So you’ve done your research and set up a search engine optimization strategy. You know the keywords you’re targeting, you have relevant content in the pipeline, you’ve set up your Google My Business account for local SEO, and you have a link building strategy in place. But how do you make sure that all of your efforts are bringing in the desired results?

Consistency is the key to successful SEO. Once you build out your strategy, there are certain tasks you have to perform on an ongoing basis to stay on top of your analytics and keep your performance consistent.

In this article, I explain the 4 key elements of an effective ongoing process for your SEO strategy. If you need to refresh your memory on how to build an SEO strategy in the first place, check out the previous installments of our SEO Essentials series:

Search Engine Optimization: SEO Setup Checklist
Search Engine Optimization: Keyword Research and Competitive Analysis
Search Engine Optimization: Content Strategy
Search Engine Optimization: Local SEO and Google My Business
Search Engine Optimization: Backlink Strategies

Let’s get to it!

Monitoring coverage issues in Google Search Console

On a basic level, the Coverage Report in Google Search Console tells you which pages on your site are indexed and which cannot be crawled by Google’s spiders. If Google can’t access any of your pages, it will not display them in search results, plain and simple. 

Even a minor change to the back end of your website can potentially trigger a coverage issue (and affect your SEO performance), so it’s important that you check the Coverage Report on a regular basis and work with your SEO specialist or agency to resolve the problems as soon as possible. 

Updating your Google My Business listing

Earlier in this series, I discussed the importance of a well-optimized Google My Business listing for visibility in local search results. But simply setting up an account may not be enough if you’re looking to outperform your competitors. 

Google My Business posts allow businesses to publish updates about their products, services, offers, etc. The short posts (along with an image, links, and call to action) then appear as part of the knowledge pack in local Google search results on desktop and in the Google Maps app on mobile. They are a great way to build brand awareness and address your audience before they even click through to your website. Case studies show that posting regular updates also improves visibility in local search.

Google My Business Posts are only active for 7 days. This means that if you want to include a message to your prospects or advertise a service in your GMB profile, you should post a new update every week. 

Updating website content

If you want to succeed at SEO, you should treat your website as a constant work in progress. Continuously adding fresh, relevant content to your site is a necessary step to generating consistent SEO results.

The easiest way to go about this is creating a blog and frequently posting new articles. Writing content related to the area of law that you practice will help you build an image of an expert and thought leader in your field. It will also help you improve your website’s visibility in organic search results. 

SEO-related benefits of blogging include:

  • Staying relevant – Google wants to serve its users fresh, current, and relevant answers to their search queries. If the search engine’s algorithm recognizes that you frequently upload fresh content, it will see your website as current and relevant.
  • Targeting keywords – all of your blog posts should be focused around keywords relevant to your content and representative of what your target audience searches for online. More blog posts will help you target more keywords and optimize your online presence to perfectly address your target’s search intent.
  • Internal linking – every new piece of content is a new opportunity to create internal links between your blog content and service pages. Be strategic about picking the right anchor text – linking the right keywords will strengthen the connection of those keywords to your website perceived by Google.

Analyzing your performance

Last but not least – performance analysis is a key element of any successful SEO strategy. If you don’t know what results your SEO efforts are yielding, you can’t optimize for success. Check in on your performance at least once a month to identify areas of improvement and smartly allocate your resources moving forward.

To find out which metrics you should be tracking and how to decipher SEO reports, check out our short guide: How to Read SEO Reports: A Glossary. 

Are you looking for law firm SEO specialists?

If you need help optimizing your website for visibility in local search, our agency is here for you. Our team of leading SEO experts will help you develop a bespoke SEO strategy and outrank competitors in Google’s local rankings.

Soulpepper Legal Marketing has helped numerous law firms of different sizes and budgets succeed, and we look forward to helping you grow your firm. Give us a call or get in touch via our contact form to see what we can do for you.