Introduction
Even in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) search engine optimization is still one of the most important digital marketing tactics you can employ today to drive traffic to your business. It matters more than ever if you want to generate qualified leads from your website.
Unfortunately many businesses believe that SEO is a one time effort. In this article by the Cindtoro team we are going to break down why SEO is an ongoing effort and not just a one time task.
The Myth of SEO as a One-Time Task
Before we dive fully into the article we needed to cover the very basics of what SEO is. This will help give you a foundation and general understanding behind its use in marketing and will set the stage for the rest of our article.
What Is SEO?
For those of you that need a refresher on SEO or if this is your first time hearing about it. It stands for search engine optimization (SEO) Its main purpose is to help you “rank” for relevant keywords in an effort to drive quality traffic to your website on a consistent basis. Many businesses choose to invest into SEO because they are looking for consistent quality leads from Google search or other search engines.
Why SEO is Not a One Time Thing
Many people assume that SEO can be done once and forgotten. While you can add all the keywords, optimize your content and build links until you rank on page 1. If you are looking to keep your edge in the Google rankings, updating your SEO is one of the most important things you can do.
Reaching the top of Google is a difficult task and is a place many website owners would love to be at. In fact did you know that about 95% of the internet gets no traffic. SEO is the difference between people who make money online and those that do not.
If you are lucky enough to get to the top of Google and generate traffic you are in a position where other people are going to want what you have. This means someone is always trying to take your spot. You should always strive to be the absolute best you can. Letting your website fall behind in the digital landscape should be unacceptable to you.
Consequences of Thinking SEO is A One-Time Thing
There are numerous things that can happen to your businesses website if you think that SEO is a one time thing including but not limited to:
- A drop in rankings over time
- Missed opportunities for optimization
- Competitive disadvantage
Rankings Drop Overtime
When you quit doing SEO you will eventually fall victim to a Google rankings drop. This means you will lose the valuable positions that you gained. This then ties into a loss of leads, traffic and new business from your website.
Missing Opportunities
Because of the rankings drop you are also missing out on SEO opportunities that could put you ahead of your competition and ensure that you have an edge in the marketplace.
Competitive Disadvantage
Companies who invest in SEO have an advantage over those that do not. They also have an advantage over businesses that choose to invest in it one time only.
If you opt to be the type of business that only does SEO one-time you are putting yourself at a major disadvantage as the companies who invest in SEO continuously will solidify their rankings in the search results making it harder to dethrone them later.
Why SEO Is an Ongoing Process & Not a One Time Thing
For something to work long term it needs to be worked on continually. SEO is no different. This comes down to a few different points:
- Evolving algorithms
- Fresh content
- User behavior and search trends
Search Engine Algorithms Evolve
What worked today may not work tomorrow. Google and other search engines are constantly changing their ranking algorithm. Every ranking algorithm change they make: (Core Web Vitals, BERT, E-E-A-T, etc. etc ) impact how the search engine works and ranks websites.
One of the most disruptive updates they have done to date is the implementation of Google Gemini and their AI powered search results summary.
This has led to interesting and complex challenges to overcome like zero click searches. Investing in ongoing SEO helps you combat any issues with algorithm updates.
The Role of Fresh Content
To stay relevant, content needs to be updated periodically to show that you are up to date on the latest happening in your industry. Google prefers to rank websites that have fresh and updated content in order to show the most relevant search results to their users.
Just this point alone justifies the need for a constantly evolving optimization strategy. No matter if you have a blog post, product page, or other type of webpage new information is always coming out and needs constant refinement to stay relevant.
User Behavior and Search Trends
User behavior and search trends shift over time, again think back to our example of the AI powered search results. As behaviors and trends change constantly you will need to update your SEO strategy accordingly to stay on top of the rankings.
The Components of Ongoing SEO
In order for you to really grasp why SEO is not a one time thing and is rather continuous here are some of the core components of search engines optimization. As you will learn in the next few sections one of these things will be able to be performed once.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is a fundamental aspect of an overall search engine optimization strategy. It can be thought of similar to the building of a house. If your website has a poor foundation it will eventually fall. You can find issues with your technical SEO by running a website audit.
This will tell you how your site is doing under the hood. If you have any issues it is advisable that you fix these as fast as you can so you do not stop your website from ranking high on the search engine.
As you can imagine you cannot expect to fix these issues one time and you are good to go. Since websites are always adding and removing content or being overhauled things will break, issues will happen and those issues will need to be addressed to maintain the health and rankings of your website.
On-Page SEO
On Page SEO touches on all the elements you can see and not see on your website. Primarily speaking these will be things mainly relating keyword optimization and implementation. Keywords are how Google will categorize and rank your website within their index.
These words need to be added, changed or removed as new updates are made to content or Google ranking algorithms.
In addition to keywords there are also other items that will need to be updated such as meta descriptions, title tags, and headers in order to reflect new content and updated SEO practices.
