How Often Should You Revisit Your SEO Strategy?

October 1st, 2019 by Raquel Paiz

So you want to know how often you should revisit your SEO strategy. My recommendation? Go back to the basics! Google is constantly updating its algorithm, so your rankings can always be affected. That means you should constantly be on top of the strategy you set in place to ensure you’re being effective and generating results. When considering how often to revisit your strategy, it would be a good idea to consider the things that affect your rankings. The major players are keywords and content.

The Key to Keywords

The way people search for things is always changing. Where people used to Google the term “marketing company,” they may now Google “marketing company near me.” It’s one thing to rank well, it’s another thing for people to be able to find you based on what they’re searching for. If you aren’t ranking well for terms people are using, this won’t benefit you in achieving your marketing goals.

If you keep a record of your original keyword research, you can always refer back to it to determine if those search volumes have increased or decreased over time. This will allow you to stay relevant on which keywords work best for you. Since it’s recommended that you revisit your keyword strategy every quarter for campaigns and promotions, it’s also a good bet to do this for SEO.

Keeping Content Fresh

Before you worry about keeping your content fresh, you need to ensure it fits the recommended guidelines set by Google. Title tags are important because they are often the first thing a visitor sees when they search for something and you pop up in their results. Meta descriptions also display in search engine results and should provide visitors some context about that page’s content. Even though that doesn’t directly affect your rankings, it affects people wanting to visit your website, which can affect rankings.

Title tags and meta descriptions also need to fit within the length recommendations and include the keywords you chose for the campaign, if possible. If the keywords you chose and used throughout your content at the beginning of the campaign are no longer relevant, then it might be time to go back to the drawing board. When these two elements are concise and relevant, they can positively influence your rankings. Just make sure to keep an eye out for any updates made on recommended guidelines for content by Google.

As far as content on your website, you can always tell if the website page has good and relevant content by how many visits it receives. Low webpage visits can be a good indicator that it may be time for a refresh. This does not exclude old content. While publishing new content is a great way to increase rankings, you can always revisit old content and give it a little TLC to see if the work you already put in can still work for you.

Off-Page

When it comes to off-page SEO, here is where it can get a little tricky. There are times where we aren’t in control of the things that happen off your site, like with backlinking, but there are tools and options to assist you in taking back as much control as possible. Let’s say you find a link to your website to be spammy; you can contact the webmaster and request it be removed. There’s no telling if or when this may happen, but you can always combat this by gaining new links from authoritative sites.

When it comes to listings, you want to ensure your information is consistent across all platforms. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, you should make it a point to submit to as many listings as you can. A great tool you can use for this is Bright Local. It works to show you inconsistencies throughout the listings you currently have, as well as new opportunities you can submit to. It’s best to keep an eye on these and revisit them every month.

An additional tool that is always accessible to you is social media. This is a great way to create awareness for your business and potentially gain more and new visitors to your website. Staying on top of your social media campaigns is a sure way to help your rankings. If you see a campaign is not performing well, then it may be time to reconsider what changes need to be made to make it better. While social media doesn’t increase your rankings, it can help gain new visitors and increase potential backlinking, which will.

In the End

There isn’t an exact recipe that will get you to rank number one. The key to running an effective strategy and campaign is to consistently revisit it. Remaining proactive when it comes to algorithm updates and keeping your website full of organic and fresh content will always be your best bet. If you consistently check and adjust, you’ll be on the right path! And if you need some expert assistance with your SEO or content marketing strategies, start a conversation with the New Orleans SEO pros at Search Influence.

Images: Desk