hand, for advertisers, the printed ad “does not provide the features that the future of advertising will come to depend on”, because “the moment something is printed, it’s frozen in time”. Advertising now requires to be interactive, a brand doesn’t want to be frozen and static, they want to be dynamic and to provide an immersive experience.

Interestingly, Klay Thompson, NBA player, describes the current situation of news consumption through a pre-game ritual:

“I just think, especially my generation, we’re on our phones so much, all the time, even me, I’m a bad culprit of it, that my mom actually suggested this to me. She said, ‘Klay, instead of standing at your phone pregame all the time, why don’t you get a newspaper or a book and read that before a game, try to take your mind off things.’

“I was like, ‘Mom, that’s a great idea.’

“So I started reading the sports section … I like reading the sports section about high school hoops or college basketball, and just like that old school feel. I like to feel the newspaper, so shoutout to my mom for helping me with my pregame ritual.”

In the end, we all need an offline ritual, because we exist in both the physical world and the digital world. The appearance of a new medium did not "kill" another. Television did not completely kill the radio, it caused a redefinition of the media figure; the internet did not kill the other media, it changed the way of consumption, but not the complete disappearance of one. Will internet completely kill the newspaper's star? The Internet made the newspaper’s light not shine as bright as before, but it is still present. Newspapers are more of a physical experience in the age of the digital world.

And it is that a physical medium led to the writing of this column in a digital one and so, as I used to do more than 15 years ago, I sat down to write, not based on the news I read, but on an experience. I hope my grandfather is, somewhere, very proud.

#newspaper #Digital Media #georgetown

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wjwilliams29 · 6 years

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Seasonal or Evergreen Content | Does Topical Content Bring More Traffic Than Evergreen Content?

Content is the weapon of SEO. And SEOs like to use a twofold weapon, one that would win them the fight both on short-term and long-term. They call it seasonal and evergreen content.

The thing is, is it a matter of “and” or “or”? Do topical content and evergreen content go hand in hand, or go separate ways? This debate is not only applicable to content marketing but to social media marketing as well, as both share the same types of content.

Nearly everybody tilts the scale in favor of evergreen content arguing this is the bee’s knees. But where does seasonal content stand in this? To what extent can holiday articles, Google updates, or top lists for a particular year really help and trigger ROI?

Seasonal or Topical Content

The Long Seasonal Content Story Short

How to Craft Seasonal Content

Seasonal Content Benefits

Seasonal Content Downsides

Evergreen or Timeless Content

The Long Evergreen Content Story Short

Evergreen Content Benefits

Evergreen Content Pitfalls

What’s the Ideal Mix?

In Conclusion, Is It “Vs.” or “And”?

Each has their fair share of advantages and disadvantages. That’s where managing the right content strategy is an act of balance, like gymnastics, ballet, or figure skating. David Harry from SEO Training Dojo said in a cognitiveSEO talk that “Content strategies everything” and that is why you should know how to wield it in order to gain and not lose from it.

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Although everybody tries to solve the crossword puzzle and find out which one has a stronger impact in the SEO blogosphere and on which one they should focus their efforts on, we’re all somehow chasing our own tails.

We shouldn’t be picking a single content type. Topical content and evergreen content actually intertwine. They need each other (more on this later).

This seasonal vs evergreen content debate is similar to the one regarding passion vs love. The latter is everlasting and stronger, while the other is quite ephemeral, although fiery. Often times, you don’t even need to choose: you can have the best of both worlds.

However, you have to always think in the long run –what’s in it for you, is it worth deploying to earn money from this, is it relevant over time? But let’s discuss this over a cup of evidence and pros and cons listing. Then, you should be able to take a decision.

Seasonal or Topical Content

The Long Seasonal Content Story Short

Seasonal content also goes under the name of topical content.

A usual seasonal content definition would say it refers to content that is related to what’s trending, catering to the industry dynamics.

It usually delivers updated, relevant, and targeted information to an audience that is already well versed and familiar with the topic you’re writing on. Topical content is relevant during certain times of the year only and is usually pretty hip and niche disruptive.

Topical content posts are very common in industries that are constantly changing, such as tech and fashion, or to brands that usually have this kind of activity – news outlets, bet houses, and finance. Topical content titles go like this: The best country to spend your summer holiday in 2016, Winners and Losers of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Robinhood App is Available in Another Two US States, so on and so forth.

Seasonal content is divided into 2 categories:

time-based (certain seasons such as winter and summer)

event-based (Christmas, Easter, Women’s Day).

Some would add a third category, which is more of subcategory, known as “true” topical which, theoretically, is visited each recurring season or event relevant for that particular content (holidays, events, sales etc). However, seasonal content is said to also include another category known as holiday-based seasonal content. But I personally think this is redundant, as this is already covered by event-based topical content.

How to Craft Seasonal Content

There are some common sense rules when it comes to crafting seasonal content.

First, focus on always making your topical content useful and relevant – don’t write something if you only want to enlist in the seasonal post bandwagon. In addition, do keyword research very carefully. In order to nail a seasonable content piece, you need seasonable keywords. These only will bring you the targeted seasonable traffic. This is what you need and you win should it rank well in SERPs.

