How Long Does It Take for SEO to Work?
“How long does it take for SEO to kick in?” is the most frequently asked question by business owners who want to optimize their websites for search engines. As you may have guessed, the short answer is, “It depends…”
What does it depend on? It depends on many factors, like:
If you implemented SEO before publishing your website
How much content is on each web page
What your link profile looks like
And a plethora of other search engine optimization factors.
However, in this blog, we don’t want to give you an ambiguous answer. Our goal is to answer the question, “How long does it take for SEO to work?” and what results to expect after investing in it.
Keep reading to learn all about SEO and how long it takes to start working.
Top Questions About When to Expect SEO Results
First things first, don’t expect immediate SEO results—SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.
Unlike other search engine marketing (SEM) initiatives, such as Google Ads, SEO doesn’t work instantly. However, in the long run, SEO turns your website into a powerful lead generator.
You may be wondering why you don’t see immediate SEO results. Well, it’s because you need to earn your rank on search engines. Google isn’t going to put you in the top spot until you prove that your site provides value to users.
Businesses want to know when to expect an ROI on SEO, which is understandable. So, let’s jump into answering a few of the top FAQs, starting with “How long does SEO take before seeing results?”
How Long Does SEO Take to Start Working?
According to SEO experts, the answer to “How long does it take for SEO to kick in?” is 3-12 months. On average, you will see quantifiable progress in 6 months if you consistently optimize your website for search engines. Remember, SEO isn’t a one-time thing, it’s a long-term investment.
As you can see, the question “How long does SEO take to start working?” varies quite a bit. But at least you have a ballpark time frame to work with now.
Next, let’s discuss a follow-up question to “How long does SEO take effect on websites?”
Is My SEO Working?
Once your SEO does start working, the results you can expect depend on what your goals are and how you’re optimizing your website.
If your website is optimized and you’re investing in SEO-friendly content, then you can expect a measurable increase in organic traffic, leading to more conversions. Conversions could be actions from customers, like:
Phone calls
Button clicks
Form submissions
Content downloads
Webinar views
In addition, other KPIs besides increased organic traffic and conversions may include:
More search impressions
Higher search engine rankings
Increased domain authority
You’ll want to keep an eye on these metrics to make sure that your SEO efforts are paying off.
How Soon Can a New Website Rank?
To answer the question, “How soon can a new website rank?” we’ll refer to a study by Ahrefs.
According to Ahrefs, the average time it takes for a new website to rank in one of the top 10 Google Search positions is 2+ years. And only 5.7% of all studied pages landed in the Top 10 search results within 1 year. Meaning that ~95% of newly published pages don’t get to the Top10 within a year.
Now, don’t be alarmed! It’s just one study, and there are always outliers, but this is why investing in SEO is crucial for your business. If you want your website to rank within that 6-month timeframe, you need to partner with experts who recommend tried and true SEO strategies.
How Often Does SEO Need to Be Done?
Now that you see the importance of SEO, let’s tackle the question, “How often does SEO need to be done?”
At Veivos, we recommend ongoing monthly initiatives to ensure that your website has a better chance of ranking in 3-6 months. Here is a general schedule of what your SEO efforts might look like during the first 6 months:
Month 1
In phase one of our SEO services, Veivos:
Audits your website to see what needs improvement
Presents a unique SEO strategy for your business
Most of the time, we begin with on-page SEO where we perform extensive keyword research and then incorporate those relevant terms into your website’s header tags and page content.
During our keyword research, we set aside a list of additional terms reserved for blog posts that will drive traffic to your website once we begin content creation.
Month 2
In the second month, we perform technical SEO. This is when we begin doing things like:
Requesting indexing
Identifying page speed killers
Remapping URLs
Implementing schema markup
The second phase alone often takes about one month, depending on the state of your website. However, it’s foundational to a successful, long-term SEO strategy.
Month 3
Once your website has been cleaned up and thoroughly optimized for search engines, we can begin producing content (writing SEO blogs). Ideally, content creation should take place in month one, but it depends on the upfront initiatives required to improve your website’s health.
But as soon as your website is optimized, we’ll take the additional keywords we found in month one and begin using them to create strategic blogs. Content creation will become the main priority in the following months.
Month 4
In month four, we’ll continue to write and publish keyword-rich content on a regular basis, giving your website the opportunity to rank for relevant search terms.
Next, we will begin off-page optimization, primarily including link building. When other websites link to your website, it signals to Google that you’re sharing valuable content. Developing a healthy link profile and removing low-quality links are essential elements of SEO.
Month 5
Month five is a maintenance month. We review the work completed thus far and ensure no backsliding has occurred.
Depending on your budget, we may have only been publishing two blogs per month. If so, we’ll recommend increasing the number of blogs to a weekly posting schedule. The more blogs your website publishes, the more web pages you have to eventually rank on Google and generate organic traffic.
Month 6
By month six, you should begin seeing promising SEO results. Based on how much traffic your site is receiving each month, we may recommend conversion rate optimization (CRO). The improvements we make on your website as part of a CRO initiative will increase the chances of website visitors converting.
From this point on, the primary focus of our SEO initiatives will be writing and publishing fresh content to your website every week.
Want a Better Chance at Seeing Immediate SEO Results?
Let’s not forget the answer to, “How long do SEO changes take?” is 3-12 months, with the average being 6 months. Whether you’re updating an existing page or optimizing a new page, it takes about the same amount of time to see results. Ideally, changes on an existing page will rank faster than a new page, but it depends on the shape it was in before search engine optimization.
But did you know that there is a proven way to cut down the average answer of, “How long does it take for SEO to kick in?”
At Veivos, we take a holistic SEO strategy that allows us to get a website ranking on the first page of Google in as little as three months. Our process involves:
Running an audit of your website
Fixing website issues
Creating a keyword strategy for your website
Writing and publishing SEO-friendly content
Procuring high-quality backlinks for blogs
Meeting monthly to report on key metrics and discuss future initiatives
In addition, we utilize special keywords called keyword golden ratio (KGR) terms. These terms aren’t easy to find, but we ensure each web page and blog gets one so that your site is as powerful as possible.
Ready to make the answer to “Is my SEO working?” a resounding “Yes!”?
Schedule a call today to learn more about how SEO can benefit your business.