Off Page SEO & Link Building
Off Page SEO mainly involves gaining backlinks and building new relationships. Outside of keywords, gaining new high quality backlinks is one of the most important SEO rankings factors. It is not a fast process to gain new links and it also requires that you gain links from high quality sources.
A backlink is similar to a vote of confidence and helps to tell Google that you have a website worth being shown in their index. In fact the lack of new high quality links is one of the main reasons why your SEO may not be working.
Google ranking algorithms not only look at what types of backlinks you have. But, also how frequently you gain them. You must do both to rank well.
Content Strategy
Another reason why SEO is an ongoing process? You need a content strategy. This is where things such as SEO blog and a continually evolving content calendar will come into the picture. Creating high quality content is not a one time thing.
You may be great at what you do in real life but Google does not trust you until you prove to them that you are who you say. When you do this you will improve your SEO. In other words you should be willing to educate your user base on everything relating to your industry.
This will not only help improve your SEO rankings but also help position yourself as a leading authority in your space.
Local SEO (if applicable)
If you are a local business this section is particularly important to you. Without the use of a high quality local SEO strategy you will never gain the clients who are actively searching for your products or services right now.
You will need a few different things to keep in mind a local business listing like an optimized Google Business Profile, a high quality Yelp Page, and most importantly accurate NAP (name address and phone number information.
To improve the SEO of your local business you need to be a contributor to your community, generate constant engagement, get more reviews and provide local content updates only a true local would know about.
Case Study
We had a client of ours improve their SEO with Cindtoro’s ongoing services. It took us a while to build momentum but when we did not only did they regain their lost website rankings but our team was also able to get their desired keywords ranking on the first page of Google.
Want to learn more? Read all our case studies.
What Goes into Maintaining an Ongoing SEO Strategy?
Perhaps by this point you are wondering what goes into an ongoing SEO strategy. There are 5 different components that we will briefly touch on. All of these items listed here used in combination and is key to achieving the successful result you are looking for
The 5 components are:
- Content Creation
- Consistent Technical SEO
- Backlinking
- Monitoring SEO performance
- Staying up to date on industry changes
Consistent Content Creation
Without consistent content SEO will not work for you. New content helps you stay relevant with search engines and users. Content not only needs to be produced on a frequent basis but also must be considered high quality in accordance with Google’s standards.
It is no surprise that Google has been getting flooded with AI generated content (note AI content can and will hurt your SEO). This flood of information is why they released their helpful content update in 2022.
Regular Technical SEO Checks
The health of your website should be checked on a weekly or bi weekly basis. If that is too much for you then monthly and quarterly is your next best bet. This can be done with an SEO audit. The more data you have the better you will be in the long run. This means less surprises and better technical SEO scores translating to higher website rankings and more traffic over time.
Active Backlink Strategy
For SEO to work really well you need high quality backlinks. Without building high quality links, good luck ranking your website on Google. A website is judged constantly based on the type and amount of links it has. An active strategy will help you continue to stay ahead of your competition.
Monitor SEO Performance
What you measure improves. If you do not have a plan to review your SEO numbers on a weekly or bi weekly basis you are falling behind. To ensure that your SEO is driving the results you are looking for there are some common metrics you should track: keywords rankings, conversion rates, CTR, clicks, and impressions. These will give you a good foundation of your overall SEO performance.
Stay Updated with Industry Changes
Google changes their rankings algorithm on a daily basis and makes major updates about 8 times per year. No matter what industry you are in always make sure you are in-line with Google guidelines and take proactive steps to ensure you are in compliance.
If you fail to do this on a regular basis your traffic can and likely will drop significantly leading to lost leads, traffic and new business from your website. The exact reason why you are doing SEO in the first place.
Potential Challenges You Will Face With Ongoing SEO
Time and Resource Intensive
To be the best with your SEO it is going to take a significant amount of time, energy, and effort. Depending on the size of your business you may even need a team. The task we laid out above should ideally be done on a daily or weekly basis.
Each one of the task requires a different specialty to maximize the results. If you are thinking about doing SEO on your own just know you are in for an uphill battle.
We would recommend that you outsource it to a highly qualified markeitng team like Cindtoro to ensure you get the best results.
Results Take Time
The results you get from SEO are nothing sort of amazing. Just look at the Cindtoro case studies. Improving SEO is not an overnight endeavor and is certainly not a one time task. On average you should expect to see an improvement in SEO keyword performance in about 3 to 6 months time.
A core reason why SEO is not a one time task and requires continuous improvement is because you (as a website owner) or us as SEO professionals need to prove trust and relevance to the search engine. Then and only then will you receive the true benefits of SEO.
Conclusion
We know it can be hard to accept the fact that good things take time but we encourage you to stay on the path. SEO is not a one time thing like many people think. We hope this article showed you why it is an ongoing process. When done correctly it can drive massive benefits for your business on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
Do not get discouraged by the lack of initial results. Keep creating great content, gaining new links and improving your website to maximize the benefits.
If you need help with the process of your search engine optimization to get to the top of Google or any other marketing task our team is ready to help. Experience the Cindtoro difference today!
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