Anyone who has built and launched a website has likely encountered an oft-repeated acronym: SEO (search engine optimization). And while you might not have ever done SEO yourself, you've benefited from it in the past: Every day, search engines like Google employ complex algorithms to sift through more than 400 billion web pages and deliver the most relevant results.
Website owners like you use SEO techniques and strategies to get their websites to the top of the search results for relevant user queries. But SEO is not a one-time endeavor — Google and other search engines change often, and ongoing SEO ensures your website stays in front of the people you want to reach. Just as a physical storefront requires regular maintenance and updates to stay competitive, your website needs ongoing SEO to remain visible amidst the ever-changing digital landscape.
The ABCs of SEO: What is Ongoing SEO and Why Does It Matter?
Don't let the techy jargon intimidate you. HubSpot — considered one of the gold standards for SEO and digital marketing advice — defines SEO as simply a collection of strategies and tips that "expand a company’s visibility in organic search results'' and help "drive more visitors to the company’s website, increasing their chances for more conversions which leads to more customers and more revenue."
SEO Connects the Search Engine Algorithms With Your Website's Content
Regardless of your website's goal or industry niche, all SEO techniques have one thing in common: They look at ways to optimize your website's content, keywords, and links to help search engines rank your website higher in the search results when someone searches for something related to your keywords, content, or brand name.
According to HubSpot, SEO needs to address the key factors that all search engines use to determine the value of your website's content — and therefore how high in the search results your website or specific landing page should appear:
- The intent or meaning behind why someone is searching for a specific term or question
- The relevance between what someone searches for, and the content on your website
- The quality of your content (for instance, a website about physical exercise written by certified personal trainers is deemed by Google to be higher quality than a website where the articles are written by non-experts)
- The performance of your website, such as how long it takes a page to load and whether it works well on mobile devices
Static SEO Versus Ongoing SEO: Why It Matters to Stay Fresh and Keep Your SEO Updates Current
As users' web behavior changes and technology evolves, search engines proactively adjust their algorithms.
If you aren't conducting ongoing SEO maintenance and upgrades, a well-optimized website today can quickly become obsolete tomorrow, causing your search rankings to drop and attracting fewer organic visitors. Google itself updates its algorithms several thousand times per year, including significant "major" changes every few months that dramatically change how it crawls and ranks content. For example, Google's infamous Panda update changed how it ranked how-to lifestyle content on the Internet, causing one major content publisher to lose a whopping $6.4 million of traffic and advertising nearly overnight.
How Ongoing SEO Influences Your Website Strategy
Staying abreast of changes to SEO techniques and strategies provides important guidance to your content, marketing, and overarching website strategy. For example, it can dictate or influence:
- How much content you publish, and the content's format, length, and focus
- How you incorporate other forms of media on your website, including images, video, and audio
- How you organize content on your site, including landing page layouts and your site's navigation
- What keywords and target users your website focuses on
Embrace the Power of Ongoing SEO
Caroline Forsey, an expert in thought leadership and marketing content, looked at the survey results from more than 400 of the world's leading web analysts to predict the biggest SEO trends of 2024. According to her data, some of the top changes in SEO strategies this year include:
- A heavier emphasis on expertise, meaning the content on your website should come from experts in your related field (including bylines and author bios that demonstrate the author's credentials and experience on the topic they're writing about)
- A renewed emphasis on first-person, credible content, especially as more websites generate high volumes of low-quality AI content (Google itself has announced upcoming changes to tackle low-value articles created by AI)
- A priority on websites that are deemed trustworthy, such as e-commerce sites with well-rated customer service, or content sites that do a good job of citing trustworthy research and statistics
- Bonus points on content that is creative and original and doesn't simply rehash content found on other sites
Of course, these SEO trends will inevitably change every year, and ongoing SEO will keep you competitive no matter what Google, Bing, and other search engines do. No matter your website's industry or content strategy, ongoing SEO requires that you:
- Focus on keeping your content fresh and high quality, including new blog posts or regularly refreshing and updating old product descriptions or articles
- Conduct keyword research often, since the terms or phrases that your core audience uses will evolve over time
- Maintain your website's overarching performance, such as mobile-friendliness as mobile devices evolve, and page load speed
- Build a diverse portfolio of high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites within your niche, which may include outreach campaigns, getting others in your industry to write guest blogs, and participating in online forums or communities
- Keep on top of technical and performance metrics, such as scanning your site for broken links (and fixing the links you uncover) and using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track organic traffic, keyword rankings, click-through rates, and conversion rates
- Stay on top of algorithm changes so you can adapt your SEO strategy in real-time
Some website owners think of SEO as the first step of their promotional strategy. But it's less a first step, and more an ongoing journey to ensure you, your brand, and your content stay relevant in such a competitive atmosphere. Whether you choose to go it alone and take a DIY approach to SEO, or you choose to consult with a digital marketing and SEO agency, check in often and make sure your SEO evolves as the world around you evolves.
