Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is pivotal to your team’s digital marketing strategy, as it can make or break your website’s online presence. A common mistake some financial institutions make is approaching SEO as a “one-and-done task.” SEO is an ongoing process that requires constant attention to deliver long-term results. Discover why ongoing SEO maintenance is essential for your website’s online success.
Why SEO Maintenance Matters
When you are creating a website, it should be created following all SEO best practices, including a strategic site architecture, keyword research, SEO copywriting, meta tag development, technical SEO and more. When your new site launches, the site should be resubmitted to Google and Bing. But don’t rest too long, because your SEO work isn’t quite over.
Algorithms and rankings are not static. Competitors are always optimizing their strategies, and without regular SEO efforts, they can outrank you and capture valuable online traffic. Ongoing SEO maintenance ensures that your content and keywords remain relevant, driving continued online visibility and user engagement.
SEO Maintenance Checklist
With there being about 8.5 billion Google searches a day, it’s important that your business or institution follows the below SEO maintenance checklist to stand out:
1. Monitor and Update Keywords: Search trends and user behavior are constantly evolving, and keywords can lose their relevance. Regularly performing keyword research ensures your page’s content aligns with what people are searching for, in turn helping maintain or improve your search rankings.
2. Optimize Content: Search engines, like Google, prioritize including the words of your query, the relevance and usability of pages, the expertise of sources, and your location and settings. when ranking websites. Frequently updating content ensures your web page aligns with best practices, including keyword usage, structure, and meta tags, all of which improve search results visibility.
3. Enhance Meta Tags: Well-optimized title tags and meta descriptions impact how your site appears in search engine results pages (SERPs) and how many users will be persuaded to click through to your website. Additionally, including relevant and high-performing keywords in your meta tags makes your web page less likely to be flagged by Google as a duplicate.
Benefits of SEO Maintenance
Ongoing SEO maintenance offers numerous advantages that directly impact the performance, visibility, and success of your website. Here are some key benefits of SEO maintenance:
1. Sustained Search Engine Rankings: SEO maintenance helps ensure that your website remains aligned with the latest Google core updates, which can significantly affect your rankings and online performance. Search engines frequently change how they evaluate websites, and without regular updates to your page's content and meta tags, your website could drop in search rankings. Ongoing SEO maintenance can also keep your website ADA-compliant since many ADA compliance best practices are also SEO best practices.
2. Increased Organic Traffic: According to a recent study, 53.3% of all web traffic comes from organic search. By continually optimizing content and integrating relevant keywords, you’re not only improving your user’s experience, but you’re also increasing your chances of capturing more organic traffic.
3. Enhanced User Experience (UX): Did you know 40% of people will choose a different search result if the first is not mobile-friendly? With regular SEO maintenance, you can improve your site speed, enhance accessibility for users, and establish good linking habits. Remember to also follow all other site maintenance best practices for mobile optimization, including proper image format/compression, minimizing third-party scripts and more.
4. Improved Content Relevance: People’s behavior and search trends continuously evolve. What users are searching for today may be different from what they were searching for last year. Ongoing SEO maintenance ensures your website stays relevant and continues to meet the needs of your target audience.
Hire an Ongoing SEO Maintenance Team
SEO cannot be a “set it and forget it” strategy. It requires continuous attention to ensure your website remains competitive, visible, and relevant in search engine rankings. The odds are that this skill set is not one your business or institution can do in-house. That’s why it’s essential that you hire an agency that understands this well and can work seamlessly with your team to keep the SEO results going long after your site launches.
ZAG’s team of digital strategists specializes in implementing regular SEO maintenance, adapting to changing search engine algorithms, and making sure your website is fully optimized and reaches as many users as possible. Contact us today to discuss your ongoing SEO needs.