So, you’ve spent time and money optimising your site. You’ve been patient and there, finally, is the ranking you’ve been aiming for. You’re at the top, and it’s great. You know you can’t just sit back and relax, but you don’t want to change anything on what is evidently a finely search engine optimised site.

Staying on top is just as much hard work as getting to the top in the first place. Many companies fall down because they fail to keep up with their search engine optimisation. This is strange, because very few companies these days would assume that their website doesn’t need maintenance. SEO is central to your site’s success, and as such needs to be included in your maintenance plan along with the other elements of your website.

There are some aspects of SEO maintenance that are also general website maintenance. Things like checking your error logs on a weekly or even daily basis ensure that your site is functioning as it should. This is important not just to maintain credibility with users. Search engine spiders take note of 404 Not Found errors, and being down even for a few hours can affect your ranking.

When making any changes to your site, consistency is important. Your SEO plan may fade from mind with time as you get more comfortable in your ranking. Diverging from it, however, can drastically alter your position. Your keywords have been fine-tuned for your site and industry. Their density and placement can affect your ranking.

Other things you should check include your competitors and changes in the search engine optimisation industry in general. Keeping tabs on the industry will give you warning about techniques that have been blacklisted, and help you find new strategies. Checking on your competitors will help you foresee any campaigns to take your spot, and also help you see who else is coming up through the ranks.

Finally, it should go without saying that you need to keep an eye on your ranking. Do this at least weekly. Rankings change frequently and there is nothing worse than going away for two weeks to find you’ve dropped 50 points. Regular checks mean that you can catch a drop as it happens and react immediately.

Sometimes, despite all of your maintenance routines, your ranking just drops. You have no control over what other sites do. When this happens, if you haven’t been in consultation with your SEO company regularly already, it is time to talk to them again. You can talk to us at SEO Consult about regular maintenance programs.

Just as you would fight to get your position back if a competitor toppled you from your place, your competitors will be working hard to reclaim their top positions. This can make your job a lot harder, because now they are aiming at you in particular. They and their SEO consultants will analyse your site for weaknesses. This is one of the reasons keeping your SEO firm on hand is helpful in maintaining your ranking. Your SEO consultant can maintain continued analysis of your competitors and keep ahead of their moves.

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