How long does seo take

How long does SEO take?

This is a question our clients often ask us. How long before we see some tangible results and benefits from our SEO efforts? So we’ll try to address this issue here.

Clearly, while we understand the desire for a definite response, there really isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to this question, since so many variables come into play. What’s more, these factors will also affect what your competitors are doing, which in turn has an impact on your own results. So perhaps the inevitable (if, admittedly not especially helpful) reply, is – how long is a piece of string?

However, the key thing to bear in mind is that, with SEO, you’re playing the long game. So it would seem unrealistic to expect overnight results. Most industry estimates indicate that you’ll likely see results anywhere between 3 and 6 months after initiating your efforts. So you need to keep your expectations realistic – although you could see better organic ranking and more traffic for some keywords in a matter of weeks, depending on how competitive the topics you’re ranking for are.

What are the key variables?

There are essentially three of these, including content, competition and inbound links.

  • Competition

Depending on the product or service you provide, and the demand for it, you’ll almost certainly be experiencing some sort of competition to a greater or lesser degree. And, the more webpages you’re competing with, the longer it’s likely to take to see tangible results.

As you move up the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), each next step becomes progressively harder. That’s because you’ll be facing increasingly more and better-prepared competitors.

To outrank them, you’ll need to put in proportionately greater effort. You’ll also have to monitor their activity continually, both over past months and regularly as time goes on.

  • Inbound links

Of course, links play a key part in any organisation’s SEO. But while having more links will typically give you SEO success more quickly, you’ll also have to be sure that these are harder-to-earn, high-quality links from relevant websites. It’s also worth bearing in mind that if you add too many links too quickly, it can look unnatural, and Google and other major search engines might suspect that you’re trying to manipulate the results.

  • Content

Again, here quality matters. There was a time when churning out countless short articles made a difference, but no longer. That doesn’t mean each piece of content has to comprise thousands of words. Whatever you write simply needs to be of sufficient length to solve someone’s problem.

One myth has it that fresh content should be added slowly. (This stems from the notion that Google could view the addition of lots of new content at once as unnatural, which could thus negatively affect your rating.) But Google itself has officially debunked this one.

However, if you add content at a consistent rate, Google’s spiders will crawl it more often, speeding up the SEO process. Equally, it means users should return to your website more regularly, which sends the search giants stronger positive user experience signals.

Deleting irrelevant content is also important – the trick is to decide what to get rid of, what to improve and what stays. Remember, higher-quality content will earn more links. And the idea is to have unique, relevant content which meets your audience’s needs and which you are improving all the time.

Summing up

In conclusion, you can expect to invest several months before you see any results from your SEO efforts. In truth, it’s an ongoing process which is never really complete. But patience will reap rich rewards. And, here at Front Page Advantage, we have extensive experience of different sizes of client and varied industry sectors. Let us work with you long-term on your SEO to lift your rankings with the likes of Google. Get in touch today to learn more.