Website update: why you should revisit your SEO regularly

SEO changes constantly. It’s important to stay ahead of the search engines and revisit and update your strategy regularly.

The Google search algorithm changes 500 to 600 times a year. These tweaks vary from the barely noticeable to unannounced overhauls of how Google chooses what users see. As a result, SEO changes all the time, so it’s important to revisit your SEO – and wider strategy – regularly to assess what may need to be updated. 

Keeping up with Google is relatively straightforward. You can search online for the latest information to learn what the latest updates mean for SEO best practice. Below we’ve outlined the three main reasons why you must track the latest SEO changes. 

Refreshed content will boost your search rankings

While there is always a need for new content to achieve better search engine rankings, updating your existing content to reflect current trends and keywords is quicker than drafting something from scratch and can have the same impact.

To prevent well-ranked but potentially outdated content from showing in search results, Google gives all content a ‘freshness factor’, which peaks when a piece is published and slowly wanes thereafter. Updating a piece of previously well-performing content reboots its freshness factor and gives you more visibility with minimal effort.

It’s hard to beat an attention-grabbing headline. A refresh of your headlines and descriptions will also make Google take a second look at your content. Use a maximum of eight words or 70 characters per headline to strike the perfect balance between piquing reader interest and revealing the content that follows. The connection between headline and body copy can be reinforced by using the latest relevant keywords in both.

Making these types of amendments a part of your content strategy will ensure your website is always performing at its best so that when changes arrive there’s no need to panic.

Implementing the latest SEO trends will support your website during algorithm changes

Run regular SEO audits on your website. Make any required changes and follow the latest best practice so that you are in the strongest starting position and likely to need only minimal changes to your content and SEO strategy should a major algorithm update occur. 

Be ready for a Google release but, once it happens, wait for a while before acting. Changes take time to appear, so a wholesale restructure of your site’s content within hours of any algorithm alterations may do more harm than good. Use valid sources to break down what the update means for your site and then carry out changes only if necessary.

Major updates to the Google algorithm highlight how vital it is to update your SEO regularly. Not only do they highlight the ever-changing nature of the SEO landscape, but also the importance of a timely approach to SEO for coping with whatever Google conjures up. By being prepared, you’ll never be blindsided.

Poorly performing content affects your site as a whole

Although Google ranks each piece of content individually, it also looks at your website overall to assess how useful it is to searchers. Every landing page or blog should be optimised for the reader first and the search engines second when it is published. If a piece of content is underperforming, see how you could repurpose and reoptimise it with your audience in mind. 

Just think of the rankings boost that could come from an influx of 50 or more well-optimised, up-to-date pieces of content that let your audience know what they need to know.

With SEO, the end justifies the means, and this a great way to transform failing content into a powerful traffic-gaining and rankings boosting tool.

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