What happens when you pause an SEO campaign?
I read a great question from a business owner the other day. They wanted to know what happens if you pause your SEO efforts.
It’s a great question, and completely understandable that there are times when a business owner considers stopping their SEO campaign.
Business might be going really well, or there may be a need to redirect the budget to another area of the business for a while.
So, what happens if you stop carrying out SEO on your website?
Nothing bad happens immediately
Your website won’t disappear from Google’s search results overnight. The SEO work you’ve already done, such as website improvements, content updates, and optimisation, will all stay in place.
The best way to think about it is like cancelling a gym membership.
You don’t lose all your fitness improvements on the first day.
Over time, things will start to slip
Over the next few months, you’ll see your search rankings slowly declining. That happens as your competitors continue to work on their websites, while yours remains the same.
The impact of any decline will depend on the competitiveness of your industry and your chosen target audience.
Your competitors gain more visibility
This is the issue that concerns business owners the most.
When you’re taking a break from your SEO efforts, other businesses in your area are continuing to work on their online presence.
They’re adding new content, generating positive reviews, optimising their pages, and improving their sites. Over time, they’ll start appearing above your business in search results.
Your content becomes outdated
Search engines like Google love fresh, current information.
It’s always beneficial to keep adding new content to your website. If your site hasn’t been updated in months, Google will start to see it as less relevant compared to other sites that are publishing new content.
SEO doesn’t have to be an on / off switch
You don’t need to treat SEO like a switch.
It’s possible to perform maintenance work, rather than stopping a campaign completely. Going back to the gym reference I used earlier, this would be like going to the gym once each week, rather than stopping your three weekly sessions and cancelling your membership.
You’re still maintaining the good progress you’ve made.
A simple SEO maintenance approach would include:
- Keeping your business information up-to-date
- Requesting and responding to reviews
- Updating existing website content to keep it current
- Occasionally adding new content to your site
With an SEO maintenance plan, you won’t see the same type of growth, but it helps you to maintain the growth you’ve achieved to date.
It’s a much better option than pausing completely, which requires time and effort to get back to where you were when you’re ready to invest in SEO again.
