What is ongoing SEO? Find out everything you need to know

6 tips to get your ongoing SEO just right

If you say that you don’t dream about your website topping  Google’s search result pages, you’re either lying or you don’t know how business works in the 21st century. Using SEO in your favor is the key to making this dream come true for your company.

Many SEO strategies exist, especially when it comes to ranking higher on search engines.

On-page SEO, off-page SEO, Technical SEO, ongoing SEO… so many terms, you’d be forgiven for getting confused. In this article, we’ll focus on ongoing SEO.

Does Search Engine Optimization (SEO) live up to the hype?

Investing in SEO will be inevitable in 2023 if you haven’t done so already. No doubt many companies are selling the same product or service as yours, so to increase your online sales and increase your internet presence, you need to stand out on search engines such as Google. Here’s why:

• Google processes over 99,000 searches per second (Internet Live Stats, 2022).
• Over 46% of users that are interested in buying a specific product start their purchase journey by Googling it (Jumpshot, 2018).
• 75% of users focus exclusively on results from the first search results page (Search Engine Journal)
• 70 – 80% of users don’t pay attention to ads and prefer organic search results (Search Engine Journal)
• 90% of internet users are likely to click on the first set of search engine results (Searchengineland, 2018).

The numbers don’t lie. A strong search position will be sure to help your business, and SEO is the best way to achieve this, by boosting your search engine ranking in an organic way.

How long should your SEO investment be?

SEO is not a one-time investment. It takes time to make an impact, and should be constantly assessed and updated. Let’s not sugarcoat it: the results won’t come overnight.

To make a cooking analogy: you’re not cooking ramen noodles. You’re making authentic Italian pasta with handmade dough and freshly picked tomatoes. There is no way to rush the process.

SEO also involves perseverance, constant attention and improvements. That’s where ongoing SEO comes in.

What is ongoing SEO?

Ongoing SEO takes all of the SEO work you’ve done in the past and checks to see if it is still working. The Internet is constantly changing, and so is the way in which search engines unearth relevant content for their users.

A number of online tools can help with Ongoing SEO, including:

• Google Analytics
• MySEOTool
• Moz tools

But these tools are worthless without someone who can understand the data and identify what needs to be done with it. Ongoing SEO can help you here, by:

• comparing strategies and deciding which will prompt the better performance
• checking whether your competitor is standing out more than you
• providing an up-to-date view of search engine algorithms – which are constantly evolving
• identifying market changes
• increasing your website’s sales, brand awareness and organic traffic

Fun fact: Do you know how often Google changes its algorithms? Around 500 to 600 times per year, according to Moz.

To help you in this mission, here are some ongoing SEO tips:

Quality over quantity

First of all, focus on the quality of your strategy and content over quantity. You can improve texts that are already written, but remember to make them fresh and interesting to your users.

You want more than just one-time visitors. You want your audience to come back and refer to you as an authority on the subjects which you are writing about.

Choose wisely who you link to

That said, you’ll need to associate with reliable websites, which will lend their relevance to your brand. Search engine algorithms may take this into account when ranking your site.

Don’t over-target keywords

If search bots identify any blackhat SEO techniques on your website, you could face penalties. Long and short-tail keywords have to be used carefully, and in an organic way.

Don’t repeat these keywords everywhere. Intead, try to use them:

• in the title
• In the first or second paragraph of the text
• In the last paragraph of the text
• Once or twice in the middle of the content
• In the URL
• Front-load your keyword in your title tag
• In your image file names
• This one is optional: in the thin line – in case there is one.

We can’t stress this enough: only use keywords if they are inserted organically, and don’t force them into the content.

Your content has to make sense

If your website is about sustainability, it makes no sense to talk about the day-to-day advantages of using petrol derivatives. Ensure that your content matches the intention of your page.

Search engines are no fools

This seems like a good tip to conclude with. Search engine algorithms belong to so-called Artificial Intelligence for a reason: they are pretty smart.

The changes they go through are primarily dictated by search engine users, although they may not realize it. Search engines are constantly learning from the way people consume content online.

Treating search engines like static, unthinking tech is not the way to go.

Now you don’t just know what ongoing SEO is, you’ve also grasped the best SEO practices to be applied to your strategy. There are no excuses anymore. Get to work, and break a leg!