Can You Ever Pause Your SEO Campaign? And What Happens If You Do?

It’s not uncommon for businesses to temporarily pause their SEO campaign. Perhaps you want to focus on another marketing strategy or there is something going on that means it isn’t the right time to launch an SEO campaign. However, these decisions often come with risks and potential pitfalls. Does pausing your SEO campaign hurt your business? Is it worth pausing if you can manage the risks involved? If so, how should you go about it? Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of pausing your SEO campaign and what happens if you do.

The quick answer is no: SEO is a marathon, not a sprint

If you’re the kind of person who likes to get things done quickly, you’ll be happy to know that SEO doesn’t happen overnight. SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. SEO takes months and years of consistent, strategic work to bring about lasting results. The sooner you understand this, the more smoothly your SEO campaign will go. SEO isn’t something you can pause, turn off, and then turn back on again when you’re ready. SEO must be a consistent, long-term investment in your website. If you want your SEO to be successful, you must maintain it consistently. Any sudden break from SEO will significantly slow down or even stop your progress.

There’s an average of 12 changes to search per day

What happens when you pause your SEO campaign? You may catch a break from the constant stream of changes to search engine algorithms (SEO) during this time, but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. The truth is, SEO is an ever-changing field. There is an average of 12 changes to search per day. That’s a lot of updates – far too many to keep up with if you pause your SEO campaign. As soon as you’re back at it, you’ll need to catch up on these changes and implement new strategies before you’re even close to where you were. In other words, you’ll have to start from scratch.

You have millions of competitors – yes, millions!

If you are a local business, you may be thinking that you don’t have to worry about millions of competitors, since you only have to compete with a handful of businesses in your city or town. That might have been true 10 or even 5 years ago, but today, you have millions of competitors – yes, millions! You’re going up against businesses across the globe. Yes, millions of businesses are competing for the same customers that your business is trying to reach. When you pause your SEO campaign, you’re giving your competitors the chance to advance even further. You’re allowing them to maintain their position and even advance their own. You’re also allowing them to get new customers that you could have otherwise been going for.

What Happens When You Pause Your SEO Campaign?

SEO takes a long time to get results, so when you pause your SEO campaign, you’re interrupting the steady flow and flow of traffic to your site. When you pause your SEO campaign, you’re stopping the flow of new visitors. You won’t see any new visitors while you’re not actively working on your SEO campaign. While you’re paused, your site may still be bringing in a few visitors, but they won’t be nearly as many as if you were actively working on SEO. When you pause your SEO campaign, you’re interrupting the steady flow of traffic to your site. You’re stopping the flow of new visitors to your site. You won’t see any new visitors while you’re not actively working on your SEO campaign. While you’re paused, your site may still be bringing in a few visitors, but they won’t be nearly as many as if you were actively working on SEO.

Should You Pause Your SEO Campaign?

If you pause your SEO campaign, you’re interrupting the steady flow of traffic to your site. You’re stopping the flow of new visitors to your site. You won’t see any new visitors while you’re not actively working on your SEO campaign. While you’re paused, your site may still be bringing in a few visitors, but they won’t be nearly as many as if you were actively working on SEO. The question then becomes: is it worth pausing your SEO campaign? Is there a significant enough benefit that outweighs the negative effects of pausing? In some cases it is, but the best way to go about it is to keep your SEO campaign running as usual while taking a break from actively implementing new strategies.

Final Thoughts

SEO campaigns take time and consistency. If you want to see results, you have to be willing to put in the work. Pausing your SEO campaign can cause significant damage. Instead, keep your SEO campaign running as usual while taking a break from actively implementing new strategies. This will help you avoid negative effects while still getting the benefits of a break from SEO.