Keeping your SEO and PPC up to date after business change

Answering these questions will help you identify any changes needed.

Do my organic search results contain incorrect/out of date information?

Although SEO (the process of optimising your website to help your site rank in search results) is a long game rather than a quick win, it’s important to keep your search results - and your site content - up to date. Now is the time to look through your website and update your content, and run a few searches to check how your company appears in the results.

In the early stages of business change or transformation, changing page title tags and other information may not have been front of mind. However, this means that your search results could be out of date.

For example, an ecommerce company that used to focus on a very niche product (e.g. 'bamboo baby plates'), may have reflected this in their key title tags - however, if they now sell a wide range of dining products, these tags, on the homepage for example, will not reflect the broader offering.

So, what can you do?

Always maintain your existing search rankings if you can. So, rather than changing or removing any target keywords on their relevant pages, you just need to alter anything out of date.

1. Check and update your page title tags
Although it is not guaranteed that Google will use your title tags and meta descriptions in your search results, it’s worth updating the title tags on key pages of your website.

• Don’t include short-term information here. If you can, use information that will be accurate for the long term, whilst removing anything out of date.
• Keep your main keywords in there! (Unless the information is inaccurate, don’t make changes for the sake of it.)

2. Check and update your meta descriptions
Similar to the above, Google will often use a site’s meta description tags in their search listing. Update your meta description tags to remove mention of unavailable services or out of date information.

3. Website copy and H1 Headings
Google – and obviously users – use the copy and headings on your actual web pages for information. Don’t forget to check and change these as well if needed (keeping your main target keywords in place).

4. Let Google know about your changes
Changing your page title and meta descriptions will not instantly change your search results - your site will need to be crawled by Google. You can request that Google re-indexes your pages by using the ‘URL inspection tool’ within Google Search Console for a couple of pages, or by submitting a sitemap for many pages. Do note that, according to Google “requesting a crawl does not guarantee that inclusion will happen instantly or even at all. Our systems prioritize the fast inclusion of high quality, useful content.” For more information see Google Support.

Should I continue with my existing SEO strategy?

If the nature of your business has not changed significantly, or you are still offering the services you used to - in addition to the new - then simply expand your strategy for your new offering while maintaining your existing rankings.

If your offering or the way you do business has changed significantly and these changes are here to stay, now is the time to factor this into your SEO efforts and develop a new strategy.

Should I be optimising my site for my new services?

Yes, you should, so you can begin to achieve rankings for your new services.

1. Consider new keywords
First, consider what your customers will be searching for relating to this new service. Put yourself in their shoes and write a short list of the terms you think people will use. You can then run these through a keyword research tool such as Google AdWords’ Keyword Planner or ahrefs Keyword Generator. Also check out Google Trends.

2. Optimise your site
Once you have selected your primary target keywords, then optimise your site for these terms. If your new service is very niche, this could be as simple as adding some new content to your site and optimising your key on-page elements (including page titles, H1s, etc.) for your target terms. However, if your new services are more competitive, you may need to work harder to rank for these keywords.

What should I consider in my PPC?

If you are running Pay Per Click advertising (like Google Ads), you will need to reevaluate your entire PPC strategy, including your keywords, goals and objectives, targeting approach, budget and ad copy to ensure your spend is working as hard as possible to support your new services.

If you are working with an agency or a marketing professional, discuss your approach moving forward with them.

If you are running your ads yourself, here are some initial things to consider:

1. How will my business change affect my PPC strategy?
You may find that your existing PPC strategy is no longer a fit - for example if you previously offered consulting services and are now selling online training, you will need a new PPC strategy, thinking about your new goals and targets, and your new audience.

2. How will my business change affect my keywords, placements and ads?
You may find that your existing keywords, placements and ads are not relevant. If this is the case, you will need to carry out new research to find your new target terms, and create new ad copy to reflect the products or service you now offer. This could be a steep learning curve as you may almost be starting from scratch and resetting all of your bid strategies as you track what works.

If the primary nature of your business is the same but you are adding additional services, then add new keywords, targeting and ads as needed.

3. What is your data telling you?
Analyse your campaign, website and user behaviour data regularly to determine how your new ads are performing and how users are engaging. Also look at user search trends - are there any new terms you could be targeting?

4. Check active ads
It sounds obvious but after any change make sure all of your active PPC ads are relevant to your business as it is now, and pause any that aren’t - it’s easy to overlook some more generic ads - such as ads that appear on searches for your brand name which could contain out of date copy or taglines.

5. Update landing pages
If your service or products have changed it is important that not only your adcopy but any specially created PPC landing pages also reflect this. Ensure that landing pages contain up to date information, tone of voice and calls to action to avoid disconnect that could impact sales and conversions.

For more information about marketing for your business, see DigitalBoost's webinars and online resources.