Secondly, be prepared beforehand and do an editorial calendar with events and seasons you want to cover and get your content ready.

Thirdly, let your team know the impact indexation has on your content marketing strategy when setting up the topical content calendar. One of the main reasons would be that most people do their research on seasonal content (be it time-based or event-based) months before the actual time. What’s more, you need time for your article to be indexed in between the time you make it live on your platform and the time of user search.

source: seosmarty.com

Seasonal Content Benefits

Everybody says evergreen content weighs heavier from an SEO point of view. Yet, why does seasonal content still matter so much?

Should we analyze each blog, we’ll most likely discover both topical and evergreen content. And often times, seasonal content has a fair share in the blog post ratio.

Trendy, fresh, breaking new content is way catchier than general truths or case studies are.

News and fads get more attention.

When you’re publishing a piece of news, you will generally trigger an audience’s interest more than when you’re publishing on a topic they’ve seen countless times already.

One plus topical content has is that it can be transformed into evergreen content at almost any time. For instance, a How Did the SEO Landscape Influence Your Rankings in 2017 article could easily be updated to fit the year 2018.

Here are some top benefits you can get out of your seasonal content:

Seasonal Content Benefit #1 Writing seasonal content can greatly benefit your brand image. It sends the message that you care about the latest trends in the industry and like to be up-to-date. It shows interest in novelty and advanced information. This is how your audience starts trusting you and also becomes a client. Topical content shows that you want to stay relevant in your niche and you put your audience first. You care about what’s needed right at that moment. Topical content can easily satisfy readers’ needs and interests. By constantly providing fresh and up-to-date content, you are pushing forward the image of a trendy funky brand.

Seasonal content means that you care about the needs of the consumer in regard to various occasions and times of the year.

Seasonal Content Benefit #2 What’s more, it can be relevant more than once, if the subject is trendy again. As previously mentioned, there’s a content subcategory which goes under the name of “true seasonal” and refers to content which can get back under the public eye. These posts can be revived on various holidays or sales occasions.

Seasonal Content Benefit #3 Another strong advantage is that topical content is good for selling things. People look for seasonal content to purchase stuff. This kind of content serves the user intent better and provides instant gratification. Whenever you craft and post a topical content piece, you help your well-versed audience make a better decision from a marketing and purchasing point of view.

People look for seasonal content with the intent to buy.

Seasonal Content Benefit #4 Moreover, topical content is very important when it comes to growing an audience. It helps you when building brand reputation and brand recognition. It creates buzz around your brand, although followers might lose interest at some point in time. Instagram is a great place to do that and get instant gratification, as well as Twitter. Topical content is top notch for instant success, word-of-mouth, gratification, and conversion. The down part is that followers can eventually bounce off once they stuffed their bellies with the info they were interested in, and never visit you again.

Seasonal content allows you to put your brand in the race.

Seasonal Content Benefit #5 Seasonal content usually triggers mobile-optimized strategies to help audiences land on and stay on your page longer. Seasonal content seeks to be concise yet comprehensive, all of that to satisfy their audiences with info delivered on the spot. This kind of straightforwardness needs the right user experience and interface. And that’s where mobile-friendly versions became the cool kids on the block.

In the seasonal content realm, competition is far less to worry about. And this is because almost every business opts for evergreen-only content strategies.

Seasonal topics allow for fresh content creation with limited competition but a long enough lifespan to make a rate of return on the content creation cost. Lukasz Zelezny Lukasz zelezny Author and Keynote Speaker @LukaszZelezny / zelezny.uk

Fireproof your content by creating topical content and FOMO, which is fear of missing out. Dictionaries say that it talks about FOMO as being an “anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on social media”.

Last but not least, seasonal content usually gets a great deal of traffic. But who doesn’t know that? Most probably, that’s the only reason people would rather deploy such content piece out on the blog.

Seasonal Content Downsides

Although topical content has a great wealth of advantages to be deployed as a content technique, it also comes with a good share of disadvantages. And the sooner we accept and own it, the sooner we would spare ourselves of disappointment.

Seasonal Content Downside #1 Unfortunately, unlike evergreen content, topical content has an expiry date. It doesn’t sustain the same stream of traffic and social applause like on its first day after being published, and this goes over a long period of time. It creates short-term engagement, however grand and satisfying the engagement was first. And this is because topical content isn’t relevant all the time. It is a quick-decay content and has a limited lifespan of usefulness and relevancy.

In the end, topical content doesn’t deliver sustainable results.

Seasonal Content Downside #2 What’s more, topical content kind of splits audiences and targets only those with advanced knowledge on the topic. It can register a massive hype, yet this is coming only from the well-versed ones, bearing no meaning to the rest of the readers.

Seasonal Content Downside #3 Moreover, to new the users who want to enter the group, seasonal content can seem a little complicated and hard to digest, given the great amount of novelty and jargon.

Seasonal Content Downside #4 People can lose their interest little by little, either because of the aforementioned reason or because something else has already caught their attention. You just need to remember the news featuring who won the US presidency which was met with massive engagement, but shortly after they lost popularity as something of greater freshness and relevancy caught their attention, such as new laws proposed and adopted by those in power.

