Many of you make frequent changes to your websites, but others never touch them after they are built. To get the most out of your website, it should be changed in some way at least once a year. The change can be very minor. It doesn’t have to be a new service or product. It can just be slightly different wording. There are several reasons why any change to a site is a good idea.

The search engines look for change. They want to see something different when they revisit your site and they will rank it higher than an otherwise similar site if it has been updated more recently. They interpret updates to mean a site is more active and interesting to their searching audience.

Secondly, updating your site keeps it interesting for returning visitors and regular customers. If they see something new, an article or a special offer, they will be inclined to return more often and they are more likely to refer others to you.

Finally, a website can get out of date simply because you haven’t looked at it lately. An update is an opportunity to review the content and confirm that it is still correct. You may have changed your focus or dropped or added services. Or you may just have a new and better way to express your message. Whatever, you need to make sure your site reflects your current business.

It’s like changing your smoke detector batteries. Do it at least once a year, just to be safe.