A website redesign might sound like a no-brainer, but there are important considerations. A major redesign will impact SEO. It takes time, money and can lead to customer confusion.
At the same time, if a website is long overdue for a redesign, lost sale opportunities, frustrated customers and possible security issues could be standing in the way of your digital success.
These four questions will help you understand why redesigns are important to maximize your online customer experience and become online lead generating machines.
1. Is Your Website Old and/or Outdated?
If it's been more than five years since your last redesign, your website might as well sign up for AARP - it's old. This could result in any of the following:
- Unappealing graphics, typography and layout. The user experience is clunky and dull.
- Outdated information. A lot can change in two years, let alone five. Old logos, irrelevant messaging or missing content for new products or services.
- Broken links and weak CTA's. There are 404 (page not found) errors, broken contact forms or missing call to action prompts. Here’s how to create CTA’s that convert.
If you're using a common content management system (CMS) like Wordpress or Concrete5, an update might be as easy as picking a new theme then updating information. If the website is created by a third-party, a full-fledged redesign will be required to make the necessary updates your site will need to stay in the game.
2. Is Your Website Secure?
No website check is complete without a look at security. Website security is not just about preventing hacks. Security includes content backups, user permissions and privacy. Website security protocols include:
- Installing a secure sockets layer (SSL). An SSL certificate upgrades your site from http to https. Visitors see a small lockbox next to your site's domain name. It's required for credit card processing but it's beneficial regardless. The cost ($50-200) is marginal if it creates a sales opportunity uptick. Not to mention the positive SEO effects - sites with an SSL certificate installed rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPS) than those that do not contain these.
- Automatic backups. Any website without a backup is not secure. If a bad plugin or administrator error deletes your website data, a stored backup will bring it back online. Set up automatic backups through your CMS or hosting provider. If you're unable to set automatic backups, be sure to set up routine manual backups every few months to ensure your data will not be lost.
- Permissions and passwords. Employees can be walking security flaws. Weak passwords are often the reason behind hacks. Make sure you have password protocols whenever going through website maintenance. Similarly, it's important to make sure the proper permissions are in place. For instance, a third-party contractor shouldn't have the same access as an employee.
3. Is Your Website Mobile-First with Responsive Design?
One of the most important questions to ask when evaluating a website - is it mobile first? Designing for mobile users was a "nice to have" feature a few years ago, now it's vital for every website, app, and online tool. Mobile traffic now makes up more than 50 percent of overall internet traffic. Google and other search engines have taken this into account. In 2019, Google announced that mobile-first indexing would be applied to all new websites, and older websites would be moved over to mobile-first over time. In March 2020, they announced mobile-first indexing for all websites starting September 2020. Google's website crawlers look at the mobile version of websites first. If the mobile version is missing content or not working, it's SEO is negatively impacted. There are built-in tools to determine your site's mobile-friendliness, including a free website checker from Google. Along with mobile preview tools and other CMS plugins.
Another trend that works alongside mobile-first is the concept of responsive design. This means a website will adjust to any screen size or resolution. There's a wide range of tablets, smartphones and screens for internet usage. Initially, developers had to maintain a mobile and desktop version of a website. This becomes tedious and expensive. Using responsive design lets you have one website that works across all screen types.
4. Is Your Website Optimized for Speed?
Website load times have always been a significant factor in determining the quality of a website. The rise of mobile has heightened its importance. According to a Google study, a mobile page that loads in one to three seconds increases the bounce probability by 32 percent, if the page loads in one to ten seconds, the bounce probability increases by 123 percent.
The Google PageSpeed Insights test and Pingdom Tools provide load time analysis. Poor load times are attributed to server issues, faulty coding, oversized image or media files and more. These issues must be addressed during the redesign process to ensure your website is fully optimized for the search engines and end-users.
Still not sure if your site needs a redesign? Contact us today for a free evaluation.