SEO And How Long To See Results?
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SEO and how long to see results? This is a question everyone asks.
You’ve probably wondered if your SEO is really working and how long it’s going to take you to get to the coveted first page. Although there is no hard and fast answer to SEO and how long to see results, it typically takes anywhere from six to nine months to get your website ranking on the first page of search results. Ranking on the first page is relative to the search terms that are included as part of your overall search strategy. Rest assured, there are ways to know that your SEO is working and that you’re on the right path.
This article will cover the expectations you should have for the process and key checkpoints in your journey toward higher rankings.
Why does SEO take time?
You understand that SEO isn’t an overnight process, but why does it take time? A big part of SEO is the process of creating and promoting good content both on and off your website. The objective is to promote your business via content that people like, share, and link to, and that takes time. Google looks for consistency in determining rankings by searching for websites that are delivering the best results for its users not once, but continually, over time.
The websites that are consistently building out good content and promoting it effectively through SEO will build more signals of trust from Google. The more signals of trust that you build over time, the more likely you are to achieve top rankings. Keep in mind, too, that the SEO process has different stages. In the first few months, you’ll be focused on onsite optimization to make sure your content is relevant and crawlable.
Crawlable websites are websites that search engines can view and index each page as important to a search term. How search engines see your site is very different from how Internet users browse through your site. Search-term relevancy and quality can be shown through clean code, a good code-to-text ratio, and a plethora of important website metrics that help search engines determine how an Internet user would perceive and use your website.
After your first stage is set, you can begin on stage two, offsite optimization. Offsite optimization is primarily focusing on promoting your content through high-quality directory submissions, social bookmarking, and guest articles or blog posts published on another relevant website. The longer you maintain your SEO efforts, the more effective the results will be.
Good SEO has a powerful and lasting impact on your website traffic and rankings, which in turn, leads to more business for you. Rankings on search engine results pages are achieved through several tasks that take time to implement. There are no shortcuts or tricks to make results happen faster if you want true, durable results.
SEO And How Long To See Results in your efforts?
Generally speaking, SEO and how long to see results for your efforts take between six and nine months to produce visible results. This does not mean that after exactly six months you will be on the first page of the search engine results, nor does it mean that you should quit your SEO efforts after nine months if you have not seen a noticeable difference. Rather, treat this as a guideline that you can use to measure your results. Monitoring progress over several months will also highlight the small changes that add up over time.
At 3 months
You’ll start to see movement in your rankings for targeted keywords. As you make onsite edits, you’ll see an elevation in your rankings and you’ll set your course toward a major lift. If you’re not noticing any movement in your rankings by Month 3, something’s not working and you’ll want to look or pause the campaign and do an in-depth audit to see what’s keeping you from ranking.
At 6 months
You will continue to see your rankings improve, getting you closer to the top. While you’re not all the way there, you’ll see more movement than before. Some of your keywords may start to reach the first page and you may even start seeing more traffic to your website as a result of SEO efforts.
The closer you get to the number one ranking spot, the stiffer the competition. If you’ve been hovering around the top of Page 2 or the bottom of Page 1 for a few weeks, you may need to shift to a different keyword or buckle down and prepare for the long haul because it will likely take more than 9 months to reach the top spot. Take a look at the traffic and make sure it’s a keyword that’s worth waiting for.
At 9 months
You’ll be seeing optimal results. When your SEO is done correctly, you will likely see page one rankings at month nine or sooner. To maintain those top rankings, it’s important that you continue to invest in the SEO process. As you do this, all of your other marketing efforts will become more effective. Once you’ve reached the top rankings for a given keyword, you need to continue by targeting additional keywords.
The effects of SEO and how long to see results vary depending on the tactics used, the duration of the campaign, the industry, the code and content of the website, and the website’s history. SEO is an ongoing process – it does not end once you reach a certain goal. Without consistent upkeep, those results will slide away. As Google is constantly refining its algorithms, you must constantly adapt your SEO tactics in order to reach and maintain the top rankings you want.
Is SEO worth the wait?
All advertising and marketing lead to a search. People trust Google and the results it provides, so being ranked on the first page is like getting an endorsement from them. People are constantly turning to search engines or social media to find and validate your business.
When people search for products and services online, their intent is to buy, making this one of the most effective and profitable lead sources you can have. Did you know that 67% of all the clicks on a search results page go to the top five results? If you want to compete in today’s world, you need to have a strong online presence and solid foundation. As a result of your SEO efforts, your business will begin to experience a snowball effect of increased traffic, improved visibility, and more leads and sales.
So when the question of SEO and how long to see results, gets raised, the answer is; longer if you continue to procrastinate and not invest in doing it now. Schedule a consult with us to see what is going to be needed to get your SEO up to a competitive level.
