Great SEO rankings don’t happen overnight. We’ve seen it before and we’ll likely see it again over and over again. Many businesses try a few half-hearted attempts at SEO and give up when they don’t see a sweeping uptick in business overnight. Just because you’re better optimized than before doesn’t mean conversions will start pouring in like crazy.
Often companies start venturing into the uncharted territory of SEO, without a whole lot of existing knowledge, and really don’t have the tools to measure success in any meaningful way. For this reason, people often look at SEO results a couple weeks or a month after they’ve started their initial campaign and are surprised or disappointed when the results aren’t quite what they’ve expected after doing some minimal research.
Why Does SEO Take So Long?
We’ve all heard the expression, “good things come to those who wait,” right? Well, this holds true in the world of digital marketing, as it does in real life. Google’s search engine results pages (SERP) require a lot of work in order to feature your business or solutions at the very top. There are about 200 ranking signals that the search engine takes into consideration, and they change regularly. Even those well-versed in SEO constantly need to keep relearning the game.
So… How Long Does It Take?
The short answer — it really depends. First, it depends on a number of factors, like how long your website has been around, as well as how much content you have, as well as the quality of that content. [pullquote]Think about your SEO as an investment fund that compounds over time, we’re talking years, as compared to winning the lottery or some other unlikely windfall.[/pullquote] In most cases, the rule of thumb is about six months. Your first month or so of implementing your SEO plan will likely involve a lot of research, competitive analysis, learning how to use keyword search tools and getting a general lay of the land.
Your second month, and third and fourth, will involve drilling down into the strategy you’ve put into place, and from there perfecting the recipe. Then you’ll need to wait for the whole thing to mature and develop legs of its own. If you’re working with an agency and they promise sweeping results overnight, look for a company that paints a more realistic picture.
Don’t Stop Too Soon
A lot of companies really underestimate the significant time it takes to actually see any meaningful growth from an SEO standpoint. You likely will not see any major changes for at least three months, and to be honest, if you don’t have the budget to invest in SEO for at least 6 months or even a year, it might be worth spending the big bucks elsewhere.
It’s true like we’ve mentioned, SEO can’t be built in a day, and should be treated as a long-term investment in the success of your organization. PosiRank is an SEO reseller company, and they can help get a solid strategy in place for your organization. Whether you go with an organization or opt to take on some of the SEO challenge yourself, here’s a few key reasons why SEO takes a minimum of several months to get going.
Additionally, the following efforts each take their own significant time investment:
Competitive Analysis
Analyzing your competition, doing keyword research, and implementing your findings all take significant time, and that’s just the setup process. In order to really take on SEO and its myriad challenges, you’ll need to spend a great deal of time learning about the competition, the trends in the market and more.
Content
Whether you’re starting a new blog or trying to optimize existing content, building up an audience and amplifying content in an effort to drive traffic is a major undertaking, and it’s one that small businesses often give up on far too soon.
One thing worth noting, is many companies syndicate the same content on multiple channels, through social media and anywhere that will have it. Google sees this as an exercise in spamming and will treat your links as such, reversing any headway you’ve made in terms of content.
Link Building
Link building from sites with authority also takes time. Once you’ve gotten a comprehensive list of keywords and content in place, you’ll need to keep creating and updating. You must procure links through content creation, content trading, paid link placement and so on, but dealing with the owners of these websites, regardless of what method you’re using takes a bit of time.
In the end, remember, patience is a virtue, and you should be working with an agency that understands that for many people, taking on SEO requires a shift in thinking about how your business operates.
Author Bio: Lydia Wilkins works in online marketing and shares some of her knowledge and know-how in her articles which are aimed at small business owners.
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