At Vortex Digital, one of our core SEO principles is that on-board SEO should be done once, right. While this is true, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go back to update the content, meta data and keywords from time to time. In this month’s Vortex Marketing blog, we will discuss when you should revisit your on-board SEO, and guidelines to follow when auditing and updating your website.
What Is OnBoard SEO?
Your website’s onboard SEO includes your domain name, title and description tags, the written content on your website, the names and alt text of its images, and the overall page structure. When crawling your website, Google will take all of this information into account when determining your search ranking for specific keywords.
Because of this, onboard SEO is not really a constant, on-going project that needs to be maintained on a daily basis, but as stated earlier, it does need some TLC every once in a while.
The question is: when should you update your onboard SEO?
The Focus of Your Business Changes
One reason to update the on-board SEO on your website is if the focus or services you want to drive traffic to shifts overtime. For example, one of our clients, a landscaping and hardscaping company here in Iowa, recently wanted to start promoting their snow removal service in preparation for this winter in order to start booking local businesses ahead of time. However, when we launched the website last spring, snow removal was not a priority (as snow is not common in Iowa during the spring and summer, thank goodness).
But with the temperature dropping and landscaping work slowly coming to an end, our client decided it was time to shift focus to a different area, and adjust the website SEO to reflect this. We updated the title and description tags of the main pages to include keywords related to snow removal and added a new page dedicated to snow removal.
To help decide if the focus of your business has changed, we recommend performing a site audit every few months or so. You should review every page of your website, including the meta data and written copy, and decide if it still reflects your business’ goals and what you want to accomplish. If your goals have shifted, it’s time for the content on your website to shift as well!
The Focus of Your Audience Changes
Another reason to update the on-board SEO on your website is if the focus and behavior of your audience changes. This can be a little harder to gauge, but it does happen to some fields.
For example, regarding Vortex Digital, we find that people use the keywords “website design”, “web design”, “website development” and “web development” interchangeably when referring to our services. Every few months, we find that the frequency of these keywords shifts. In the beginning of the year, most people may be searching for “web design”, but for some reason, in the summer, “website development” becomes the most common search.
When we notice a shift like this, we adjust our meta data and written content to reflect it. Normally this does not involve completely rewriting pages, but strategically editing key pages and sections of the website to better reflect what our audience is searching for.
Performing keyword research every few months is imperative when identifying shifts, and like the previously mentioned site audits, we recommend doing this every few months or so. It’s important to ensure that the focus of your website is in agreement with what your target audience is searching for.
Check in next month, when we will make the most out of Google Trends, one of the most effective, free keyword research tools available to small business owners!
Do you think your website is in need of an SEO tune up? Want to improve your business’ organic ranking? Visit Vortex Digital Business Solutions or call us at 319.621.0191 today!