Optimizing your website for search engines isn’t something you just do once, and then you’re done. Working on your site’s SEO for the first time is just the beginning of getting it to rank well. After you’ve completed that first task, you need to keep a finger on the pulse of SEO. Keeping your site up to date is essential if you want to stay ahead. Things can change all the time, including Google’s algorithms and best practices. It’s critical to ensure you’re not doing anything that has suddenly become unacceptable. So how can you keep up with all the changes? Make sure you’re doing the things below so that you don’t get left behind.
Get Someone Else to Do It For You
The easiest way to do anything is always to get someone else to do it for you. Why do all the hard work yourself when someone else can do it better? If you just don’t have the time to pay attention to SEO, use your money instead. You can find an expert who will take over everything and anything related to SEO for your website. Choosing the right company or individual might seem difficult. You need to decide what you’re looking for in an SEO consultant and know how to tell the good from the bad. Do plenty of research so that you know you’re choosing the right service. Look at reviews from past and current clients, in particular, to help you make your decision.
Perform SEO Audits
An SEO audit helps you to assess the current performance of your website. It identifies the places where you can improve your SEO to rank higher in search results. There are many other business processes that you would audit, including your finances. So why not do the same for your SEO? An audit will check a range of different factors to see how well your site is performing. Factors include keywords, competitors, and technical issues. Each of these things and more will be analyzed to see what you’re doing right and where you’re going wrong. Once you’ve identified any issues, you can work on correcting them.
Use the Right Tools
If you want to make sure that your SEO practices are the best they can be, you need to be able to measure outcomes. In order to do this, you have to have the right tools. There are many SEO tools you can benefit from using. For example, Google’s Analytics tool and Search Console are essential for improving SEO. Some tools are also just excellent for providing you with useful information. For example, Moz’s Google algorithm change history will show you all Google’s major changes since 2000. Check it out at https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change/. You can look at why your site might suddenly be underperforming when it was working fine not too long ago.
Follow the Experts
You don’t always need to be the most knowledgeable person when it comes to SEO. You just need to follow the people who make it their job to know everything. There are hundreds of experts who share their knowledge online in lots of formats. One of the best things to do is to follow their blogs. Subscribe to them so that their latest posts come straight to your inbox. Following people on Twitter or LinkedIn is also an excellent idea. And they’re great places to make conversation. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, particularly in the comments of blog posts where there’s plenty of space for conversation.
Keep Up with the News
You might often hear the latest news from the SEO experts you follow. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t go looking for it yourself. One of the easiest ways to get the news you need is to set up Google Alerts. Create an alert for each of the phrases for which you want to receive the most important news. You can choose how often you receive an email with the latest headlines. However, you can also go looking for things on your own. Subscribe to blogs and identify your favourite websites for keeping up with the news.
Upload New Content Regularly
A website that you never update will have a harder time ranking well in search results. Regularly uploaded, unique content will help to keep your site higher in search engines. It’s important to have a way of adding to your site often. If you’re an ecommerce site, you might add new products or other material. Many sites stay up to date by having a blog, which you can use for blog posts, infographics or even videos. If you don’t take the time to keep updating your site, you could quickly fall behind.
Look Beyond Your Website
Don’t forget that it’s not all about on-site SEO. You also need to pay attention to how you can improve SEO off-site too. For example, social media is important for any modern business. You should be using it to your advantage to help improve your SEO. Although Facebook and Twitter are popular, it’s important not to overlook Google+. It might not be the best platform for being social, but it can help your website perform better. A local business can improve its SEO by creating a business page with Google, for example.
Remember to Keep Up with Mobile
Another thing that is quickly changing and growing is the use of mobile devices. Mobile searches are now incredibly common. So it’s essential that your website and any of your SEO activities are mobile-friendly. Responsive web design is vital if people are going to click through to your site from a mobile search. You might also have adverts that need to be compatible with mobile devices. Don’t forget to include this factor into your considerations when you want to improve your SEO.
You have to be prepared to work on your website’s SEO constantly if you want to stay up to date. If nothing else, make sure you’re always aware of the major changes.