Focusing on topical content means you have to work your fingers to the bone to stay continually relevant and updated. You have to do your research day by day and never lose sight of what’s important in the industry, and hopefully be the first to release the news. Take the example of crypto news, where there’s so much fluctuation, speculation and breaking news relating either the rise of a particular coin or people who nailed it at mining, owning, or stealing digital coins. Such was the case, for example, for the massive news regarding the hugest bitcoin heist that took place lately. Other news on different topics took its thunder shortly after.

Another, say, disadvantage seasonal content bears is that although it brings something unique, the event happens just once in a while and has relatively too less of an authority over its audience. Furthermore, it needs a certain kind of audience for its content, and some might very well bounce off the page or spend very little time on the page due to their lack of advanced knowledge of the topic. Sometimes, readers are just curious people who drop out reading sooner than you realize.

Evergreen or Timeless Content

The Long Evergreen Content Story Short

Evergreen content is content that passes the test of time and remains relevant at all times. It usually develops a greater audience and traffic along time, but its growth is secure, constant, and sustainable. Evergreen rarely to never has traffic spikes, and although you don’t necessarily see results overnight, in the long run, you’ll benefit from constantly getting visits and backlinks.

Evergreen content is a love story shared by two: the content provider and the reader. They will always need and stick to each other.

Evergreen content is essentially made to educate audiences. It never gets out of style because people will always need this kind of content. Case studies, statistics, walkthroughs, product reviews, how-to guides, beginner’s guides, lists, top industry tips, best practices, checklists, tutorials, podcasts, common problem solutions, failure and success story, pros and cons article, all these are instances of evergreen content.

You can easily spot evergreen content when bumping into titles like How to Tie a Bow, Cookies and Cream Fudge Brownies Recipe, 8 Steps to Kick Off an Ultra-Powerful Link Building Campaign, How to Book and Pay for a Room With Bitcoin.

Whenever crafting evergreen content, pay attention to providing unique and relevant informational data. Make your content engaging, as readers could easily lose patience given that most evergreen content posts are quite long. Make clarity one of your guiding lights, as you wouldn’t want your audience to bounce off your page for finding your text exhaustive. In addition, always seek to write on topics of interest. Try to bring something new and authentic in your piece of evergreen content, as nobody likes to bump into the same thing everywhere. Although they might need the same thing over and over again, they’re expecting different or at least new results and insights.

If you can provide a quality answer to a timeless question, there will always be value in that answer. Lukasz Zelezny Author and Keynote Speaker @LukaszZelezny / zelezny.uk

Evergreen Content Benefits

Evergreen Content Benefit #1 The number one plus evergreen content has is that it is timeless. Evergreen is a wealth of constant leads, traffic, shares, and social sentiment. Traffic to evergreen content will stay the same, meaning it will increase slowly but steadily, with slight differences, with the chance of rising even more and improving in accordance with the course of the website authority.

Even though evergreen content asks for more time and effort, given the nature of the posts (how-tos, case studies etc, all requiring strong research), they ensure continuous traffic on your content. At the same time, evergreen content is less demanding to produce, than seasonal is (and we’re not talking data and stats here). There’s no rush to find the news, no secondary resource problems.

Evergreen Content Benefit #2 Another pro would be that timeless content builds brand trust in the long run, especially when researched properly. Readers will bookmark you as a source for quality, in-depth info when writing evergreen content, knowing that they will always find their answers on your website. Moreover, evergreen is proved to cater to the needs and interests of both new and old readers.

Social media profiles and blogs will carry on growing thanks to evergreen content. steve Conway Inbound Marketing Expert at ConvergeHub

Evergreen Content Benefit #3 Evergreen content stays relevant all year round, and it doesn’t matter the time you post it. This means it can be shared any time of the year. It is everlasting, should the website stay fresh and never get closed by the admin. In other words, evergreen content is timeless, anti-aging. It is content that creates long-term engagement. This type is content that doesn’t depend on the whims of seasonal events and topic, hence how to do a braid will always be in vogue. Evergreen content never expires.

Worthy to mention is that evergreen content also makes great use of topical content, by literally being relevant regardless of the season. It can be updated: lists, tops, case studies, or how-tos like the one available in the below screenshot. However, evergreen content rarely needs minor periodic updates to keep its usefulness. Evergreen content is not time-sensitive, and can easily be refreshed so as to keep its relevance over time, if needed. And search engines encourage webmasters to update old articles with fresh content as this would help in boosting your overall rankings. Quick tip: use the “compare and contrast” update technique, which means when you refresh some old seasonal content, make the update seem legit and relevant. Make it bring something new to the ideas expressed in the article.

Evergreen Content Benefit #4 What other pro arguments in favor of evergreen content might be, you might wonder? Well, evergreen provides your website with greater authority thanks to the continuous diverse traffic flow. And this is because evergreen content is always trendy. It can gather backlinks much easier over time, while topical content is facing a rather difficult time at this. Evergreen content isn’t serving just the page well, but also the entire website.

