Restaurants, dentists, builders, those running an online store and more are finally coming to understand the value of SEO. Through the Covid-19 lockdown, local SEO and building new websites became the lifeblood for small and medium businesses that can not be found anywhere else.
However, while more people are trying to implement SEO changes in some way or form, not everyone understands how SEO works the way it does. Leading to many missed opportunities, or worse still: losing your hard-earned organic traffic and keyword rankings to competitors.
We’re here to help.
In this blog, we’ll go over the definition of SEO, how long SEO takes to gain results, and how to defend your keyword rankings from your competition.
What is SEO & why do rankings change?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is a practice that gets a website or web element to rank well on search engines, namely Google, through some decisive strategic changes.
The guiding principles behind all these changes are that your readers and Google’s web crawlers should be able to efficiently understand and trust you and your products/services.
Google’s job as a search engine is to offer the best user experience with valuable information that satisfies users’ reasons for their search. So our job as SEO analysts is to give them that: changes that improve Google’s ability to understand your website, improve the user experience, and provide content marketing that matches their search intent.
The main three tools or strategies commonly used to achieve this are:
- On-page changes (content)
- Off-page changes (link building and citations)
- Technical changes (increasing your site speed & cleaning up coding and errors)
A successful SEO strategy should increase the total volume of ranking keywords and push keywords that you already have, or soon acquire, up the search engine ranks. It gives you more traffic and visibility, which you can use to turn into more conversions and revenue for your business.
However, keyword rankings change. Unfortunately, you’re not alone in your digital marketing efforts. While you optimise your pages, other businesses and competitors are often likely also doing the same, which means they may take back keywords you may have taken from them or others you have been working to build on.
There are also ranking changes that happen outside of your competition too:
- Algorithmic changes: Google’s algorithm also changes because the way people use its search engine changes. A keyword most users once used to look at buy products they want to buy might turn into a keyword where the best answer is a video.
- Google tries to make a better experience for its users: Google is a business too, and as a search engine, it wins when it can offer its users the best tools, suggestions and quality control that satisfies users. Therefore its always looking for new ways to improve its service.
- Other trends or changes online: External factors such as the Apple iOS 14.5 and 15 updates or the EU’s strict cookie laws also force changes on the search engine. Items on a website may also break with time or server updates.
- Market demands: The market also changes, and what was once a very profitable product could be in decline.
- Copycats: Sometimes, websites performing out of bad faith will scrape your content and publish duplicate material, trying to get SEO quick. Unfortunately, this affects your rankings too.
Consequently, SEO is no longer a ‘set and forget’ strategy – think of it as ‘SEO monthly maintenance.’ It needs to be updated to survive against the changes brought on by your competitors, market changes, search engine algorithms, and whatever else life throws its way.
SEO Maintenance: Why the best SEO is Ongoing
Business owners and online marketers should not underestimate the importance of ongoing SEO maintenance.
As rankings change, more data-led insights and amendments are needed to ensure that your brand’s digital presence can stand up or rise with the waves—some businesses, especially those starting up, attempt to oversee an ongoing SEO strategy themselves.
While business owners can save some cost upfront by taking on this task themselves, an SEO analyst becomes much more critical to your SEO success when you want to scale up.
Through a suite of digital tools and software, an SEO analyst can spot unnecessary items on a site and where the opportunities are to gain a better footing in the search engine’s rankings when, and as they arise. It’s also crucial to respond promptly to these opportunities, as they may become harder to grasp in the future, or the keyword research you have undertaken can change.
You might be thinking, maybe you can just get a subscription to some of the right software, but that is also not enough. While more data is always a good thing, it won’t be as much help when you don’t know what to look for, what the different figures mean and what you should be doing with the information.
A professional analyst should be able to see how to navigate this data with a fine-tuned comb.
With more members on the team, an SEO agency like AdVisible can do more than tell you which actions you need to take to start ranking higher organically. We can oversee and implement the entire strategy.
So you can sit back and watch the numbers of your organic traffic rise.
Next, we monitor and optimise the strategy for the best results.
SEO monthly maintenance involves:
- Checking that content is still accurate and up to date
- Regularly adding new content to maintain growth
- Updating keyword targeting based on what keywords people are using
- Staying on top of emerging top queries in search results
- Watch what your competitors are doing
- Defending competitive keywords
- Making changes to align with Google’s algorithmic changes
- Keep web pages aligned with search intent/expectations
As unexpected changes can occur and your competitors are also looking to gain more keywords, it’s not enough to simply defend or maintain the keywords you have.
That’s why we always recommend a proactive approach.
Going Proactive vs Reactive
At AdVisible, we follow a proactive approach and work to take more ground. As we’ve previously discussed, the market and trends on the internet are constantly changing. What keywords once gave you lots of traffic or a good amount of quality leads a few months ago might dry up later.
That’s why, besides keeping aware of what your competitors online are up to and adding strength to your ranking keywords, we also look for more ways to find and build new avenues for growth – so that you’re always moving forward, not backwards.
A reactive approach, in comparison, would put your strategy five steps behind. Instead of looking ahead, Google and your competitors will be making changes, and you’ll always be running to catch up.
The results of a good proactive SEO strategy are ground breaking.
How long does it take to get SEO results?
SEO is a long-term strategy, which is why at AdVisible, we offer our SEO campaigns in a 6- or 12 months package. It usually takes around this long to see more sizable gains in SEO success, but it usually only takes three months to see the strategy start working.
AdVisible SEO Agency
Our digital marketing agency has achieved incredible results for our clients with SEO.
This year, we achieved two Global Search Awards for our search engine optimisation efforts in 2021, with the Best Use of Search B2B – SEO in 2021 and the Best Local Campaign – SEO in 2021.
We see this as a collaborative process, and so we work with you to understand not just what your goals are and how well your company’s current SEO performs but what your unique value proposition is. It’s essential to communicate with you, understand your brand and goals and gain your approval for the creative elements we create; so that you’re happy with how everything looks and the copywriting best aligns with your brand, products and services offering.
We also keep you updated throughout the process and communicate how our tactics work and how well your site is performing so that you can understand more of what we’re doing.
If you’re looking for an ongoing SEO strategy, feel free to contact us.
We’re happy to work with you, discuss your goals, and create a personalised SEO strategy to help you see growing organic results.
Frequently Asked Questions:
It’s recommended that your website is updated regularly for SEO purposes. This could involve adding new content, refreshing existing content, posting blogs and making technical improvements. Aim for consistent updates to keep your site relevant to both users and search engines.
SEO is a long-term strategy, and it typically takes time to see significant results. While some improvements may be noticeable within a few months, achieving substantial SEO success often requires consistent effort over several months.
Keyword rankings can change due to various factors, such as changes in search algorithms, updates to competitor websites, or shifts in users’ behaviour and preferences. That’s why regular monitoring and adaptation to these changes are key for maintaining and improving keyword rankings.
Google algorithm changes refer to updates made to the algorithms that determine search engine rankings. These updates can impact how websites are ranked in search results, affecting SEO strategies and website visibility.
Adding new content regularly is important for SEO because it signals to search engines that your website is active and relevant. Fresh content provides more opportunities to target keywords, attract backlinks, and engage with your audience, all of which can improve your SEO performance.
