SEO'ing a sports advice website

[JB1977]

Hi Team Moz,

Despite being in tech/product development for 10+ years, I'm relatively new to SEO (and completely new to this forum) so was hoping for community advice before I dive in to see how Google likes (or perhaps doesn't) my soon to be built content.

I'm building a site (BetSharper, an early-stage work in progress) that will deliver practical, data orientated predictive advice prior to sporting events commencing. The initial user personas I am targeting would need advice on specific games so, as an example, I would build a specific page for the upcoming Stanley Cup Game 1 between the Capitals and the Tampa Bay Lighting.

I'm in the midst of keyword research and believe I have found some easier to achieve initial keywords (I'm realistic, building my DA will take time!) that include the team names but don't reference dates or state of the tournament.

The question is, hypothetically if I ranked for this page for this sporting event this year, would it make sense to refresh the same page with 2019 matchup content when they meet again next year, or create a new page?

I am assuming I would be targeting the same intended keywords but wondering if I get google credit for 2018 engagement post 2019 refresh. Or should I start fresh with a new page and specifically target keywords afresh each time? I read some background info on canonical tabs but wasn't sure if it was relevant in my case.

I hope I've managed to articulate myself on what feels like an edge case within the wonderful world of SEO. Any advice the community delivers would be much appreciated......

Kind Regards

James.

[JB1977]

Hey, a fellow James is helping me out, nice!:)

Thanks for the response James, and I get where you are coming from. Despite reading up on Google's algo, and being familiar with the concept of google discerning topic and not keyword(s), it can be tough to get out the superficially easier mindset of focussing on keywords!

Based on your response, and supplementary reading, it looks like an article for the 'Capitals and the Tampa Bay Lighting' this year, and a new one if/when they play again next year is the best approach. I like your focus on the user, more important than Google, they may gain context/insight from article 1 even after the fact, and also, two articles give two opportunities to (hopefully) impress on google's algo that I am worthy of ranking.

My additional reading also gave me some insight as to how google is becoming far more context aware. If someone searches on that topic this time next year, and google has spidered both my articles, I suspect its context engine would be clever enough to serve the more recent content, assuming that is what the searcher is after.

I suppose the only things I need to watch out for is to put some seasonal context in my URL structure, and to tell Yoast to be quiet if it complains about keywords already being used when I create article 2 on the same topic:)

Again, I appreciate the advice James, as you say, my next move is not a black or white situation, there are subject nuances so I'll keep this open to see if I've missed anything supplementary.....