Evergreen Content Benefit #5 Last but not least, it is said that in terms of per-piece value, evergreen content is superior, empirically speaking. It ranks every week and every day compared to seasonal. Evergreen content is always trendy and in season, but the vice-versa is not (seasonal being evergreen). We can even say that whenever an evergreen piece of content is published, it officially starts its open season of continuous traffic and engagement.

If wondering how to make and repurpose evergreen content to get as many results as possible, check CoSchedule’s case with evergreen content.

source: www.coschedule.com

Evergreen Content Pitfalls

Compared to seasonal content, evergreen posts have way fewer disadvantages. And this is because evergreen content is more stable, and it pays off eventually along the time.

Evergreen Content Pitfall #1 One con argument is that evergreen content can somehow tell the obvious and basic stuff. The information can reach a point where it becomes somehow worthless because there are too many sites that already provide that specific information.

Evergreen Content Pitfall #2 Another pitfall is that there’s too big of a competition on evergreen content, therefore you’ll face harder times at getting noticed and ranked high in Google SERPS.

Evergreen Content Pitfall #3 Not to forget that evergreen content also requires a great deal of research, when done well and quality is a rule of thumb. It is indeed more comfortable to write a timeless piece of content than a topical one, as you don’t have to rush to the first news provider, but it needs valuable resources such as time, in-depth research, and the spark of originality in order to bring something new to an already crowded and saturated content industry.

What’s the Ideal Mix?

And now we remain with the ultimate question: what type of content is more relevant to your business? Or, if willing to use both, what mix is more suitable for you?

Web content can be compared to perishing flowers, seasonal plants, and evergreen trees. lukasz zelezny Author and Keynote Speaker @LukaszZelezny / zelezny.uk

So which content flora will populate your website the most? Many content marketers rush into dismissing topical content for all the abovementioned disadvantages.

However, if we are to look at the pros and cons ratio only, although topical content has more cons than evergreen does, it is still richer in benefits (we’re talking numbers here).

Maybe it’s because evergreen content is too mainstream already.

Both content types can trigger organic activity to your website, that’s sure thing.

They both join powers to bring the best results to your content marketing strategy: evergreen content can suit all kinds of readers, at all times, while seasonal content suits only those well versed in that specific topic or industry, the ones who want to be kept up-to-date with advanced, upgraded news.

The smartest thing would be to make great use of both types.

Both types of content are equally important and necessary. So my answer to the question “Which one is better?” is: both are equally important as each contributes to the well-being of your blog in ways neither of them can cover for the other.

The path most webmasters take is that of writing a piece of content that is nearly topical to evergreen, one where they talk about something already established but with the twist of something that they’re selling or believing in at that point in time, hence making it rather trendy and relevant to the moment of speaking.

Others tilt the scale to evergreen content. Atomic Reach suggests a ratio of 1:4 – one seasonal piece of content to every four evergreens. It’s crucial that you strike the right balance. The ideal mix depends a lot on what you are looking for for your business – your objectives, your target audience, what they need and appreciate the most. It depends on your marketing goals: educate or convert into clients, fast or slow, now or everytime they land on your website.

source: semrush.com

Take this cognitiveSEO example: Unmasking The Hidden Digital Marketing Strategies of 9 Successful Startups is an article that brings us continuous traffic over time and it doesn’t show to stop anytime soon. It is a hit among our followers and a constant go-to source for information, data, and inspiration.

On the other side, there is this Google Penguin 4.0 Goes Real-Time! Massive Google Fluctuations article which we intended to be a seasonal article. And this is what it was: a smashing piece of content on a topic that was quite hot at the moment. We registered massive hype and engagement at the time of publishing and also a couple of days after, but metrics never displayed the same amount of visits and traffic as in those days. And this is because topical content gets you traffic spikes but rarely promises a neverending love story between the article and its readers.

By deploying both tactics, your message to the readers will be that you have a well-rounded perspective of your market needs and interests. Topical plus evergreen content equals the win of all kind of readers, bringing a diverse range of clients to your business.

Finding the balance between evergreen and seasonally relevant content can set the tone of your feed. danielle thomson Lifestyle Blogger at hashtagpaid.com / @linerglttrgloss

Given that both have their fair share of advantages and disadvantages, you shouldn’t’ opt for a one-only tactic, but take them both and use them in your content marketing strategy. One tip: always create contextual links from your evergreen content pieces to your topical content so to help search engines like Google better index them.

We tend to always divide content up into two kinds of groupings: seasonal versus evergreen. But you always want those, those are very important. And then, for the obvious fact that you need things to go out and get visibility to get Google-even. So you need stuff to always have out there to be alive and current and vibrant. David Harry Search Engine Algorithm Analyst @SEOdojo / seotrainingdojo.com

In Conclusion, Is It “Vs” or “And”?

When comparing evergreen content vs topical content it’s like you’re putting a sprint and a marathon face to face. It’s not about which types of evergreen content or topical info is good and which is bad, but it’s a matter of merging.

Give yourself the treat of short-term buzz and long-term outcome, both promising to provide conversions and hype. Experiment with both, check out the ideas and examples tackled above, and see how each one works for you in terms of results (which one drives traffic for you).

