One of the most common questions clients ask us about SEO is, “How long will it take for SEO to start working?”
Now as frustrating as it sounds, there isn’t an easy answer to this question. The answer is “It depends!” If you have a niche business, you may see results from your SEO campaign more quickly than you would in a more competitive business sector.
Having said this, we can measure the progress of your SEO campaign and track how it is doing. Over 50% of marketers say that the top ways they measure their SEO strategies’ success are through organic website traffic and keyword rankings.
Let’s take a look at a scalable timeline of when you can expect to see SEO results:
First 30 days
The most critical part of any SEO campaign is a strong foundation, as with any project, and this tends to happen in the first 30 days of the campaign.
Any SEO strategy we develop starts with keyword research, enabling us to focus on the keywords that will help grow your online presence. We will ask for your input on this, of course, but it is essential to remember that it might not be the most obvious keywords that we choose to target. Keyword research helps us develop options you might not have thought of, which should be easy to rank for and have little competition to help get the ball rolling on your SEO campaign.
Once we have focused on the original keywords we want to target, we then start to look at on-page tasks to ensure the keywords appear in prominent areas on your site – such as the headings, the meta title and the meta description so that Google gets a speedy understanding of the topic your website is about, and your rankings start to improve.
Two to five months
In the next two to five months of your campaign, keyword rankings will fluctuate as Google begins to recognise your website. We expect to see keywords rising and dropping in the rankings, which is nothing to worry about. Google is just trying to work out where your site fits in on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords – so movement like this is a good thing – it means Google is crawling your site regularly.
On-page SEO comes into its own after month three of the campaign, where we will tweak content, titles, meta descriptions and tags to ensure all pages are optimised for target keywords. We will also work on improving your campaign on and off your website through tasks such as blogging and link building.
Building E-A-T
During the first few months of your SEO campaign, it is also crucial that we focus on building your E-A-T with the search engines: E (Expertise), A (Authority) and T (Trustworthiness).
- Expertise – Google needs to understand that you have a high level of knowledge in a field or on a subject matter through credible and accurate content.
- Authority – This is to do with your brand and your reputation within your industry and is where link building comes in. The more links from authoritative sites your website has, the more search engines will believe in your authority. Building on your expertise also helps to build your authority over time.
- Trustworthiness – Visitors to your website and Google need to identify your site as trustworthy, or your site could drop in the rankings. Some ways we can help you improve your trustworthiness are easy navigation, fast site speeds, and customer reviews.
Working on your E-A-T helps search engines to understand that user experience is essential to you, just as much as it is to them.
Six to nine months
Between six to nine months, you should start to see some of your keywords breaking into the top 10 of the Google SERPs. However, this doesn’t mean our job is done – far from it. Research has shown that 75.1% of all clicks on the SERPs go on the top five listings. So, while we may have achieved top 10 rankings for some of your keywords, we must work on keeping them there.
The six to nine-month period of your SEO campaign is crucial in helping you increase your keywords’ rankings by improving existing content, creating new content, and creating authoritative links.
Nine months plus
A good SEO campaign is like building a house; it takes time. Once we have created a strong foundation over the first nine months, we can move forward with expanding your website’s reach while continuing to monitor your keywords.
Now is the time to expand your success by leveraging this momentum and optimising for additional keywords. There is always room for improvement in any campaign and further growth.
What will happen if I stop my SEO campaign after 12 months?
Once you have started an SEO campaign, it is vital to carry it on, as you will see a drop as soon as you stop it. Consistency is crucial to help keep your website rising through the rankings.
If you do decide to stop your campaign after 12 months, you won’t see an immediate difference, but your keywords will start to drop out of the top pages after about six months, and you may even drop out of the top 100 sites. Stopping your SEO campaign at any point will mean a slow slide to the bottom of the rankings.
Succeeding over time with SEO
Although seeing results with SEO can take time, it is well worth the time and effort that goes into it. Investing in SEO is an excellent investment in your business as it will contribute to the success of your website. The more you can spend on your SEO campaign, the more exposure your website will gain, so your investment will grow over time.
If you want to kickstart your business investment with a solid SEO strategy, contact Zool on 01625 238 770 or [email protected]
Why does your business need a long-term SEO strategy?
