Just like life itself, SEO is a constantly changing field and if you don’t go with the flow, adapting to new circumstances you are going to find yourself stuck with-out-of date practices that could be bad for your site’s reputation!
Here you’ll find 7 basic SEO facts that you must never forget.
It used to be that what happened online was treated quite apart from the old fashioned offline marketing world. But not any more! The boundaries between off and online worlds are every day less distinct and today’s campaigns have to work simultaneously across the board when it comes to paid search, social media, content marketing and all other aspects of SEO.
You need to ensure that your marketing teams are all on the same page and focusing on promoting the same aspects of your goods or services. The name of today’s SEO game is unity, and in building a brand consistency and repetition are key.
Make sure the messages both on and offline are concentrating on the same ends and you’ll find you will get better returns on their marketing budget – which can only go to enhance your reputation for professionalism.
Don’t take your high Google ranking for granted. You’re only as good as today’s SERP listing and you risk falling off the radar at any instant whenever you start to take your success as your due. Competition is ever more intense and everyone is aiming for the top slot. You need to work both to keep old customers interested and woo newcomers to your goods or services.
Keep on top of adjustments in search engine algorithms or before you know it your placement could be affected, you could see business drop off and you may even lose your future prospects to your more up-to-date SEO competition on Google.
These days we are constantly tweaking content, page headers, links, title tags and so on in our attempts to improve performance and adapt to the latest search engine algorithms. Don’t make the mistake of arrogance and assume that all the changes you make have to be for the best. You may be great at SEO but we are all only human and we can all make mistakes. Run the analytical tools to check that the changes are for the better and are positively affecting your business instead of the other way around.
Make regular analysis part of your SEO routine. You may have added a block of new text, or made changes to the home page that can cause page ranking to plummet. Go over all proposed changes first to avoid this type of disaster which can wreak havoc with online traffic, growth and sales too.
With new Content Management Systems constantly being developed and updated to improve functionality and productivity, it can be tempting to think that SEO life would be easier with a new system in place. Maybe so – but look before you leap. You need to double check that you’re migrating to a new CMS that is compatible with your existing SEO, or you could lose your online traffic and see customer take up and sales plummet in one fell swoop.
Don’t be deluded because the new CMS describes itself as “SEO friendly” or “search engine ready” – this is no guarantee that all your previous hard SEO fixes will continue to work seamlessly under the new system. It probably simply means that the new CMS has the tools to be adjusted where necessary, and that you can amend title tags, define individual page URLs, add meta-elements, create site maps or make other adjustments as and when you choose.
However, simply having these tools at your disposal is not the same as actually using them to work for you. You still need to know what you are doing and how.
If you do plan to migrate to a new CMS it’s good to work closely with their site designer and programmer to make sure you are all on the same page and can fix any hiccups that do arise – before your SERP placement suffers, or even worse, before you vanish off the online map.
Be easily and quickly share-able for fast onward propagating of your site content and posts.
There is no one-off SEO fix that will be good for all time, all sites and all media. SEO today is an ongoing, interconnected process with a ripple-on effect and requires constant analysis and regular maintenance to keep the system working as planned. Google and other search engine algorithms rely on user trust, social signals and authoritative backlinks to be able to rank your site. You need to ensure that the SEO you implement today grows your site’s reputation and status since there are no easy fixes or shortcuts to promote these types of third party votes of approval.
Be ready to embrace changes whenever they may occur. You need to keep flexible and accept that what you fix today will need adjusting again in the future. Today’s pace of technological innovation means that you have to keep on your toes and be ready to venture beyond your comfort zone. Otherwise you risk falling by the SEO wayside and being put out to graze! To sum up the wise words of Lao Tzu, who founded Taoism, to resist change is to embrace the path of sorrow. May you and your SEO move forward in joy!