And don’t forget: if you’re after more consistent posting and bringing in followers back to your site, use topical content, and if you seek to build up the pillars that give you better SEO results and a chance to reach out to new readers, also use evergreen blog posts.

Opt for a hybrid model: get the best of both worlds.

The post Seasonal or Evergreen Content | Does Topical Content Bring More Traffic Than Evergreen Content? appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.

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philipfloyd · 6 years

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Seasonal or Evergreen Content | Does Topical Content Bring More Traffic Than Evergreen Content?

Content is the weapon of SEO. And SEOs like to use a twofold weapon, one that would win them the fight both on short-term and long-term. They call it seasonal and evergreen content.

Seasonal or Topical Content

The Long Seasonal Content Story Short

How to Craft Seasonal Content

Seasonal Content Benefits

Seasonal Content Downsides

Evergreen or Timeless Content

The Long Evergreen Content Story Short

Evergreen Content Benefits

Evergreen Content Pitfalls

What’s the Ideal Mix?

In Conclusion, Is It “Vs.” or “And”?

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We shouldn’t be picking a single content type. Topical content and evergreen content actually intertwine. They need each other (more on this later).

Seasonal or Topical Content

The Long Seasonal Content Story Short

Seasonal content also goes under the name of topical content.

A usual seasonal content definition would say it refers to content that is related to what’s trending, catering to the industry dynamics.

Seasonal content is divided into 2 categories:

time-based (certain seasons such as winter and summer)

event-based (Christmas, Easter, Women’s Day).

How to Craft Seasonal Content

There are some common sense rules when it comes to crafting seasonal content.

Secondly, be prepared beforehand and do an editorial calendar with events and seasons you want to cover and get your content ready.

source: seosmarty.com

Seasonal Content Benefits

Everybody says evergreen content weighs heavier from an SEO point of view. Yet, why does seasonal content still matter so much?

Should we analyze each blog, we’ll most likely discover both topical and evergreen content. And often times, seasonal content has a fair share in the blog post ratio.

Trendy, fresh, breaking new content is way catchier than general truths or case studies are.

News and fads get more attention.

When you’re publishing a piece of news, you will generally trigger an audience’s interest more than when you’re publishing on a topic they’ve seen countless times already.

Here are some top benefits you can get out of your seasonal content:

Seasonal content means that you care about the needs of the consumer in regard to various occasions and times of the year.

People look for seasonal content with the intent to buy.

Seasonal content allows you to put your brand in the race.

In the seasonal content realm, competition is far less to worry about. And this is because almost every business opts for evergreen-only content strategies.

Seasonal Content Downsides

In the end, topical content doesn’t deliver sustainable results.

Seasonal Content Downside #3 Moreover, to new the users who want to enter the group, seasonal content can seem a little complicated and hard to digest, given the great amount of novelty and jargon.

Evergreen or Timeless Content

The Long Evergreen Content Story Short

Evergreen content is a love story shared by two: the content provider and the reader. They will always need and stick to each other.

If you can provide a quality answer to a timeless question, there will always be value in that answer. Lukasz Zelezny Author and Keynote Speaker @LukaszZelezny / zelezny.uk

Evergreen Content Benefits

Social media profiles and blogs will carry on growing thanks to evergreen content. steve Conway Inbound Marketing Expert at ConvergeHub

If wondering how to make and repurpose evergreen content to get as many results as possible, check CoSchedule’s case with evergreen content.

source: www.coschedule.com

Evergreen Content Pitfalls

Compared to seasonal content, evergreen posts have way fewer disadvantages. And this is because evergreen content is more stable, and it pays off eventually along the time.

Evergreen Content Pitfall #2 Another pitfall is that there’s too big of a competition on evergreen content, therefore you’ll face harder times at getting noticed and ranked high in Google SERPS.

What’s the Ideal Mix?

And now we remain with the ultimate question: what type of content is more relevant to your business? Or, if willing to use both, what mix is more suitable for you?

Web content can be compared to perishing flowers, seasonal plants, and evergreen trees. lukasz zelezny Author and Keynote Speaker @LukaszZelezny / zelezny.uk

So which content flora will populate your website the most? Many content marketers rush into dismissing topical content for all the abovementioned disadvantages.

However, if we are to look at the pros and cons ratio only, although topical content has more cons than evergreen does, it is still richer in benefits (we’re talking numbers here).

Maybe it’s because evergreen content is too mainstream already.

Both content types can trigger organic activity to your website, that’s sure thing.

The smartest thing would be to make great use of both types.

source: semrush.com

Finding the balance between evergreen and seasonally relevant content can set the tone of your feed. danielle thomson Lifestyle Blogger at hashtagpaid.com / @linerglttrgloss

In Conclusion, Is It “Vs” or “And”?

Opt for a hybrid model: get the best of both worlds.

The post Seasonal or Evergreen Content | Does Topical Content Bring More Traffic Than Evergreen Content? appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.

from Marketing https://cognitiveseo.com/blog/18774/seasonal-evergreen-content/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

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vsplusonline · 4 years

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Skincare for the lockdown

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/skincare-for-the-lockdown/

Skincare for the lockdown

As India begins the third week of quarantine, our dishwasher stopped working. After doing the dishes for breakfast, I sit here writing this column, with a mask of honey, milk and saffron on my face. Admittedly, there are more important things to worry about than the quality of our skin. However, as we have been given a pause, and an opportunity for self-care, it might not be so terrible to pamper ourselves even in the smallest way possible.

