Playing the Waiting Game with SEO
How long does it take to produce SEO results? The answer may or may not be what you expect, but like most good things, it comes with patience.
This is a common enough question that we often address, and if you do a quick Google search, you will find hundreds of articles and think-pieces on this very topic. Although some clients have an ideal answer in mind, it is important to be realistic and stick to the data when it comes to SEO.
Here is the answer: It can take several months to build SEO strategies, implement campaigns and collect and interpret valid data sets. On average, 3-6 months to see SEO results. The good news? The longer you wait, the more results you will see.
It is also important to note that just like all your plans to push your brand to the top of the food chain, the first round (and second and third) of SEO results may not show top rankings. The algorithms must update over time, as the newly placed keywords, content, links, website updates and any other changes made are not immediately registered by search engines. Within a competitive landscape in which most brands and websites are competing for the top search spot, it can take time to sort these and show where your content lands among the rest. As we will come to learn, waiting is a key component of SEO success.
Why We Wait
"Fast" and "SEO" should never be used in the same sentence. Those who promise fast SEO results should be seen as a red flag in the digital marketing world. Achieving better SEO rankings takes time. Optimal results require more website traffic, and the only way for that to occur is over extended durations.
When it comes to SEO rankings, we are looking at the results of over two hundred varied factors, some of which impact your success as a business more than others. Many ranking factors double as performance indicators, which can help build success in unique and nuanced ways. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize indicators based on relevance and expected impact. Then, identify your selected group as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to meet your marketing goals, including:
- Quality content
- High-quality backlinks
- Mobile-friendliness, page speed and crawlability
- User experience
- Keyword optimization
- Schema markup
- On-page optimization
A Slow but Impactful Shift
In addition to the factors mentioned above that we have within our control, it takes time and effort to develop these strategies and evolve them as your business and search engine habits change . The platform includes factors that require us to remain vigilant, agile and nimble because they are out of our control and can change on a dime, shifting outcomes in ways that we must anticipate because we cannot predict.
For example, Google’s frequent Core Updates impact SEO traffic extensively. In fact, Google’s latest update targeting spam and AI-generated content shifted numerous factors for business websites, directly impacting SEO results.
After a major update, many websites could experience immediate fluctuations in their SEO results, ranging from keyword rankings to organic traffic. This could mean that the progress and tactics that once worked well for the previous site are no longer as effective, requiring you and your marketing team to switch gears. As long as the digital marketing and advertising space continues to evolve, so will SEO.
Investing in SEO Success
With thousands of these updates occurring every year, it is important to have an experienced and knowledgeable digital marketing team on your side to track these changes and adapt accordingly.
You should never expect overnight success with SEO, but with a strategic plan in place, along with an SEO team in your corner, you can expect to see stronger results the longer time goes on. Here at Web Tech Fusion, we have designated SEO specialists to not only implement changes and present results, but to also keep an eye out for these significant shifts and how to best navigate them.
Connect with us and our SEO team to learn more.