In uncertain times or when you face business interruptions, it’s easy to jump the gun and focus on reducing outgoing costs without considering the long term impact. A key example of this is pausing SEO services. While it can be tempting to reduce your spending, it’s essential you understand the effects this can have rather than receiving a shock further down the line. Here are some key things to know.
Giving Your Competitors the Key to Success
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is often described as a marathon, not a sprint. It involves carefully crafted strategies that need to be continually refined. The most successful campaigns are those which learn from their competition, so if other businesses in your sector are close behind you, it will be much easier for them to outrank you if you stop SEO services.
Falling Down the Search Results
When you’ve worked hard to improve your rankings for target keywords, it’s important to maintain your position at the top. Stopping SEO means you’re no longer fanning the flames which keep things alight. Those who pause SEO may not see an immediate drop when it comes to their position in the search results, but it will start to happen, especially if your competitors have continued their SEO efforts.
Google is continually changing its algorithms, so you may also find you become a victim of one of their updates if your site no longer scores highly on their criteria. As your website slips down the rankings, this will result in less traffic coming your way and a decline in online sales.
A Lack of Fresh Content
Keeping up with competitors and outranking them means feeding Google with a constant source of new data that shows you’re an active business and a leading force in the your niche. This includes creating optimised content on your website, as well as continually adapting SEO strategies to ever-changing needs. So, if stopping your SEO means also stopping regular content development, you can expect to see negative consequences.
Longer Recovery Times
It can take time to recover if you’ve seen the side effects of pausing SEO services, so starting again as soon as possible will help with the recovery. Speak to your SEO provider about what they can do to help you, even if you need to look at reducing costs. Investing in SEO can give you an incredible return on investment, so it’s worth considering how your campaigns could help you make money.
Need more advice?
At JJ Solutions, we’re always happy to chat through your options, tailoring our web services to the needs of your business, including both your short and long term aims. Call us now on 020 3871 8773 to find out more about what we can do for you.