Aerin Lauder once spoke about the instant gratification of lipstick. I’d say this goes for any beauty ritual. Even when we had tightly packed schedules, just the act of removing make-up at the end of the day made us focus, albeit for the briefest of moments, at ourselves. Personally, I feel self care and self-respect go hand in hand. The moment you choose to pull out those extra 10 minutes only for yourself, you’re giving your subconscious the message that yes, I value myself.

These days, we have more than a moment or two. Whether you’re working from home or you’re a full-time mum, you can work and yell at your kids with a mask and hair oil. Those who would earlier very rightly complain about not having enough time can now dry-body brush, oil their hair, apply castor oil on lashes and brows, because at the very least, we have an extra couple of hours that were spent battling traffic. And even though you can’t order from your favourite beauty e-tailer yet, you’ll find that there are many things that can be done at home to look and feel great.

Obviously the honey-saffron-milk mask is amazing and can be used everyday. All you need is a teaspoon each of raw milk and honey and a few threads of saffron. You can replace the saffron with a pinch of turmeric. If you’re vegan, then try fresh aloe vera gel, some red shakkar and a drop or two of any oil. Paayal Mahajan, founder of the homegrown luxury skincare brand, Essential Body Couture, taught me how to make a gently exfoliating cleansing balm at home. Equal parts moringa powder with raw honey. The balm will dry into a thick paste that can be made spreadable with a little bit of water when you use it.

The other at-home mask that I swear by is red lentil (masoor dal without peel) soaked in milk overnight, then ground to a paste in the morning. Add a pinch of turmeric to the paste, apply all over the face and then rub off when semi dry. You can make a small batch of the paste and store in your refrigerator for a few days.

Writing on beauty for over 15 years, I’ve realized that the worst product for the skin is commercial face wash. In fact, if you just just remove this from your skincare routine, you’ll find massive improvement in pigmentation, redness and hydration. Use honey for your morning cleanse and any oil (coconut, olive, apricot) for your evening cleanse. Wipe off with a steaming hot, towel to really clean out your pores. Women with the best skin haven’t used soap on their faces for years.

Everyone is also worried about skin sagging without dermatologist’s intervention. But you can keep your skin looking tight, sculpted and de-puffed with a daily massage. I have posted several massage videos on my blog, however there are so many videos to choose from — from the Japanese Tanaka face massage to the Ayurvedic marma point massage and the French tightening massage — thank god for connectivity. The aforementioned Paayal also does a fantastic face workout that you can follow every evening at 7.30 pm live on her Instagram handle (@paayalm). I swear my skin looks so much better and tighter with her technique.

We can also rediscover hair oil that many modern hairstylists shun because they believe it makes your scalp condition worse. But here’s the thing. If you oil your hair on a dirty scalp, it will obviously increase the dirt. So don’t wait for your hair to get dirty. Traditionally, we would apply oil on freshly washed hair. I see no reason why we shouldn’t go back to those days now. After all, there are no parties or meetings to attend. These days, I oil my hair thrice a week and keep the oil on each time for 24 hours. My hair fall has become minimal and my hair has also become quite long.

Ultimately, we cannot control the virus, the economy, or any of the repercussions that will slowly reveal themselves. But we can definitely use this time to nourish and heal. Because one thing is for sure, this too shall pass, and while we have these extra moments, lets make the most of them.

Vasudha Rai was beauty director, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Women’s Health. She blogs at vbeauty.co.

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vsplusonline · 4 years

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Reset to sleep: bedtime rituals for the lockdown and after

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Reset to sleep: bedtime rituals for the lockdown and after

I write this piece as India completes one week of complete lockdown. As misery sweeps humankind, nature is using this time to heal. In just a week or so, Delhi shows a clear blue sky on the weather app, perhaps for the first time in years. The virus is a reminder that the earth doesn’t belong to us alone. But solitude brings into focus the gaping holes in our lives that we would usually fill with distractions. So, as the country shuts down for another couple of weeks, we have no choice but to look within.

For me self-care means not just masks and candles, but healing at a deeper level. Practically speaking, since focus and concentration have been sacrificed at the altar of social media, perhaps these would be a good place to begin. One ancient practice, called trataka, takes a couple of minutes, but works tremendously to sharpen the mind. You can practise it at dawn or dusk, though dawn may be ambitious after a midnight date with Netflix.

Setting your focus with trataka

Assuming you practise this in the evening, shut down all artificial lights in the room. Face your back towards any natural source of light and place a lit diya or candle about an arm’s length away, at eye level. Keep your gaze still and soft, keep looking at the flame till eyes water, close them for two seconds, open again. Do this for a couple of minutes everyday. When I practise trataka just before meditation, I find that my focus is sharper and my mind doesn’t wander. Over time, it enhances focus and reduces insomnia.

