Why Ongoing SEO Maintenance is Crucial for Website Performance and Customer Acquisition
Did you know that Google releases more than 4,300 updates to its search algorithm annually? Since 2021, the frequency of these updates has continued to scale and impact the search engine optimization (SEO) of websites worldwide.
Many know about SEO and its role in increasing website visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). Less are aware of how continuous monitoring and updates are necessary for successful results. SEO is not a one and done endeavor. Continuous optimization of your website’s organic search capabilities (i.e., how customers are finding your website during Google searches) is imperative to ensuring your website receives the most qualified traffic and benefits your users. Search engine algorithms evolve, user behaviors shift and competitors adapt strategies, so staying informed about your website’s SEO health provides the opportunity to ensure it stays relevant. Failing to upkeep SEO strategies can lead to missed opportunities, decreased visibility and setbacks in organic search performance — all leading to potential revenue loss for business owners.
While the overall importance of SEO generally known, understanding the intricacies of the different types of SEO is best handled by a professional Orlando digital marketing agency.
What is the Difference Between, On-page, Off-page, and Technical SEO?
There are three main types of SEO, all of which require continued upkeep: on-page SEO, off-page SEO and technical SEO. Understanding the differences between these three methods is necessary for implementing and maintaining a comprehensive SEO strategy. Addressing the multiple aspects of optimization significantly enhances search engine rankings, user experiences and overall brand awareness.
Keep reading to learn about these three types of search engine optimization and the significance of maintaining each.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO is the optimization of elements on a website’s own pages for search engines and users. The ultimate goal of this type of SEO is to heighten quality, visibility, and relevance on each page of your website. This is one of the first approaches that should be taken if you notice your website’s traffic is low, as it is the most straightforward, accessible SEO method. There are many techniques for on-page optimization, some of which include:
- Writing unique, high-quality content: Put information on your web pages that is helpful to your audience and relevant to their interests. This entails conducting keyword research, which reveals the best topics to target for your goals. The findings should be used to choose target keywords and naturally incorporate them into your content.
- Strategically place keywords: Now that you have your keywords, be sure to place them in the areas on your web pages that matter most. Key areas are H1, the first paragraph and throughout subheadings. This also includes avoiding keyword stuffing, or making sure they aren’t overused.
- Write title tags and meta descriptions: Title tags are the pieces of code that tell search engines and browser tabs the web page’s title. Meta descriptions outline a summary of the content on the web page. Title tags should be intriguing and 50 to 60 characters long, meta descriptions shouldn’t exceed 120 characters, and both should always include the page’s target keyword.
- Use headings and subheadings: Structure your page in a way that allows viewers and search engines to understand its hierarchy and contents. The use of headings and subheadings throughout allows users to skim to find what they are searching for, while also enabling search engines to learn about the information included.
- Add internal and external links: Internal links direct readers to different pages on the same website. These are useful as they help search engines understand connections between pages on your website, suggest value lies in the linked-to page and helps users navigate and stay on your site. External links direct users to other websites, which boosts trust.
- Include and optimize images: Adding images and writing alt text to describe them greatly increases the chances of ranking. Especially with the digital landscape becoming increasingly visual, including and optimizing images makes it far easier for search engines and users to find a website.
Off-page SEO
Another important method of optimization is off-page SEO, which involves activities applied outside of a website. These efforts are more complex and time-consuming than on-page SEO, but worthwhile for building credibility. This is crucial for a holistic SEO strategy, as one of Google’s main page quality rating considerations is E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness. Below are some tactics that can be enacted for a website to demonstrate mastery of this criteria:
- Backlinking (Link building): This entails getting authoritative entities to direct users to your website through hyperlinks, which signals to search engines that it is credible and trustworthy. The more high-quality and relevant backlinks a site has, the more authority and value it has in the eyes of users and search engines.
- Content marketing: Sharing valuable, relevant content on platforms aside from your website aids in increasing brand awareness and driving traffic to the website. This includes public relations, influencer marketing, guest posting on other sites, podcasts and of course, social marketing. This is just one of many reasons why strong digital marketing strategies are integral to a brand’s overall success.
- Local SEO: Although it can show up in on-page SEO as well, local SEO as an off-page strategy, focuses on optimizing a business’s online presence to attract local customers. The most impactful methods are utilizing Google Business Profile and NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) citations. Doing so will provide consistent and accurate information about your business across various online platforms, improving its visibility trustworthiness to search engines and local consumers alike.
- Reviews: Strong reviews are a surefire way to gain trust from consumers. They are also taken into consideration by Google during E-E-A-T evaluations, making them crucial to effective off-page SEO. Whether on Google, social media platforms or designated review websites, positive reviews will boost credibility, and in turn, visibility in search results.
Technical SEO
The most complex of the three methods is technical SEO. It requires the website to meet search engines’ technical requirements, which is achieved by coding and configurations. While it is not necessary to be a programmer to address these aspects, having strong technical expertise results in far more effective and efficient results. Some of the most important technical SEO strategies are:
- Site structure: It is ideal for a website’s site structure to be extremely organized and flat, meaning pages should only be a few links away from one another. By creating an easy to follow, navigable hierarchy, search engines can crawl all pages of a site to understand its content.
- Responsive design: Creating a responsive website is important for creating seamless user experiences, but also for increasing its attractiveness to search engines. Google indexes mobile-friendly sites first, so ensuring yours operates consistently across various devices will improve search engine rankings.
- XML Sitemap: By informing search engines what pages are on a website and how to find them, sitemaps are valuable to SEO. In fact, Google cites XML sitemaps as a top source of URL discovery. Be sure your site’s is well-structure and up to date for best results.
- Page speed: A site’s loading speed is highly related to its traffic and rankings, so optimizing it to load as fast as possible is key. Some options for boosting loading speeds are reducing web page size, eliminating third-party scripts, using content distribution networks (CDNs) or compressing images.
There is a wide array of other on-page SEO, off-page SEO and technical SEO strategies that can be pursued to further increase your website’s rankings. No matter what methods are chosen, there are some major takeaways to keep in mind: continuous maintenance is necessary, quality content is key, always prioritize the user experience and lastly, consistency and patience are the secrets to long-term success. These are the lessons we have learned throughout the years of optimizing our partners’ sites, and we can do it for your brand’s too.
We can show your brand the power of a comprehensive SEO strategy. Appleton Creative is an award-winning, full-service Orlando advertising agency that works with local, national and international clients to deliver impressive print, web, public relations, social media and video production services — all in-house. At Appleton, we want to learn about your business, empower your marketing team and be your creative resource. Your advertising goals are worth a conversation: contact us at 407-246-0092 or info@appletoncreative.com.
