Eric Maas is managing partner at Digital Fuelist.
When business stakeholders think about SEO, their minds usually turn to content creation, target keywords, rankings, etc. These are undoubtedly essential elements of a solid SEO strategy.
But there’s one factor that I’ve seen people miss time and time again when it comes to SEO: website security.
The damage a hacked website could cause
The reduced visibility and user trust caused by a hacked website could bankrupt a business.
A business can have an excellent ranking on the first page, generating a substantial amount of organic search traffic. But a hacked website can quickly compromise these rankings and, therefore, reduce the organic search traffic a business receives. Additionally, a hacked website can harm a business’s visibility beyond organic search results. Search engines can penalize hacked websites. Following a hack, potential clients called me in panic because their business was no longer visible on Google Maps.
Additionally, hacked websites can break user trust, especially if it becomes public. Even if people are able to find your website despite your reduced visibility in search results, they might be hesitant to trust you. Consider a 2022 international study to over 3,000 consumers in the UK, USA and India. Of these consumers, 33% indicated that they had “cut ties with a company known to have suffered a violation.”
Then there’s the challenge of getting everything back up and running after a breach. Cleanup and recovery efforts are usually extensive And expensive, requiring a lot of time, energy and money.
Why website security is often overlooked
Often, from what I’ve observed, business owners don’t intentionally leave website security aside. It’s simply something that happens throughout the growth of a business.
Let’s take the example of an e-commerce company whose product goes viral. With the abundance of sales suddenly starting to pour in, the owner’s priority is finding people who can keep orders moving. This owner is not necessarily looking for the most qualified developers and other experts to manage this growth: the goal is to have someone on site, even if that person is not the most experienced. Sometimes, however, a business owner puts together a very development-heavy team. These employees focus on DevOps rather than system administration and other critical security tasks. Even if the business hires an SEO company or consultant at some point, that company or consultant does not always provide website security services. They manage technical SEO and content SEO strategies to generate ROI, but do not address the security element.
In each of these situations, the result is generally the same. Website security is neglected. While some hacks become immediately visible, others may go unnoticed for a while. By the time stakeholders realize what is happening, the damage has already been done.
Why a proactive approach to website security is essential
Business owners should take a proactive approach to website security, making it part of their SEO strategies.
At its core, a business needs experts who can analyze and refine website code, update the website, track Google updates, and take other critical actions to ensure the security of the website. Companies have several options for obtaining this expertise.
First, you can look for SEO agencies that either have in-house development teams or consult with external development teams. Companies that have technical SEO experts, content SEO specialists, and developers working side-by-side can create holistic strategies for their clients, minimizing the risks of communication silos and implementation gaps. However, hiring a full-service SEO agency can be expensive.
You can also take it upon yourself to recruit consultants and companies in these different areas of intervention. For example, you can hire an agency that specializes in SEO-friendly content, a consultant offering technical SEO services, and a solo web developer. This route may be more cost-effective than opting for a full-service SEO agency, but it can be difficult to coordinate between different stakeholders and ensure they are on the same page.
Alternatively, if you have the budget, you can hire an in-house developer or team of developers. The advantage of this route is that the developer or team will focus solely on your business rather than juggling different clients and will generally be able to have greater availability in the event of a security emergency. But this option is expensive and you will always need to consider whether or not you want to hire technical and content SEO expertise in-house or outsource it.
Regardless of which path you take as a business owner, it is essential that you work with other stakeholders to put the proper resources and processes in place so that your SEO strategy can be effective. If you hire the right people and give them what they need to do their job, you’ll be more likely to achieve SEO success with a secure website.
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