For most of us, anxiety begins in the evening. Last week, I wrote about pranayama, which is most suited for the morning. Today, I will talk about techniques to relax in the evening. I cannot promise that anxiety, depression or insomnia will be eliminated with these methods. However, these tools are more relaxing than chain-swiping stories on Instagram.

Tire yourself out

If you want to use all these as a complete ritual, do so right after your evening walk or a quick pace around the balcony. Practise trataka first, followed by brahmari, either sitting straight or lying down in bed. A 2016 study by the Sri Ramachandra Institute in Chennai found that brahmari, or the buzzing bee breath, improves resting cardiovascular parameters more than breath control. Close your ears with your forefingers and shut your eyes. Then, breathe in and exhale making a soft, humming sound with your mouth closed. The idea is to relax your brain with the vibrations of the sound. Do as many rounds as you feel comfortable.

You can also practise breath-work with extended exhalation, which relaxes the vagus nerve, thereby relieving anxiety. So if you’re inhaling with four counts, exhale with six to eight counts of breath. Make the breath so deep that it reaches and expands the belly. Remember, air has no calories. One visualisation technique I like to practice, especially when I feel a lot of negativity, is imagining my breath as a giant fishnet (vegans can think of an apple basket). As you breathe, imagine this fishnet sweeping up any negative blocks and throwing them out with your exhale. This breathing sequence can also be practised in bed, before you sleep.

Wind down before bedtime

Yoga nidra is another beautiful technique for the evening. If you’re too wired to practice anything yourself, then this guided mediation could help you sleep. There are many videos on YouTube, iTunes and Spotify. Find one with a duration that suits you and a voice that doesn’t grate your nerves. Before you begin, you will be asked to repeat a sankalpa or positive affirmation thrice, with full belief. One of my favourites is, “Every day, in every way, I get better and better.”

Someone mentioned to me that they cannot sleep till 3 am, because they’re not tired enough. In uncertain times like these, you can bring stability to your life with routine. If there was a particular time when you were in transit, use that part of the day to exercise — be it mopping the floor or climbing up and down the stairs. Lightly exercise in the evening again where you’re supposed to be in transit. Get into bed by 10 pm, read a book, follow a guided meditation, but for heaven’s sake keep your fingers off your phone.

Vasudha Rai was beauty director, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Women’s Health. She blogs at vbeauty.co. She is also a certified yoga teacher and has been teaching at The Yoga Studio in Delhi. Join her @thehinduweekend today (April 4) at 9 pm for a guided session on white light meditation and yoga nidra.

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Pioneering chef Floyd Cardoz inspired many to experiment with cuisine

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Pioneering chef Floyd Cardoz inspired many to experiment with cuisine

He sat at an outer table, quiet and unobtrusive, eating dinner with his two companions at the then newly launched Farzi Café in Gurgaon one monsoon evening in 2014, when someone pointed him out to me as the chef behind Tabla, New York.

Till then, I had known Floyd Cardoz by reputation alone. To those of us who wrote on Indian gastronomy, he was a well-known name — the Mumbai-raised, Goan chef who had put Indian food on the map in the U.S., marrying regional flavours to local produce to come up with contemporary plates.

Chef Cardoz died of COVID-19 on Wednesday. He had tested positive on March 18 and was being treated at Mountainside Medical Centre, New Jersey. He was 59.

A chef par excellence, Cardoz was the co-founder of Hunger Inc, the company that runs restaurants such as The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro.

The loss is unbearable, stunning all of us in the world of food in India, a community that for all its squabbles and differences is also closely knit. Just in the beginning of the month, when Cardoz was in Mumbai for the launch of the Bombay Sweet Shop (also by Hunger Inc), he had attended events with much of the restaurant and writing community in attendance. He flew back to New York, and according to his Facebook post admitted himself to a hospital in New Jersey on Mach 18 after feeling feverish.

My abiding memory of Cardoz will be of that monsoon evening in 2014, when Floyd had come back to India, having earned his accolades abroad, on a mission to push the envelope even further. That evening as he and his two dining companions, Yash Bhanage and Sameer Seth, sat at Farzi Café, they had been discussing their plans to start a new restaurant in Mumbai.

Passion project

Bhanage and Seth had been mentored by Cardoz as young hospitality professionals in the U.S. Now, with their guide and father figure in tow, it was fitting that they should plan a passion project meticulously.

A year later, the trio launched The Bombay Canteen and invited me over.

Many of the dishes — devilled eggs flavoured with Goan masala, arbi tuk (colocasia) and kamal kakdi (lotus stem) chips — paid a tribute to Cardoz’s memories of a Bombay he had grown up in. His stories about feema (kheema) pao at the St. Xavier’s College canteen, the crab curry and Goan sausage at home had obviously seeped into the spirit and cooking of the restaurant. As he sat remembering things past, two young men were manning the kitchen, executing his dishes, passing food out through a small service window. Chefs Thomas Zacharias and Hussain Shahzad were being mentored by Cardoz.

The two are leading restaurant chefs in India today; their own dishes define the menus of The Bombay Canteen and its sister outlet O Pedro (that opened in 2017). And their creativity is independent of their mentor’s. But both did start out under the able guidance of Cardoz, a chef and man, whose most remarkable ability may have been not just to cook in inspired ways but to mentor younger creative people. There was a generosity in letting them soar independently, unshackled. It is a testimony to Cardoz’s talent and leadership that all his protégées have carved out creative niches for themselves and are taking his legacy forward.

