How Long Does SEO Take

This is a very common question we SEOs get to asked frequently when discussing or proposing to a potential client. And I understand that. Our customer is paying for the service, they have the right to know how long they will enjoy the benefit of the service.  For me, the problem is that I can actually tell how long will it  take to produce the content that has the capability to rank. However, I can’t provide a time-frame how long will it actually rank. I’ll explain this but if a customer of yours is in a hurry,  then an estimate between 3 – 12 months is a good time-frame.

1. SEO DOESN’T WORK LIKE A VACUUM

Always let your client understand that we aren’t the only publishing articles about his industry or his keywords. There are over 600 million blogs being published in 2020, regardless of content quality. By the time I’m writing this, expect that there are more than 4.5 million articles being published online.
 
See where we are going with SEO?
 
Everything is moving online fast. In that case, you cannot predict what is going to happen next week or that week. You can just plan in advance. Obviously, not all content being posted relates to the type of business the customer have. This will take us to the 2nd part.

2. COMPETITION IS A HUGE FACTOR

A low competition industry can rank on a very decent position in 3 – 4 months. A 12 month period is mostly the average time to increase and rank a website in search engines with high- competition industry. Will it mean that after a year of work, ranking will still be on first page or second page? Not at all. Remember you have competitors that are constantly building links and publishing content.
 

3. RE-PURPOSING YOUR OLD CONTENT

 
Your old content ranks better compared to a new one while targeting the same keywords. Search engines crawls content and loves them once reputation is established. However, if this content becomes old yet plays a very significant role in your business or website and needs maintaining, here’s what you need to consider:
 
– Repurposed your content by adding recent events, updates, news and other topics.
– Keep earning new backlinks for that repurposed content
– Continue promoting that page with your repurposed content
 
So, there is no easy way to be on top of Google. SEO is a long-term game and it takes time.
 

4. LINKS ALSO TAKES TIME

Backlinks are treasure in SEO. However, if you grow your backlinks that fast pointing to your brand new content page, Google will see it as unnatural and might ignore your page. Naturally made backlinks also takes time. They will have to be earned like your savings where they can propagate.
 
The more backlinks from a high domain authority websites you earn, the higher you see yourself in search engines. There are certain types of referring domains and types of content that drastically ranks higher than others. All sorts of round-ups, original surveys or research reports always perform well, provided with high quality written content and valuable information.

The Finale:

Never invest with SEO if you need an immediate result. Adwords are better path for your business in order to get sales and leads. However, base on my study PPC always works on seasonal products or businesses to get leads or sales.
 
However, if you really understand how SEO works and ready for the long-run – then SEO is the right path to invest. Search engine optimization will really takes time to work regardless of any Google algorithm update but when you’re there and get the results you need, you will reap and enjoy the benefits across the internet for years with no additional investment in your end.
 
If you are looking for an SEO provider that will help your website ranks well and builds your brand authority for long-term success, I am just a click away. I’ve helped hundreds of companies rank their keywords they want to focus for their business and I would love to do the same for your business. Shoot me an email.