When Should You Change Your SEO Strategy?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies ensure your articles and websites receive high quality and an increased quantity of inbound traffic. Frequently changing your SEO strategy affects the ranking factors determining which websites pop up first. Your SEO strategy should ensure that your website is among the first to appear in related keyword searches.
You’re free to stay with one strategy for a long time, but switching it up shows you’re active and attentive. Here’s a guide for when to change your SEO strategy and keep your content ahead of the curve.
Follow a Set Schedule for Making Changes
Essentially, you should change or update your SEO strategy quarterly, but you can extend it to every six months. The longer the amount of time that has passed, the more likely keywords have changed since new content is written and posted daily.
To keep up with your competitors and remain relevant, you need to ensure your keywords meet the current market demand. Research trending keywords and naturally replace old keywords to increase your SEO ranking.
Update Relevant Items to Match Your Keyword Changes
SEO strategies focus on keywords, meta descriptions, and title tags. You have to change your strategy such that the keywords align with the meta description and title tags. Otherwise, your website won’t be among the high-ranked websites in your sector.
If one aspect doesn’t align with the others, algorithms categorize your content as an unreliable source. Whenever you update the keywords in your website, analyze whether they relate to the meta descriptions and title tags as well. If not, tinker with your metadata and your keywords until they align.
Update Your Site When Google Releases a New Algorithm
You must change your SEO strategy when a new algorithm is released into the ether. Google generates algorithms to determine the most useful websites for consumers. Every few months, Google changes its algorithms such that your website could easily be left out. Your SEO strategy only works if you’re up-to-date on the latest changes, so Google’s algorithm favors your website.
Start familiarizing yourself with the following items:
- Research various trusted websites that post about SEO
- Follow up on Google’s announcements regarding changes in algorithms
- Evaluate the algorithm changes mentioned in the articles, and determine the changes, if any, you need to make to your website
Monitor Your Website Traffic
If your website traffic decreases, it should be a major wake-up call. Tracking your website’s traffic is the first indicator of a successful or unsuccessful SEO strategy. More traffic means more prospective clients. The opposite is also true: less traffic means fewer leads. If you’re struggling to pick up sales, it’s time to overhaul your SEO strategy.
Conduct research into keywords others are searching for and write relevant content. Publish your content regularly and promote them on your social media platforms. The more those pages are shared online, or backlinks are created, the higher your site’s content will rank.
Once implementing these changes, monitor your traffic to determine its performance. If your website gains more traffic, it’s a great sign that you’re on your way to an improved SEO strategy.
Create Demand and a Buzz
We’ve established that the easiest way to determine whether your strategy is successful is by examining the traffic to your website. No changes in traffic, and even worse, a decrease indicates that something isn’t working for your audience and they’re craving a change.
The best part about something not working is that it opens you up to many possibilities to try something new. Your SEO strategy should increase traffic to your website. Brainstorm ways to generate hype around your brand, for example, craft promotional content, reach out to partners to spread the word, and even offer a discount.
Ensure Your Website is Fast and Phone Friendly
Nowadays, most people search online using their phones and can pay for services and products at their fingertips. If your website doesn’t work on mobile devices, search engines will rank it lower than other websites in the category that works on smartphones.
The same applies to the speed of your site because search engines want to provide the best options to their consumers. Analyze your website’s speed and workability on phones to determine if your SEO strategy needs a change.
Update Your Site and SEO Keywords with New Products or Services
Companies constantly change and introduce new elements of their business. When introducing new products or services, ensure that you change the keywords and titles of elements on your website.
Each time you make changes to your company, analyze the impact of the changes to your website and how it affects your SEO. Examine how traffic flow to your website changes after introducing new products, services, or content.
Monitor and Update Business Profiles on Local Listings
SEO strategy includes optimizing local listings. By checking the listings and verifying the information, you ensure that all local listings include the correct business information. Your business profile on local listings helps prospective customers to get your details from various avenues, so ensuring they are correct and present promotes your company. Correct listings also increase traffic flow to your website.
If you find some listings and the information provided does not match your current business information, you need to correct them. Also, if some listings in your category do not include your business information, you should change your SEO strategy to optimize those listings. Each listing you update is a potential customer lead to your door.
Final Thoughts
Changing your SEO strategy doesn’t have to be a daunting task. It’s not an overhaul of your brand or style but a plan to refine it. Hone in on your keywords and ensure metadata matches the information on your site. Utilize traffic analytics to determine if marketing strategies need to come into play. Design your website to be mobile-friendly and provide up-to-date information regarding your business profile.
SEO strategies are not one-size-fits-all, but you’re guaranteed to find one that works for you and fits like a glove.