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 CTA mapping? Wait…What is a CTA?
CTA Mapping is shorthand for “call-to-action mapping.” It’s a crucial component of any online lead generation strategy but it’s often overlooked. Let’s take a deeper glance at what this process has to do with your business.
First, let’s talk about the Call-to-Action.
It’s the “CTA.” A call-to-action is just what it sounds like: something that hooks the reader and gives them specific instructions for what to do next. It can be a Call Now! Button, a form to fill out, or sharing button on a video. In a nutshell, it’s anything that calls on your visitor to take an action.
Every single page of your website should have clear, straightforward call(s)-to-action.
The Strategy Behind CTA Mapping
Any call-to-action is better than none, but simply sticking a Contact Us! button into the middle of a webpage generally isn’t enough. CTA Mapping is the strategy of inducing visitors to take action, and there’s a real science to it. CTA Mapping moves prospects further down the purchasing funnel, turning visitors into leads which are then nurtured until they convert into customers. Rinse and repeat.
A call-to-action is part of the lead nurturing process. Proper call-to-action placement and structure are critical to incentivizing a response.
Strategic Placement of Calls-to-Action
Asking a customer to act at the right time is important. Where a call-to-action should be placed depends on the sales cycle of your target customer. Are they aware of your product or service? Are they evaluating you? Are they just about ready to purchase? The earlier on in the sales process a lead is, the sooner (and more often) you’ll want to ask them to act.
Structuring Calls-to-Action
Once you know where to place CTAs, it’s time to think about how. Ask yourself: Would a button work best here? Maybe a pop-up CTA once the reader works their way down the pair? How about a form to request more info at the end of some cliffhanger content? Knowing your audience is half the battle.
Remember, your CTA map ultimately depends on your content map. Without a plan for content – the kind of content, the subject of content, the schedule for content – you’re throwing darts at the wall. Not only does flying blind make it difficult for you to serve your audience, it also makes it hard to tell what’s working…and what’s not.
An experienced digital marketer is the key to developing a comprehensive, actionable CTA mapping plan. Remember, calls-to-action are just one component of an overall online marketing campaign. Without them, you’re missing opportunities.
Not sure how to implement more CTAs?
We love to plan. Let Sync use data and experience to help you map out success online. It’s what we do.