I like my business website as it is, so do I have to do anything else to maintain it?

Absolutely. The internet and especially search engines like Google and Bing are changing all of the time. They change the way they crawl websites, and they change the standards they expect all website owners to follow. These changes directly impact your business. According to searchengineland.com, Google will update their algorithm around 500 to 600 times a year. Most of these updates are minor and will not be noticeable by users, but at least once annually and sometimes more often, there is a major update that changes the way search results will rank your business based on your website’s performance. 

Think of your website as your home and search engines as the Home Owners Association (HOA). The HOA wants to make sure you are following their guidelines when it comes to security, design, and just about any changes to your property. The goal is to maintain and elevate the value of the community. In the world of search engines such as Google, their goal is to provide the best possible search engine experience for everyone who chooses to use them for their search purposes.  As Google implements an update, it then compares your website to their standards. This means that poorly maintained websites that do not comply with updates and that fail to provide the best possible user experience according to Google will not rank well. 

What are the updates typically addressing? Generally, search engines will ask that you maintain a specific level of security and make sure your design and site structure meets the needs of everyone searching. If you provide a secure, well designed and high-quality website you will be rewarded with a higher ranking in search results, so long as it is maintained year over year. Another way of looking at it is to consider your website as part of a search engine community that is trying to provide a premium experience to individuals who use them. Adapting your website when algorithms change and following search engine recommendations for best practices is therefore both necessary and ongoing. When done well, you are rewarded as providing a positive user experience and thus a higher search engine ranking.

At a minimum, we recommend having a monthly audit of your website to make sure you are staying in Google's (and other search engines)  good graces. That means, no broken links, images are sized correctly, your website meets the security recommendations, and your website loads quickly on all devices – especially mobile phones.