Every business owner wants to know how long SEO will take before making a difference in their business. But almost no SEO professional wants to answer. Why is this? Are they all just out for the con? or can they not respond?
This article will explain exactly how long SEO takes and share insights into why people do not like to commit to a set time scale.
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Why No One Gives An Answer
Although it would be nice if this weren’t true, no SEO has full control over what Google does or doesn’t do in their search engine results. This makes giving a timescale incredibly difficult for SEO professionals.
Some SEO’s, especially those new to the industry, will tell clients they will be ranking within 6 to 12 months. And that’s a pretty fair estimate. However, this doesn’t necessarily apply to all websites.
Why The SEO Company Matters
Some companies offer SEO for £100 per month, and others provide SEO for upwards of £6,000 per month. As you can imagine, the services provided by both companies are almost always completely different.
It’s not always that the company who charged the most do the best job, but the SEO company you choose will affect the length of time it takes to get your website ranked higher in Google.
Why The Website Matters
Suppose an authoritative and robust domain puts out a page targeting a keyword that Google sees the site is relevant. In that case, it will have a great chance of ranking, especially if the website gets many visitors and branded search.
However, if a less authoritative domain puts out precisely the same page, but Google doesn’t hold the website in very high regard, it will not have a more significant chance of ranking.
This is why the SEO is performing work plays such a big part in the project’s success. Following the same process that made one project successful will not guarantee success on another. And it’s almost impossible to know that before getting started.
Why The Competition Matters
Some Industries will have one or two big names competing for profitable keywords. At the same time, others will have 30 to 40. This makes SEO considerably more comfortable to do when fewer people are optimizing for the keywords.
Another significant factor to consider when it comes to the competition is that brand names affect click-through rate, and click-through rate affects rankings (and don’t let anyone tell you it doesn’t!). If you’re competing against the likes of Argos and John Lewis, and your brand isn’t as well established. You’ll find it harder to get the clicks than the likes of the big guys.
Why The Keyword Matters
Like it or not, not all keywords are ranked based on the same factors. Google is incredibly complex and treats many keywords differently.
Ranking for some keywords will require many backlinks, whereas other keywords will be barely affected by link building. Different keywords require a lot of content, whereas others require videos.
And although some of this can be done during the initial research, there are many keywords where companies are ranking based on authority alone, and outranking them is only achieved through one of the many SEO strategies professionals use.
So How Long Does It Take?
The right and honest answer to this is that it depends on all of the above factors.
The right answer to keep in mind when setting expectations is 6 to 12 months, which is about average for an SEO campaign.
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