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.
What is a Sitemap?
Visually speaking, a sitemap is typically represented by labeled boxes, guiding lines and arrows. On a deeper level, a sitemap is just that, a map. Just as it is important to know where you’re going before you embark on any trip, a sitemap provides a point of reference for you and your client or company. Constructing a sitemap will also ensure you haven't forgotten anything and won’t have to start the process over.
On the other side of the coin, a sitemap is not only blueprint, it is a destination. With the cooperation of your client or creative team, the two of you should be able to arrive at the agreed upon destination (the finished website) with minimal detours. It is common for the client and design team to revisit the sitemap several times throughout the duration of the project. A sitemap also provides a useful organizational tool when populating your website with content, as well as taking inventory of pages that need new content.
Benefits of Using a Sitemap:
- Ensures the client and creative team are on the same page
- Helps avoid duplicate content throughout the website
- Creates a game plan for design and build
- Eliminates surprises by both parties involved in the website design
- Lowers the chances of ‘scope creep’ on the design budget
- Enables you to identify and eliminate unnecessary pages from the navigation
Creating a Sitemap:
First, draw a box near the top middle of your canvas and entitle it “Home.” All other page blocks will live underneath the home block.
Second, determine your highest level pages in order of importance. These might include, but are not limited to: “About”, “Products”, “Blog/News”, “History”, “Resources”, “Contact”, and “Request for Quote”. Position these on the same level underneath the box representing your homepage. Draw guiding lines from your home page block and distribute them to each of your top level pages.
Next, identify what subpages will live under your top level pages. For instance, what categories of products does your company or the client’s company offer? These should all be included underneath the “Products” top level page. Subpages like “blogs” and “product sheets” might be included under the top level “Resources” page. Repeat these steps as necessary until all of your required pages are accounted for and illustrated with their own page blocks. It is also important to make mention of other elements that will appear on individual pages. These could be: forms, PDFs, galleries, portfolios, calculators, or other functional tools.
Finally, conclude your sitemap by incorporating any additional homepage elements. Does the website require a login field or search function? The footer should be illustrated with desired links to pages like “FAQ’s”, “Privacy Policy” and even a “Sitemap”.
Color coordinating the levels of your sitemap can aid in recognizing and understanding certain pages are of equal levels in the page hierarchy. A legend positioned at the top of your site map will illustrate this for your viewers.
A good goal to shoot for is that after completion, someone outside of your project should be able to view the sitemap and understand the page hierarchy and organization without much additional information and/or clarification.
Once the Sitemap is approved by the client, it is paramount that both client and firm stick to the plan. If either party diverts from the agreed upon destination, chances are very low that both of you will end up at the same place.
What if I Want to Add or Subtract From the Sitemap After Approval?
Your final version of the sitemap should be pretty solid. However, if you must make changes, a few tweaks here and there are permissible.
Tips:
- When it comes to website structure, less is more. The fewer steps your user has to take to get from a home or splash page to specific content the better!
- Complicated sitemap? Just imagine how your visitors will feel navigating all of your dropdown navigations and subcategories.
- Make sure pages are organized and labeled with the end user in mind.
- As the creative team, ensure the client takes an active role in the sitemap approval.
- As the client, make sure you understand the final version and are comfortable with the document.
Recommended Tools Used to Draw a Sitemap:
- Photoshop, Illustrator or other graphics programs
- Lucid Chart
- Slickplan
- WRITEMAPS
Get your Sitemap in Sync!
Ready to get started on your redesign or new website design? Our experienced team of UX designers and developers can assist you in designing and constructing a sitemap and website that is functional, user-friendly and ascetically pleasing.
To get more information on our design and development services, please call 866-387-7962 (or in the Charlotte, NC area, 704-454-2866) to speak with an account representative or visit our website to get started!