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.
All brands eventually need to evolve or die out. Walmart, Starbucks, Microsoft, IBM, and many other household companies have had to change their logos, taglines, names, theme colors, and other marketing collateral over the years. Does your Brand need a facelift, too? Here are the top 4 indicators to consider.
1. Stale Engagement
Prospects and customers who are engaged with your Brand buy your products/services and do the marketing for you through referrals and social proof. According to a Harvard study, an emotional connection beats customer satisfaction. Therefore, you want a die-hard following and a sense of pride among your clients.
One of the simplest ways to keep your clients and prospects engaged is by standing out from the competition. Do you have believable, unique selling points? You know it's time for a fresh feel when your Brand gives the same vibe as other brands.
Although rebranding may be challenging, it will help show off your distinct corporate culture, depict a strong brand, and draw attention. After all, it’s human nature to desire unique and current things.
2. A Decline in Sales/Profits
Brands that stay relevant attract trust, recognition, and sales. If your profits hit a wall or decline consistently, it might be time for a revamp.
Did you know that Coca-Cola spends about $4 billion yearly on branding? This budget goes to show just how seriously successful brands value their relevance. While you don't need to spend a fortune on branding, you want to maintain a fresh image.
You also want to rebrand if you face a negative perception that’s tanking your sales or growth rate. For example, Phillip Morris, the world's largest cigarette manufacturer, had to rebrand as Altria Group to dissociate the holding part of the business from smoking and reflect its cultural growth over the years.
3. You Haven't Updated in a Long Time
Even the most solid brands can only stay exciting for a few years. The market is filled with competition, shifting priorities, and multiple other natural forces beyond your control.
Your engagement could be all right and sales steady, but you need to roll out a fresh new look every few years or risk getting run over by other brands that provide a more novel vibe. In any case, consumer needs are constantly changing, and new technology disrupts industries every few years.
Fast Food chain Subway brought out this need clearly when they had to adapt to healthier standards in 2016. The company launched an all-new, cleaner logo to reflect its changed values. Unfortunately, they were too late to the healthy eating game and paid for it with a decline in market shares.
Moral of the story: the change was necessary but also actualized when it was too late. You want to be the first to shift with the wind or, better yet, blow it.
An outdated design, too, is a big red flag. Coming off as archaic is bad for business. From your logo and slogan to your color palette and website, you want your Brand to appear like it was launched in the future. Otherwise, you risk embarrassing customers and employees, which is bad for internal morale and external promotion.
4. You're Trying to Connect with a New Audience
You may be expanding your geographical borders or trying to attract a new target population. The first thing you want to do is ensure your Brand reflects its values. One survey involving 25 countries found that 70% of consumers prefer brands that reflect their principles.
You may be up to date as far as your slogan, website, logo, color palette, vision, and all the other nitty-gritty go. But when trying to expand into a new market, you have to ask whether your new target population shares your current values.
The same goes for when your products and services have evolved. You’ll want your Brand to reflect your new portfolio. For instance, IBM's logo has changed at least five times over the years as the company evolved from manufacturing time recorders to printers and, eventually, computer hardware and services.
Noteworthy is that the logo changed entirely sometimes. Still, other times it retained the same IBM letters, only changing how they were presented to maintain familiarity and simultaneously reflect a new era. The current striped lettering was meant to suggest "speed and dynamism." Has it helped? Well, IBM is still in business and generating billions of dollars in revenue after a century.
Conclusion
You start wondering why you didn't make an effort sooner once you understand the reasons and benefits of refreshing your company's Brand. Remember, it is not a question of if you will need a facelift but when.