For all his soft spokenness, Cardoz didn’t mince his words. When I asked him to write a piece for my blog, he wrote with passion and candour as to how the standard of restaurant cooking in India needed to be much higher. Few chefs would have publicly called out low quality in the industry.

His own cooking was strongly rooted in his roots though sometimes, dishes could stop you in your tracks with their ingenuity. The dish I will always remember him for is a red snapper sol kadi ceviche. He had initially conceptualised it for Paowalla, his Soho outing that unfortunately shut. The konkani flavours of sol kadi replacing the acidity of lime, was a stroke of genius. That genius is now lost to the world of gastronomy.

(Anoothi Vishal is a Delhi-based food writer and author)

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vsplusonline · 5 years

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Pioneering chef Flyod Cardoz inspired many to experiment with cuisine

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/pioneering-chef-flyod-cardoz-inspired-many-to-experiment-with-cuisine/

Pioneering chef Flyod Cardoz inspired many to experiment with cuisine

Chef Cardoz died of COVID-19 on Wednesday. He had tested positive on March 18 and was being treated at Mountainside Medical Centre, New Jersey. He was 59.

A chef par excellence, Cardoz was the co-founder of Hunger Inc, the company that runs restaurants such as The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro.

Passion project

A year later, the trio launched The Bombay Canteen and invited me over.

(Anoothi Vishal is a Delhi-based food writer and author)

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vsplusonline · 5 years

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Breathing through a lockdown

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Breathing through a lockdown

I’m writing this piece an hour after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India’s 21-day lockdown. The last time I was under lockdown was during vipassana, and that was only 10 days. I remember standing, peeking over the boundary wall of the small women’s compound in Dhamma Salila, Dehradun, watching a couple of trucks go by at a distance. How lucky they were to be free. I pledged I would never commit a crime because I didn’t want to be in jail. Not that I would. Obviously.

But it was also on that sixth night of vipassana that I felt bliss for no reason. We usually feel happy because of a promotion, a baby, new love, something from the outside. But here I was, lying in bed, eyes closed, a big smile on my face for no reason whatsoever. That day I understood why people chose to take sanyasa — if I could feel blissful in this way from within, I didn’t need anything external.

It is a roundabout way of saying that we have more than 10 days. A full three weeks or the required 21 days to form a new habit. During vipassana, we were meditating for about 10 hours a day. We were also not talking or looking at each other (or trying our best). We went through boredom, pain, anguish, trauma, sadness, glee, and peace all in a day’s work. Our last proper meal was at 11 am. Full disclosure: I did smuggle in a small bowl of muesli and a couple of paracetamols, which came in handy when I had migraines.

This time, however, it is different. We have 21 days with full connectivity, with food and at least some time to spare. Some of those things you wanted to do but never had the time can happen now. While most experts would suggest meditation, I disagree. If you’re already in a state of anxiety and depression, then, without the guidance of a meditation guru, you might multiply the negativity.

The journey within begins with the breath. Whether your mind is in another continent, on another person, or several months ahead in the future, your breath has the power to pull it back to the present. I recently recorded a series of podcasts called Holistic Healing with RedFM. For one episode, I was interviewing Mala Baruah, a meditation teacher based in Delhi. She advised that the moment you open your eyes in the morning, take 25 deep breaths, tracing its movement down your spine and back up. Instant peace.

When you’re stressed, the first thing you do is stop breathing. In this time of anxiety and uncertainty, nothing is more healing than breath work. The yogic practice of nadi-shodhana or alternate nostril breathing must be an essential daily habit. If after 21 days you emerge with the habit of practising only that, you will be transformed. Author, vaidya and alternative medicine expert, Dr Robert Svoboda, says that alternate nostril breathing for 20 minutes every day is enough in itself. It clears your nasal passages, increases energy, enhances immunity, calms your nervous system, and bestows clear, glowing skin.

In yoga, the correct sequence is asana, pranayama, then dhyana. We practice asana and attempt dhyana, but most of us lack the patience for pranayama. After you practice this for 20 minutes (change hands if one arm gets tired), sit for two minutes in silence. You won’t even need to make an attempt because meditation will happen naturally.

During this time, we need to form habits that can be sustained when life gets back to normal. If we aren’t transformed by this experience, our time is wasted. Positivity is a habit, as is drinking enough water and applying castor oil on lids and lashes. Use these days to heal and nourish. Oil your hair, try oil pulling, give yourself a face massage. The benefit of the home office is that work can happen simultaneously. Use your connectivity to educate yourselves and set personal goals. You will face your demons and feel the burn. But we need this to elevate our consciousness. Remember that even gold is made with fire. This is your time — make it golden.

Vasudha Rai was beauty director, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Women’s Health. She blogs at vbeauty.co. She is also a certified yoga teacher and has been teaching at The Yoga Studio in Delhi. Join @vasudha.rai on Instagram today (March 25, 2020) at 1 pm, for a live session on breathing techniques, among other wellness tips.

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