Here’s Why Google Positions Are Like 6-Pack Abs

Imagine that you decide to make getting rock-hard, six-pack abs a goal.

Sadly, you know results like that won’t happen overnight — or without hard work. You lift weights. You do cardio. You change your eating habits — all with your one big goal in mind.

Those elusive 6-pack abs.

Then, one day, you lift your shirt and see 6-pack success. You’ve reached your goal!

Your abs have arrived, and they’re everything you’ve ever wanted. 

But here’s the deal…

It’s not like those super-cut abs will stick around if you skip your workout routine and eat an entire chocolate cake on the reg.

If that worked, I would have switched to the “chocolate cake diet” a long time ago.

If you want to maintain your abs in their current cut shape, the work doesn’t go away just because you’ve reached your goal. You still have to maintain your food and workout tactics. You still have to find new opportunities to challenge your body and to try new things.

In the wise words of Roseanne Roseannadanna, “It’s always something.”

Guess what? It’s the same thing with your SEO content strategy

I have seen so many site owners throw money, time, and resources at an SEO content strategy initiative that sees great success…

…but when they’ve reached their positioning goal, the content gets put on the back burner.

Now that the company has seen success, the powers-that-be believe their Google positions are bullet-proof and will never dip below page one. No matter how much they ignore their site.

(I’m looking at you, big-brand companies.)

But here’s the thing: that kind of hubris comes back to bite companies in the butt all the time. While they let their blog wither on the Google vine and plan to “focus on content again next quarter when things aren’t so busy,” their upstart competitor is making moves against them. 

And yes, a new site can out-position an older site. I’ve discussed before how a new site can make a big splash, too.

Just because you have great positions now doesn’t mean you can sit back on your laurels and take a content vacation. You still need to do your content sit-ups and eat E-A-T for breakfast. You still need to crunch your writing muscles and rep out standout content.

Don’t believe me? Here’s what Google says (and you’ve got to love the Saved by the Bell reference.)

So, celebrate your successes when you reach your ranking milestones — but know that your Google work is never done. There is always new content to write, old content to repurpose, and opportunities to “freshen up” old content.

If you want to maintain those great results, you’ve gotta work it, baby.

What do you think?

Have you worked for a company that saw great results…and then lost them because they stopped writing blog posts? Leave a comment and let me know!