Digital SEO / Jul 18, 2022
One of the most common questions clients ask us about SEO is, “How long will it take for SEO to start working?”
Now as frustrating as it sounds, there isn’t an easy answer to this question. The answer is “It depends!” If you have a niche business, you may see results from your SEO campaign more quickly than you would in a more competitive business sector.
Having said this, we can measure the progress of your SEO campaign and track how it is doing. Over 50% of marketers say that the top ways they measure their SEO strategies’ success are through organic website traffic and keyword rankings.
Let’s take a look at a scalable timeline of when you can expect to see SEO results:
First 30 days
The most critical part of any SEO campaign is a strong foundation, as with any project, and this tends to happen in the first 30 days of the campaign.
Any SEO strategy we develop starts with keyword research, enabling us to focus on the keywords that will help grow your online presence. We will ask for your input on this, of course, but it is essential to remember that it might not be the most obvious keywords that we choose to target. Keyword research helps us develop options you might not have thought of, which should be easy to rank for and have little competition to help get the ball rolling on your SEO campaign.
Once we have focused on the original keywords we want to target, we then start to look at on-page tasks to ensure the keywords appear in prominent areas on your site – such as the headings, the meta title and the meta description so that Google gets a speedy understanding of the topic your website is about, and your rankings start to improve.
Two to five months
In the next two to five months of your campaign, keyword rankings will fluctuate as Google begins to recognise your website. We expect to see keywords rising and dropping in the rankings, which is nothing to worry about. Google is just trying to work out where your site fits in on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords – so movement like this is a good thing – it means Google is crawling your site regularly.
On-page SEO comes into its own after month three of the campaign, where we will tweak content, titles, meta descriptions and tags to ensure all pages are optimised for target keywords. We will also work on improving your campaign on and off your website through tasks such as blogging and link building.
Building E-A-T
During the first few months of your SEO campaign, it is also crucial that we focus on building your E-A-T with the search engines: E (Expertise), A (Authority) and T (Trustworthiness).
- Expertise – Google needs to understand that you have a high level of knowledge in a field or on a subject matter through credible and accurate content.
- Authority – This is to do with your brand and your reputation within your industry and is where link building comes in. The more links from authoritative sites your website has, the more search engines will believe in your authority. Building on your expertise also helps to build your authority over time.
- Trustworthiness – Visitors to your website and Google need to identify your site as trustworthy, or your site could drop in the rankings. Some ways we can help you improve your trustworthiness are easy navigation, fast site speeds, and customer reviews.
Working on your E-A-T helps search engines to understand that user experience is essential to you, just as much as it is to them.
Six to nine months
Between six to nine months, you should start to see some of your keywords breaking into the top 10 of the Google SERPs. However, this doesn’t mean our job is done – far from it. Research has shown that 75.1% of all clicks on the SERPs go on the top five listings. So, while we may have achieved top 10 rankings for some of your keywords, we must work on keeping them there.
The six to nine-month period of your SEO campaign is crucial in helping you increase your keywords’ rankings by improving existing content, creating new content, and creating authoritative links.
Nine months plus
A good SEO campaign is like building a house; it takes time. Once we have created a strong foundation over the first nine months, we can move forward with expanding your website’s reach while continuing to monitor your keywords.
Now is the time to expand your success by leveraging this momentum and optimising for additional keywords. There is always room for improvement in any campaign and further growth.
What will happen if I stop my SEO campaign after 12 months?
Once you have started an SEO campaign, it is vital to carry it on, as you will see a drop as soon as you stop it. Consistency is crucial to help keep your website rising through the rankings.
If you do decide to stop your campaign after 12 months, you won’t see an immediate difference, but your keywords will start to drop out of the top pages after about six months, and you may even drop out of the top 100 sites. Stopping your SEO campaign at any point will mean a slow slide to the bottom of the rankings.
Succeeding over time with SEO
Although seeing results with SEO can take time, it is well worth the time and effort that goes into it. Investing in SEO is an excellent investment in your business as it will contribute to the success of your website. The more you can spend on your SEO campaign, the more exposure your website will gain, so your investment will grow over time.
If you want to kickstart your business investment with a solid SEO strategy, contact Zool on 01625 238 770 or [email protected]
