Why long-term SEO always wins
When speaking to potential clients and business partners, we often get asked, ‘what are the quick SEO wins?’ This is often a result of people suddenly needing more clients or their new website has taken a dive in rankings and they are seeking a ‘quick fix’.
In reality, whilst there are often ‘quick wins’ to be found these will never replace a thorough and well crafted long term SEO strategy. The clients that we have worked with and kept at the top of the search rankings for over ten years, would agree with this.
The Benefits of a Long-Term SEO Strategy
A long-term SEO strategy focuses on building a strong foundation for your website, which means understanding your audience and target market, creating high-quality content that is helpful and interesting to that audience, whilst simultaneously establishing your brand as a brand of choice and an authority in your sector.
By investing time and resources into a comprehensive long-term SEO plan, you will benefit from the following wins:
Increased organic traffic
A well-executed long-term SEO strategy will help your website rank consistently higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs), which leads to a steady increase in organic traffic over time.
Improved user experience
By focusing on creating helpful, valuable content and optimising your website for users, you’ll provide a better overall website experience which will mean increased engagement and conversions.
Secure sustainable rankings
Short-term SEO tactics may provide temporary boosts in your rankings on the SERPs, but a long-term strategy ensures that your website maintains its position in the SERPs, even as algorithms evolve.
Establish brand authority
Often massively undervalued, but consistently producing high-quality thought leadership content (articles, talks and videos) will earn high-quality backlinks and will, therefore, establish your brand as an authority in your sector, which in turn will build trust with both the search engines and your audience.
Our top tips for planning a long-term SEO strategy
In conversations with our clients we emphasise the importance of planning SEO strategies that help build for long-term, impactful results in their search marketing efforts. These are our top five tips that will help plan for SEO success for the long-term.
1. Conduct thorough keyword research
The foundation of any successful SEO strategy is to conduct thorough keyword research, which means identifying the keywords and phrases your target audience uses when searching for products or services like yours. At Varn we use a method we call ‘search intent modelling’ which encapsulates the real motivation behind a user’s search query on search engines. It’s a critical concept in SEO, as understanding and catering to the specific reason a user has for searching ensures content is relevant, satisfies user needs, and enhances the likelihood of achieving higher rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).
2. Create high-quality, evergreen content
Invest in creating high-quality, evergreen content that provides value to your target audience. This type of content remains relevant and useful over time, helping you attract organic traffic and build brand authority. Regularly update and refresh your content to ensure it remains accurate and engaging. This can be from running events, giving talks, and writing thought leadership articles to video guides. Either way, we have found that well-curated content has generated good links and website traffic for our clients, years after its initial creation. This is obviously not short-term, but does have a compound effect, which is priceless.
3. Prioritise user experience
Search engines prioritise websites that provide a positive user experience, and this means ensuring your website is mobile-friendly, has a clear navigation structure and loads quickly. Always optimise your content for readability and engagement, using headings, subheadings, and multimedia elements like video to break up text and keep your users interested.
4. Monitor and adapt your strategy
A long-term SEO strategy requires continuous monitoring and adaptation. So do regularly analyse your website’s performance using tools like Google Analytics. It’s also vital to keep an eye on your competitors’ strategies and I did a talk a few years ago at Brighton SEO, on why it’s so critical to understand your competitors and their SEO strategies. Make sure you also stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends and algorithm updates, and be prepared to adjust your strategy as needed to maintain your search engine rankings.
In summary, in the fast-paced world of digital marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in the pursuit of quick wins. However, when it comes to SEO, a long-term strategy is always the better choice for sustainable growth and lasting success. We have been working with some of our clients for over a decade.
If you have any questions about our tips to shift your SEO thinking to more long-term thinking, and you think our expert team can help, then please do contact us, we would love to hear from you.
