Is SEO a one-time thing? This heated debate will never end. One-time SEO vs. ongoing SEO: Which would you go ahead with instead? It's a tough decision to make.
However, in this post, seobase will explain each of the SEO types for you, and it is up to you to choose one-time SEO or ongoing SEO – which is more suitable for you and ensures the success of your SEO strategy to achieve a high ranking on SERPs.
What is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, enhances a website's online presence and visibility by optimizing it for search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. It involves a combination of strategies, techniques, and best practices to improve a website's rankings in organic search engine results.
The core objectives of SEO:
Increased Visibility: SEO ensures that your website appears prominently in search engine results when users search for relevant keywords or phrases. Higher visibility increases the likelihood of attracting organic traffic.
Enhanced Relevance: SEO involves optimizing your website's content, structure, and elements to make it more relevant to the queries of your target audience. Relevance is a critical factor in search engine rankings.
Improved User Experience: A fundamental aspect of SEO is enhancing the overall user experience on your website. This includes factors like page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and intuitive navigation.
One-Time SEO or Ongoing SEO – What is the Difference?
Many webmasters can't decide if they need ongoing search marketing, and of course, they can't find the correct answer to the question; is SEO a one-time thing? There's no right and wrong answer to this question. Only you can define what SEO types your website needs.
So, let’s learn more about types of SEO and what is the difference between one-time SEO and ongoing SEO:
One-Time SEO
One-time SEO, also known as "One-off SEO," is a set of actions to improve your website's search engine rankings temporarily. This approach is typically used for short-term goals and may involve strategies and changes such as:
Directory Submissions: Submitting your website to relevant online directories to increase visibility and potentially gain backlinks.
Link Exchange Programs: Collaborating with other websites to exchange links can help improve your site's authority and ranking.
Paid Ads: Running paid advertising campaigns, such as Google Ads, to boost your website's visibility in search results for specific keywords.
One-time SEO is a type of SEO that is usually done once per month. One-time SEO occurs when a new brand or website is built from scratch, optimized for launch, and not monitored or maintained for ranking changes.
Ongoing SEO
On the other hand, ongoing SEO is a process that helps build your brand and reputation online by creating high-quality content, promoting it across social media platforms, and getting links back to it.
Ongoing SEO is a longer-term strategy focusing on building your brand and reputation online. It includes things like:
Creating high-quality content,
Sharing it across social media platforms,
Getting links back to your site.
Ongoing SEO is a type of SEO that should be done every day - it's vital, but it takes time, work, and budget. Ongoing search marketing requires regular review and analysis of analytics. Then, changes are made to the website based on that information. To do this, you must overwork your competitors; therefore, you need to analyze your competitors well.
You can use the seobase Site Profiler tool to get comprehensive and detailed reports on your site audits to see what it needs. Also, you can closely monitor your competitors and get their websites audited and compared to yours.
Structures Approach to SEO
Launching a brand-new website involves significant SEO considerations, but determining the right SEO approach, whether one-time SEO or ongoing SEO, can only be challenging with data-driven insights. Here's a structured approach to navigating this decision:
Initial SEO strategies
When starting with a completely new website, addressing initial SEO tasks is essential. These include on-page optimizations, technical fixes, and keyword research. This serves as the foundation for your SEO efforts.
SEO hacks for uncertainty
If you need help determining which SEO strategy to prioritize (one-time or ongoing SEO), you can implement some SEO hacks initially. These could include optimizing meta tags, creating a sitemap, and submitting your site to search engines.
Monitoring and analysis (6 Months In)
After around six months, closely monitor and analyze SEO data to assess your website's performance. Use tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics to track traffic, keywords, and user behavior.
Leveraging SEO tools
Utilize SEO tools like the seobase Site Profiler to gain in-depth insights through website audit reports. This can help you identify areas that require improvement and refine your SEO strategy.
Patience with updates
It's prudent to wait a few months before making significant SEO adjustments to allow time for new updates to take effect. Frequent tweaks can disrupt the SEO process.
Creating a solid SEO plan
Once you've collected sufficient data and insights, formulate a comprehensive SEO plan. This plan should encompass one-time and ongoing SEO strategies to maximize your website's ranking potential.
It's important to note that whether SEO is a one-time effort has no straightforward answer. To ensure the best results and enhance your website's ranking over time, you should incorporate one-time SEO optimizations and ongoing SEO efforts into your strategy.
Read: How to Prep Your SEO strategy for a New Website
SEO Best Practices
Here are some general best SEO practices to help improve your website's search engine visibility and overall performance:
Keyword research
Thoroughly research keywords relevant to your content or business. Focus on long-tail and competitive keywords that your target audience will likely use in search queries.
High-quality content
Produce content that stands out in terms of quality and relevance. Address the needs and interests of your audience, and aim for originality. Regularly update and refresh your content to keep it current.
On-page optimization
Ongoing SEO also includes optimizing the elements on your web pages:
Crafting compelling page titles that include keywords.
Creating meta descriptions that entice clicks.
Structure your content with headings (H1, H2, H3) and optimize them with keywords.
Keeping URLs descriptive and concise.
Site speed
Improve your website's loading speed by:
Compressing images and files to reduce file sizes.
Minifying code and scripts.
Leveraging browser caching.
Using content delivery networks (CDNs) to distribute content efficiently.
Backlinks
Build high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites in your niche. Natural, earned backlinks from trusted sources can significantly boost your site's authority and rankings.
Technical SEO
Regularly perform technical audits to identify and resolve issues that might hinder search engine crawlers. This includes fixing broken links, addressing duplicate content, and ensuring proper indexing.
By focusing on these ongoing SEO practices, you can enhance your website's visibility in search results, attract organic traffic, and improve your online presence.
Conclusion
This post gives you deep insights into what types of SEO are and what the best practices are in SEO. In addition, it would help you understand the differences and help you decide which SEO compliance is the better fit for your business.
One-time SEO refers to a set of actions that will improve your search engine rankings for a specific period of time. On the other hand, ongoing SEO refers to a series of actions that will improve search engine rankings over an extended period of time.
You need to define your priorities for your SEO strategy. An SEO business takes 6 to 12 months to impact your brand positively. This time estimate changes according to many factors that may be affected by an increase or decrease. The most important of these factors is the intensity of competition in your industry. Are you the only one who can decide whether your brand needs a one-time SEO service or just lean on ongoing search marketing?
Keep up with seobase to take your SEO strategy to the next level!
