How Long Do I Need SEO For? Understanding What To Expect

An SEO marketing campaign seems like a great investment. You can work with an expert SEO expert developer to optimise your website, target keywords, build a better user experience, and rank higher on Google.

That sounds great! But how long do you need SEO for? When can you stop your project, say goodbye to your Search Engine Optimisation consultant, and enjoy the fruits of your labours? Well, the answer is not as simple as you may think. You need SEO for as long as you have your website!

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How Long Do I Need SEO For? As Long As You Have A Website!

The question “how long do I need SEO for” is not really applicable at all. There’s no time period after which it’s a good idea to stop optimising your website for SEO. Unlike another type of marketing campaign – like a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign or running a TV commercial, SEO campaigns are not intended to end, at least not in a traditional sense.

This is because SEO is a continuous process. It’s true that, at the beginning of an SEO project, your website will need a lot of work, optimisation, and changes. After these major changes are made, you may think that this marks the end of your project. But that’s not true.

Even after you’ve made major changes to your website, you need to continuously maintain your SEO strategy for the best results. If you don’t do so – and you stop working to improve SEO – your investment will be wasted.

Understanding Why SEO Isn’t A “One-And-Done” Project

As you can see, there’s no such thing as a one-time SEO marketing campaign – at least, not if you want to make the most of your investment.

But why? Why is it such a bad idea to stop your SEO strategy – why do you need to maintain it continuously? Here are just a few reasons that you should always maintain your SEO strategy as long as your website and business are operational.

Why a need for SEO?

1. SEO is always changing based on user behaviour

If your website was optimised for search engines 10 years ago, based on cutting-edge user behaviour and SEO strategies, it would be significantly outdated today – and it likely would be very low on Google search results.

Why does this happen? Because search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are always looking for new ways to adjust their algorithms based on user behaviour. For example, more than half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices – so Google now prioritises mobile-friendly websites in its search rankings.

Google has released hundreds of updates – both large and small – for its search engine since it was first built, and each update brings changes that can seriously impact your future SEO strategy. By making SEO a continuous process, you can stay on top of these changes, and make sure you’re in the best position to take advantage of them.

2. Inactivity can cause drops in your page rankings

Maintaining an active website is a good way to keep your web pages ranking highly in Google. By publishing blog posts, adjusting content for SEO regularly, and targeting new keywords frequently, you can make sure that your website stays active, and maintains the best possible position for your desired keywords and key phrases.

In addition, continuing to publish new posts and content helps build the overall authority of your website by allowing you to target new keywords, building internal links, external links, and backlinks, and converting more customers who are attracted to your high-quality, unique, and informative content.

Conversely, failing to keep your website updated will lead to lower overall rankings – both for new pages and for existing pages. A continuous SEO strategy will help you avoid this issue entirely.

3. Your competitors are probably still investing in SEO

When your page rankings drop, someone else will take your place – and that means your competitors will start ranking higher than you on search engine results.

This is a big deal, even if you slip down a spot or two on Google results. The first 3 results on Google get 75% of all clicks – so if you drop below this spot, your competitors will start collecting organic traffic that used to go to your own website. Maintaining an active SEO strategy is essential for avoiding this.

4. There’s always room for improvement in your SEO strategy

If you work with an experienced SEO firm for SEO strategy, they will always be monitoring your website and your content to look for areas where you can improve.

Using data-based analytics, your team can tell which content is performing well, make adjustments, research and alter keywords, and perform a wide variety of other tasks to make sure your SEO strategy stays on course.

How Long Does It Take For My SEO Strategy To Start Working?

Whether you’re making your own SEO efforts to boost your search engine rankings, or you’ve hired a digital marketing strategy company to help with your SEO strategy, you may be wondering how long it takes for SEO to start working. When will you start to get a higher rank in Google search results?

First, it’s important not to have unrealistic expectations. SEO is not a short-term strategy designed to boost your page rankings overnight. Your SEO campaign will be designed to offer long-term results that will boost your rankings on the front page of Google for months and years to come.

Because of this, you probably won’t see results in a day, a week, or even a month. In fact, most SEO agencies inform business owners that they will likely start to see results within 4-6 months – while some results may show up sooner, this is when you’ll really start to notice a difference in the front page of Google and other search engines.

This is because the ranking factors that affect your website take a long time to change. It may take a long time for search engine crawlers to register the changes in your website – though there are ways to speed up this process.

It also will take a lot of time to alter, rebuild, and adjust your website with technical SEO – changing the website’s architecture, design, and performance to improve its SEO rankings.

You may also need to invest some time and money into content marketing – this lets you build great content that targets specific keywords, build a stronger backlink profile on other websites through guest posting, and improve overall website engagement – further helping your business rise in global and local SEO rankings.

During this time, it’s important to be patient. If you’ve hired an experienced SEO firm like Australian Internet Advertising, it’s only a matter of time before you start to see great results – and we always keep you informed about the latest metrics and your website’s performance throughout the SEO process.

Get The Best Results With SEO Strategy From Australian Internet Advertising

SEO is a complex field – and it can be difficult to understand where to start. If you’re still not sure that SEO is worth it, or are not convinced that you need to invest in continuous SEO strategy and services from an expert marketing firm, Australian Internet Advertising is here to help.

Contact us today, and we’ll schedule a consultation where we can discuss the importance of SEO, how it can help you overcome common business challenges, and what to expect when you hire an SEO professional. Get started now – and see how SEO services from Australian Internet Advertising can transform your business for the better.