In the computer repair industry, content is more important than ever before.
If you’re like so many so many people who own a small computer support company, you struggle to find the time to create content. Because of this, many people turn to content aggregators, believing they’re the perfect way to have their cake and eat it, too.
Unfortunately, content aggregators aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
While it may seem like aggregation is the ideal solution for any company that needs to publish content but doesn’t have the time to create content from scratch, aggregators can have a damaging impact on your business.
Here’s what you need to know.
What are Content Aggregators?
Content aggregation is the act of combing through the web to locate third-party content for re-use on your site. Generally, aggregation tools are automated, and collect content based on target keywords.
Unlike content creation, which takes time and effort, content aggregation is a quick, relatively effortless way to fill web pages and social profiles with content.
3 Reasons Content Aggregation is a Bad Idea
While there are dozens of reasons your computer repair company shouldn’t rely on content aggregation, the following three are the most prominent
- Aggregated content isn’t useful to readers
While aggregated content is helpful for filling web pages, it’s not ultimately all that useful to readers. Since readers can easily find the aggregated content you publish on your site on another site, re-publishing third-party material doesn’t provide much unique value.
This, in turn, can cut down on the authoritativeness of your site and create a poor experience for your readers.
- Aggregated content can be irrelevant
Worse even than being unhelpful, aggregated content may be irrelevant. Since it’s generated automatically, it’s easy for irrelevant content to sneak into your feed just because it includes a given keyword.
Posting irrelevant content is one of the worst mistakes a company can make, and sharing material that doesn’t pertain to your audience can result in a loss of customers.
- Aggregated content can harm your search engine rankings
Ever since the Hummingbird algorithm update in 2013, Google has been advocating for more original content, and it’s been penalizing scraped, duplicated or aggregated content in the process.
Google’s own Matt Cutts has said that aggregated content that is irrelevant or low-quality can easily harm a page’s Google rankings, and Google itself has stated that pages with “little or no original content” provide minimal value to users and may be removed from search results entirely.
What You Should Do Instead of Content Aggregation: Content Creation
So, if content aggregators are out, how are you supposed to populate your web pages and social profiles? The answer is simple: with original, high-quality content.
While it’s true that original content takes longer to produce, it offers a whole host of benefits for your company, including the following:
- Creating content helps you build your brand. When you aggregate content, you’re just recycling other people’s words. When you create content, though, you’re speaking directly to your target audience, in your brand’s voice. This helps boost brand awareness and build your company.
- Original content can help you retain customers. More than 90% of customers find custom content useful. Because of this, adding content creation to your business strategy can help you attract and retain more customers.
- Original content can help your business rank in Google. Google loves original content, and creating high-quality, unique, keyword-focused, well-optimized content can help you rank well in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). This, in turn, makes it easier for new customers to find your company on the web.
The Case for Content Creation in the Computer Repair Industry
While content aggregation can be tempting, it’s smart to invest the extra effort in content creation. In addition to being more durable and valuable, custom content provides your readers with the relevance they crave. Your computer service or computer support business will thrive as a result of content creation, and you’ll stay out of the hot water that content aggregators can so easily create.
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