Website maintenance is the chore of keeping it up to date and consistently checking it for problems. Doing this should be done regularly to maintain your website’s functionality, support continued traffic flow, and increase your Google and SEO rankings. The more often you tend to your website the likelier you will notice when your site may need some minor updates.
There are three main reasons to make website maintenance a priority for your business’s success.
SEO
We know that the whole goal behind a website is to grow your business, drive more customers your way, keep them engaged, and convert them into buying customers. This is where SEO maintenance comes into play; ongoing maintenance is simply imperative to achieve each of these goals.
Google looks to rank websites that provide relevant and current information; this means it is in your best interest to update your site with new content, ensure that the material you are sharing is current and that any keywords which you’re looking to rank for are present where appropriate and natural (no keyword stuffing!)
While quality and readable website content is a contributing factor to successful SEO, so is the overall functionality of your website. What’s the point of a website if it doesn’t function the way it’s intended to? Reviewing your site to identify errors, broken links, and any other areas of improvement affects your overall SEO presence as well as the UX.
Nothing is more frustrating than finding the information you’ve been searching for only to be redirected to a 404 error. Diving into the backend of your website allows you to discover such errors ideally before a user does.
Site Speed
Check your site speed; are pages loading within the recommended time frame? Users will quickly leave if they are stuck waiting for a page, thus increasing your bounce rate. Google has indicated site speed (and as a result, page speed) is one of the signals used by its algorithm to determine page rankings.
As part of website maintenance, it’s highly recommended that you check whether your pages are indeed searchable. Search engines use spiders to crawl web pages to determine what’s on it. Google then renders the page and analyzes any text and non-text content, as well as the visual layout – it is these details that Google uses to decide where it should appear in search results. Basically, the easier it is for search engines to understand your site, the better it will be matched to users who are searching for your content. If you have several new or updated pages on your website, use a sitemap to inform Google of these changes.
Attraction/Engagement
If your website is gaining traffic, it’s important to keep those potential customers. If they aren’t able to find what they are looking for, there is a good chance they’ll lose interest quickly and visit your competitor’s site. In order for your website to be the useful tool you want, you’ll need to ensure it clearly demonstrates why your service, product, or resources are of benefit to the user, first and foremost. If you don’t have a testimonials page, this is a valuable asset and one that could make or break a sale, as customers frequently look at past experiences before making the decision to buy.
As part of your website maintenance, it is important to continuously seek out new opportunities for added value. Creating a blog page with bi-weekly posts is another means of attracting and engaging users, positioning your brand as a reputable and trusted source of information. Content marketing is your bread and butter, therefore it’s critical you prioritize this category as part of your website’s routine maintenance. If you keep your website’s content fresh and current your audience will be more inclined to return. Keeping your pages up-to-date, helpful and easy to understand, makes for a pleasant experience for your visitor and may motivate them to convert into a buying customer. Always be sure content is easy to read, helpful, relevant, and free from grammatical errors.
Security
This is the single most important reason to regularly maintain your website, especially if it is storing customer details. If you are using a platform such as WordPress, regular software updates are necessary to prevent hackers from accessing your site. Sites that have sat dormant for too long are easier for hackers to target.
You should also carry out regular system and security scans. Ensuring software plugins and servers are up-to-date can help to prevent your site from being hacked, and protect you from malware, and security threats. Performing regular back-ups on your website should also be part of your ongoing security maintenance. This ensures that if some kind of disaster takes place, you won’t lose your entire website.
Outsource Your Website Maintenance to the Professionals
Unless you are highly trained in web development techniques and the latest SEO strategies, both of which play an important role in website maintenance, we highly suggest outsourcing this ongoing task. Hiring a digital marketing agency to look after your website maintenance, offers several benefits for your business:
- Saves your business time so you can focus on other critical demands
- Take advantage of advanced web applications
- Receive SEO expertise from highly skilled individuals
- Benefit from conversion rate optimization techniques, performed by a team of strategists
- Receive the whole package: content writers, web designers, and web developers
Opting to hire a digital marketing company to handle your website maintenance for you, saves headache, time, and money. At NetGain SEO, our team will help you achieve greater success through ongoing web maintenance that ultimately improves your SEO.
We’ll work with you to ensure your website remains fresh, optimized, easy to navigate, and functioning as it should. Reach out today to learn more about our web maintenance and SEO services.