Nick Stamoulis’ recent blog – Don’t Neglect to Revisit On Site SEO – is a great reminder that search engine optimization is an ongoing effort and not a project-based endeavor.

We’ve all had clients that ask the question, “How long will this take? 3 months?” and I always respond in the same way… “It depends what you’re looking for.” If you’re looking for us to optimize your site for the short term, then sure… we can do it in 3 months and be done with it. If you’re looking for site traffic and ranking improvement on an ongoing, consistent basis, then it’s something you need to be constantly doing.

As Nick points out, once the site itself is optimized – keywords are in place, copy reflects a smart usage of those keywords, Meta data is updated and in place – then a smart link building (off-page) effort needs to start. Does that mean that you’re done with your site? Absolutely NOT! Search engine optimization, if done correctly, takes time. Go back to your site, review analytics and see where there are opportunities to make adjustments.

1. Start with your keywords. Search behavior changes constantly, so be on the lookout for keywords on your list that may have changed the way they are used. Your analytics can tell you what keywords are driving traffic and consequently which ones are not. Adjust accordingly.

2. Adjust Meta data based on the new keywords. New keywords require new Meta titles, descriptions, H1 tags, image tags, etc.

3. Adjust and update copy for the new keywords. If you’ve changed keywords you need to make sure that your copy reflects those changes.

4. Have a blog? Write some blogs using the new keywords. This will help boost your site (at least in the short term) for the newly added terms.

5. Update your XML sitemap.

Google loves fresh, new content. Adjusting and updating your on-page SEO efforts will be well worth your time and effort. If you’re agency is NOT consistently – like every 4-6 months or so – at least looking at updating their optimization efforts, then you may want to consider a change.

Put another way… optimize your site optimization efforts for optimal results!

photo credit Photo Credit to Noel Feans