Writing Google-friendly products and services information on Hotfrog

Content is the star in the world of online marketing, branding, and advertising. But if you, the small business owner or your customers, create that content – in which case it becomes User Generated Content or UGC or UGC – your chances to be seen in the ever-changing, information overloaded Google jungle increase considerably.

Besides, the more you write about your business and its products and services, the more you might be able to influence consumers’ purchase decisions and strengthen brand loyalty.

In the case of businesses profiled on Hotfrog, UGC is the content created by you, the business owner, and published on your Hotfrog profile. This can include written information about your products and services, news and updates, best work and coupons, as well as images.

With the roll out of more updates from Google (Panda, and Penguin are only a two of the more well known updates), however, there is increasing importance on genuine and, interesting UGC. So, it's very important to make sure that both your website and the information displayed about your products and services in your Hotfrog profile take into consideration Google’s new guidelines.

Let’s imagine the case of Good day Auto Repairs, an automotive mechanic outlet with a sound webpage showcasing over 1,000 pages of different spare parts carried by the business. Each product page contains a 200 word, supposedly SEO -friendly, properly tagged, correctly spelt and grammatically acceptable spill about the characteristics and benefits of the product. The owner of Good day Auto Repairs is happy with the unique content he has generated.

Little does he know that the type of content he has produced is precisely the type of content Google started penalising after the Panda and Penguin updates.

• Share expertise in an engaging way. Customers of this automotive spare-parts specialist should, in reading about an airbag sensor, for instance, get a sense that the owner is sharing the knowledge acquired through his years in the industry. He should share his expertise in an engaging, witty manner, using anecdotes that might lighten the otherwise dull, keyword-heavy product specifications. It’s the kind of information that consumers feel they can trust.
• Freshen-up their Hotfrog profile. Good day Auto repairs need to keep their Hotfrog profile up to date and fresh wherever possible, reviewing and replacing any content that has been sitting in their profile for too long.
• Publish new material. They should try to add new pieces of material frequently, at least once or twice a week. The arrival of a new mechanical component or the introduction of a new service for their clients should all be sufficient reasons to inform their current and potential customers on their Hotfrog profile. Google, is now looking for “fresh” content. If small businesses on Hotfrog are talking about something that is “hot” or trending , the more updated the information is, the better. Otherwise, they should try to find a frequency that suits them best and stick to it.
• Keep their audience in mind. When writing information about a new product and service on Hotfrog, Good day Auto Repairs should keep their audience in mind, rather than Google spiders, so, they should stay away from keyword stuffing or unnatural-sounding sentences.
• Avoid duplicate content. They should also ensure that their content is not duplicate and try to give their Hotfrog article a different spin to the article on their website, to avoid Google from considering the Hotfrog article an attempt at manipulating search engine rankings or merely win more traffic. Google understand these to be deceptive practices that result in a poor user experience, when a visitor sees substantially the same content repeated within a set of search results.
• Curate content. They should not forget to curate their article and ensure correct spelling and a grammatically sound text that guarantees a pleasant and engaging reader-experience.

By Teresa Rodriguez

Teresa is a linguist and specialist in intercultural communication, holding a MA in intercultural conflict resolution and a Post-grad. diploma in Translating and Interpreting. Teresa is an avid online researcher, social media player and bilingual content producer. She is currently Copy and Content Manager at Hofrog Hotfrog, and editor, writer and translator for the Hotfrog Small Business Hub. She also writes in her own blogs No-mad, and Digital cultures and translation.