When first speaking with a potential SEO client to get a sense of the history of their business and their business website there are certain things that stand out that tell us either 1. This website and company will be great to work with and we will be able to get them SEO results or 2. There are red flags present that could hinder the success of an SEO campaign.
One important thing that we take into consideration is the consistency of the company. How long have they been around? How long has the website existed? How long have they offered the products and or services that they offer today? A company that has proven longevity in an industry is more likely to succeed with SEO than a company that is just starting out.
This is true for a few reasons. First, trust plays a large role in how a website gets ranked and indexed. The search engines want to provide users with the best possible search result. There is a greater likelihood that a site that has been around for awhile is more likely to provide that than a brand new site. Fly by night sites pop up all the time and then disappear within a few months. The search engines don’t want to direct users to that type of site (and business).
Second, we know that a company that has been consistent will also execute a consistent SEO campaign, the keyword research and link building activities that are scheduled will be relevant and improve SEO results for the duration of the campaign.
It’s understandable that a company will need to adapt as its customers’ needs change, but there is a difference between adapting and changing your product or service entirely. We’ve seen it happen plenty of times. A business sets out in one direction, then decides to change their approach, which can affect their entire website and SEO campaign. An SEO campaign is long term.
Once you conduct keyword research and implement keywords on the site, you need to let it those pages begin to age for those targeted keywords. In the meantime, you are using those keywords within other online marketing efforts and within additional web content that you are creating, both on your site and in the form of guest posts on other sites. It already takes long enough to start to see some traction.
If you are shifting your focus every year or so, it’s essentially like starting over from an SEO standpoint. You need to re-do the keyword research and then change all of your other online marketing efforts to be in line with the new products or services. When you do this, it shouldn’t be surprising that organic search visitors aren’t increasing at a steady rate.
If your company is considering changing its offerings or undergoing a rebranding campaign, it’s best to hold off on SEO until everything has been decided. You don’t want to get halfway into an SEO campaign only to switch gears and start targeting a different audience.
