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.

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A well-designed, professional, easy-to-navigate website is the face of your business, and it's critical to your marketing success. Your new website is an important part of your digital marketing strategy, but it isn't enough to increase your market share, win more sales, and retain your customers while helping you gain access to new customers.

Your company may benefit greatly from a new website and it's important to devote the time, energy, and budget needed to make the necessary improvements. However, your website is just one part of a successful plan. A detailed digital strategy helps businesses level up in a controlled way. With the right digital marketing strategy, you'll not only reach your goals faster, but you'll also have the data to measure how you achieved success. A comprehensive digital marketing plan creates a much-needed connection between your company and your current and future customers.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing helps you remain visible online. It helps you stay competitive in the marketplace so that you can get in front of your target audience. Businesses that intend to grow need a digital marketing plan that includes a professional and functional website that appears in your customers' online searches when they need answers or are seeking help.

Depending on your goals, digital marketing may include the following:

Website design and development: Your unique website connects your customers to your company while enhancing your brand image.
Market development and positioning: Understand your ideal buyer and where they fit into the marketplace.
Digital marketing and lead generation: Promote your services, products, and company image to engage your target audience.
Sales and marketing automation: Nurture your prospects and connect with your customers using technology.

Why Your Company Needs a Digital Marketing Strategy

Digital marketing is the sum of all of the ways that your company reaches out to customers using technology. Your social media accounts, mobile app, advertising, automated emails, search engines, and digital partnerships work together to create your company's digital footprint.

When your branding and messaging are consistent across all of your digital and traditional marketing efforts and you target a carefully curated ideal persona, you place your company in an ideal position to capture the attention of new customers while nurturing relationships with current and past customers.

How an Advanced Digital Marketing Strategy Can Help Your Customers

Digital marketing can help your company increase brand awareness, even if your ideal customer demographic is narrow. People often search the internet (via their smartphone, laptop, tablet, or desktop computer) to find directions to your physical location, office hours, and your business's specialties. They want answers to their basic questions before they reach out for one-on-one interaction.

Your digital marketing strategy can help grab the attention of lukewarm prospects who may otherwise move on to a competitor offering the right information. A comprehensive digital marketing strategy can also help your image on Yelp, Google My Business, Trust Pilot, and other review sites.

How to Use Digital Marketing to Propel Your Company Toward Its Goals

It's crucial to develop an integrated marketing plan to create a foundation for your company's online marketing activities. To create a winning strategy, you'll need a firm grasp of the attributes of your ideal customer. Use a data-driven plan to prioritize any improvements you'd like to make to your digital marketing strategy.

Start by pulling the framework of your digital marketing strategy from your marketing strategy.

Research your target customer's behavior and marketplace activity
Assess your needs as they relate to your website, social media presence, and digital outreach efforts
Create a unified brand image across the company's entire online presence
Create objectives for future online activity; social media interactions, unique website visits, etc.
Prioritize the products/services and customers targeted with digital marketing efforts
Encourage customers to use your digital channels to learn more about how your products and/or services can help them solve their problems

Many companies are still only focusing on their website design and don't yet have an integrated digital marketing strategy. Devoting time and effort towards dominating your niche online could easily put you far ahead of your competition.

Digital marketing is a crucial part of your company's overall marketing strategy, but without a defined set of objectives and a plan to get there, you may have to rely on luck to achieve success.

Ready to get started? Reach out to the Synchronicity team today to learn more about how we can help your company reach its goals with a new website as part of a carefully planned digital marketing strategy.

Hokuyo

AccruePartners

Why Your Marketing Should be More than Just a New Website