SEO needs continuous work because search engines constantly update algorithms, competitors adjust their strategies, and your site accumulates technical issues over time. The frequency breaks down into three phases: initial setup, active growth, and maintenance. During initial setup (weeks 1-8), you're fixing technical issues, optimizing existing pages, establishing proper site architecture, and doing foundational keyword research. This is the most intensive phase. You might spend 20-40 hours on a small business site, 100+ hours on an enterprise property. Active growth phase (months 3-12) requires consistent weekly or bi-weekly work. You're publishing new content, building links, monitoring rankings, and adjusting based on performance data. Most businesses need 10-20 hours monthly minimum to see meaningful progress. Ottawa SEO typically recommends clients budget for at least quarterly content additions and monthly technical check-ins during this period. Maintenance mode (month 12+) still demands monthly attention. Google's algorithm updates 500-600 times per year, most minor but some significant. You need to monitor for ranking drops, update outdated content, fix broken links, and ensure new pages follow SEO best practices. Technical debt accumulates—plugins break, site speed degrades, schema markup stops validating. Specific recurring tasks include: - Monthly: Analytics review, ranking tracking, technical crawl for errors, content gap analysis - Quarterly: Competitor analysis, content refresh of top pages, backlink audit - Annually: Comprehensive technical audit, keyword strategy review, site architecture assessment Businesses that stop SEO work typically see rankings decline within 3-6 months as competitors continue optimizing and Google's index refreshes. The sites we manage in our portfolio get touched at least monthly, with high-priority properties getting weekly updates. SEO isn't something you complete and walk away from—it's more like maintaining a building than constructing one.