taylor ansleyNational Marketing Group
You may have heard the term Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You may understand the basic premise. It’s about making your site and the content you publish easy to find and relevant to your customers using search engines like Google and Bing.
So you may be wondering why SEO isn’t a one-time effort. Why can’t I put these things on my site and forget about it? If your site ranks high in search today, you’re ready to go… right?
If you think of your site as a garden, ongoing maintenance is the same as tending it: removing weeds, making room for flowers to bloom and vegetables to thrive. It’s an ongoing requirement because of the dynamic nature of the digital space and the massive increase in site traffic that can provide your business.
Algorithm change
Google, Bing, and other search engines are updating their algorithms (the formulas and weights they use to rank search results). always. For example, in 2022, Google introduced what it calls “helpful content updates.” This change penalizes sites as a whole (not just individual pages!) that contain content specifically designed to attract search traffic without providing real value to satisfy customer “search intent”. Did. As algorithms change, so must your SEO strategy and content.
Site cleanliness is important
Search engines look at the technical aspects of your site when determining how well your site should rank in searches. This is due to various factors such as broken links (links to nonexistent or moved pages), missing images, duplicate content, checking for outdated content that hasn’t been updated in months, etc. Whether it’s adding new products and brands, removing old models, or rotating promotions and packages, the dynamic nature of e-commerce sites presents plenty of opportunities to accumulate digital junk that needs cleaning up.
Old pages count against you
Do technical SEO edits — clean up digital junk and add proper structure and metadata to newly added content — make sure your site is up to date and regularly updated by Google and others can be shown to search engines. This is a strong signal to Google that your site is relevant and worthy of ranking well in search. The same goes for editing content such as the homepage, testimonials, and location pages. Dynamic content on your site should not be limited to products or pricing.
Your Digital Strategy May Change
We all know the pace of independent retail is fast. Just as your in-store merchandising strategy changes and evolves based on new products, market trends and consumer habits, your digital strategy must also change. Keywords, blog content, metadata, and even URL structures that have served you well in the past need to be re-evaluated to highlight new trends or drive traffic to your most highlighted products and categories. there is. As your priorities change, the data you gather through analytics can inform a shift in strategy: highlighting areas of your site that are under-visited that you want to boost or unexpectedly popular content.
Your Competitors Don’t Stand Still
When it comes to SEO, rest assured that major retailers and other competitors have not taken their feet off the gas. We don’t have the same resources, but many of his SEO strategies rely on the benefits of trusted independent dealers. Localized content that speaks directly to neighbors and family members who have shopped at your store for decades. Leverage your deep customer understanding to highlight what’s important to them.
Taylor Ansley is Senior Director of Digital and E-Commerce at Nationwide Marketing Group. His blog originally appeared on his website at NMG and is reprinted with permission.
