Is SEO an Ongoing Process?
When the Internet was first introduced, creating a website could be a “one and done” investment. All your business had to do was pay a design company to create a website, and your online presence was taken care of for a few years.
However, that’s not the case today.
The Internet is now a significant part of our daily lives, and using it for marketing is extremely important. Why? We’ve moved from the Internet being something that a few people used to having high-powered smart phones and tablets that govern our lives. We buy things, re-connect with lost friends and colleagues, and scout for employment all from the comfort of our own homes.
And considering that we use search engines to do almost all of those things, optimizing for them is essential to the success of any business. Your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy needs to be up-to-date and strong enough to reach new customers, and that means realizing that yes—it’s an ongoing process.
If we haven’t convinced you yet of the importance of ongoing SEO, maybe our video can! Hit the play button on the video below to gain an understanding of why you need ongoing SEO for your digital strategy.
If you want to learn more about how to do ongoing SEO, keep reading!
To audit your site’s SEO (for free), take our SEO checker for a spin using the interactive graphic below this sentence!
How to keep your SEO strategy current
With the understanding that SEO is an ongoing process, it’s important to understand how to stay abreast of what’s happening and do your best to keep from falling behind as a business or individual. When you least expect it, SEO rules may change a little… or a lot… and you have to be prepared.
Let’s take a look at 7 best practices for ongoing SEO:
1. Stay up to date on SEO trends
SEO changes constantly, so it’s important to stay up to date on what’s happening in the world of search engines. Professionals who practically eat, sleep and breathe SEO all say the same thing: You cannot afford to assume that the status quo will remain forever.
Most constantly study SEO trends and topics, if not only a daily, then at least a weekly, basis. This keeps them from missing out on trends, algorithm changes, and other important events — like a recession — that can improve or damage their clients’ rankings.
Not sure how to keep up with algorithm changes? We have a video for that below!
2. Evaluate your SEO on a regular basis
One of the biggest advantages of SEO is all of advanced analytics options, but only if you actually look at them. Whether you look at information from Google Analytics, or another analytics platform, you need to make it a priority to monitor what is happening on your site.
For instance, a lot of web owners saw their sites take a huge hit in visitors after Google’s Panda and Penguin updates in 2014. Those who were on top of this worrisome phenomenon were in a better position to immediately make changes to reduce the impact.
3. Rework your content every 12-18 months
This can mean as little as freshening up your page, or giving your whole website an overhaul. Many corporate leaders scoff at the idea that they should change their content, but even without factoring in SEO, keeping your site updated is never a bad idea.
For instance, have your primary products or services changed? Have you switched vendors? Added customer service items you want the world to know about? Started selling online or to buyers from an additional geographic location?
As your business grows, your website has to grow, too. The best way to prepare for this growth financially and prevent content decay is to add a line item in your budget for the upkeep of your website.
4. Add new SEO-friendly content to your site
Interesting, optimized content can help your site attract traffic and customers, and also rank well in search engine results. This content can be blog posts, article pages, infographics, or anything else you think your potential customers would enjoy.
If you’re not a writer (or graphic designer or videographer) by nature, you may choose to outsource your content creation. Just keep in mind that you’ll want the writer to work in conjunction with your SEO team—either internal or external—so keyword optimization isn’t missed.
5. Be active on social media
Most businesses today have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social platforms. Unfortunately, not all of them are actually active.
Most business owners acknowledge that this is something they know they should do, but it often gets put on the backburner as other marketing strategies take priority. However, even though social media doesn’t directly impact SEO, it can be a great way to generate qualified traffic to your site, which can lower bounce rates, raise time on site, and in turn, send positive signals to search engines.
6. Keep tabs on your biggest competitors
Ultimately, the goal of SEO is to outrank your competitors—so don’t be afraid to scour their websites and see what they’re doing right. Learn from their high points, as well as their mistakes.
For example, if you’re struggling to generate consistent traffic, take a look at one of your competitors that has a strong online presence. What keywords is their site optimized for? What kinds of content do they create? Although we’d never recommend directly copying another business or site, this can be a great source of ideas for your own SEO strategy.
7. Be patient
If you’ve recently started with SEO in-house or with a top SEO service provider, you may find yourself checking your analytics on a daily (or hourly basis). And while monitoring your results is certainly useful, it’s important to remember that SEO takes time.
Patience is key, and being impatient can backfire. For example, let’s say you write a page that’s optimized for “best hotdogs in St Louis MO”. After four weeks, the page isn’t ranking when you type that keyword phrase into your search engine, so you get annoyed and go back. You change the content to be optimized for “best type of organic hotdog St Louis Missouri” (which, by the way, just sounds awkward).
Four more weeks go by… without anything. The problem might not have been the keywords, but the fact that you never gave the page a chance to get crawled! There are billions and billions of pages online, and you can’t expect your site to be indexed as soon as you change it.
For more immediate results to fill the gap before your SEO starts to work, you can try other common digital marketing tactics. We outline what you can do while you wait in the video below.
If you start tweaking your content before they have a chance to do their “magic”, you’re destined to be left behind. On the other hand, if you aren’t seeing any movement after six months of optimization, it’s probably time to reevaluate.
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When you’re talking about SEO, it’s a never-ending process. It’s kind of like being a business owner—you have to stay on top of your game every day. But if you don’t have the time or resources to keep up with an ongoing SEO strategy, feel free to contact us about our organic SEO services! Our talented team of Internet marketers has the skill and expertise your business needs to rank well and attract new customers.
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