How long does it take to see results from SEO?

Updated October 2023

“When should I expect to see results from SEO efforts?” This is the magic question local business owners ask me all the time when we talk about website optimization to improve organic rankings.

What do I tell them?

In my 5+ years of experience working as an SEO consultant, I have been able to increase organic traffic by 79% for some clients in a 6 month period, by implementing the right SEO strategy, while other clients in higher competition niches have seen a 13% revenue increase from organic traffic, in less than 8 months.  It would be rather difficult to give a definitive answer, due to a few factors that are at play.

In this article, I will go over some of the key factors that determine the length of time SEO takes to work. I will explain why an SEO campaign could take some time to produce results, and I will break it down into two different scenarios, new websites, and websites with some history. Just keep in mind that, by results, I am referring to organic traffic, impressions, click-throughs, engagement, and conversion, excluding results from paid search ads (PPC).

Let me emphasize in one sentence what SEO is all about. SEO stands for search engine optimization. In plain language, Search Engine Optimization is providing the best and most relevant answer to a specific question or user search query that satisfies the search intent, better than your competition, so you can outrank them.

Here are some of the factors that determine the success of your SEO campaigns and the average period of time to achieve results.

• Domain authority – New domain vs. a domain that has been around for a while.
• The level of competition in the same niche
• Financial investment or budget
• Business niche and topical content
• Internal and external links pointing to the domain
• The quality of the content
• User experience (UX)
• Mobile-friendliness
• URL structure
• How fast the SEO changes are implemented
• Any potential Google penalties?
• Regular Updates and Consistency
• The Influence of Industry and location

• Competition – Analyzing the niche competitiveness involves understanding things like looking at the organic keywords and which competitors frequently appear on the organic rankings, what is their domain authority, keyword competitiveness, competitive topics, and how much effort they are putting into their SEO.
  A good SEO consultant would normally dig even deeper to better understand the quality of your online competition. Looking at things like the number of keywords they’re ranking for,  how much traffic they’re getting, and which pages are attracting more traffic, is it blog posts or product pages? Understanding all these aspects of SEO helps build a solid SEO strategy.
• Budget – The results of our competitive analysis will give us an idea about the SEO financial investment required to outrank your competition. Some of the SEO tasks that the budget would cover are:- Competitive keyword research
  – SEO strategy
  – On-Page SEO & Technical Optimization
  – Content Strategy

– Content writing (can be handled in-house by the client, outsourced)
– Keyword optimization

• Improving content quality,
• Build a strong backlink profile and
• Establish yourself as an expert and authority in your industry, which will guarantee you future gains

When it comes to websites that have been around for a while, we’ve seen different scenarios:

1. Websites that have a fair amount of quality content, have not done any SEO optimization at all but rather use other forms of traditional marketing. Those are often the best cases because the content is already in place, however, it needs to be optimized with keywords and user intent in mind. In many cases of this nature, an SEO consultant would recommend having a short and long-term strategy.

A few questions come to mind here when analyzing content, for example:

• Is the blog content divided into categories?
• Do the blog topics satisfy the search queries?
• Are there opportunities to merge different blog posts into one long-form content article?

If you are working with an SEO consultant or agency, the first step most often is to perform an SEO audit on the website you want to optimize, and I like to break that down into three types of audit:

• On-Page Audit
• Off-Page Audit
• Technical Audit.

Typically, you would want to focus on the low hanging fruit first,

• What pages/content is already ranking and how can we improve it and make it
  better?
• Is there duplicate content that we should remove
• What are some aspects we can improve right away? FAQ section, turning some of the content we already have into blog posts

Making some simple changes and fixing some basic technical issues often result in significant ranking improvements within the first 30-45 days. Then work on the longer-term plan focusing on the conversions and ROI. Usually, you will start seeing gradual traffic increase and impressions increase within 3-6 months.

2. Secondly, there are cases of a YMYL (Your Money Your Life) website which include government, financial, and investment industries. These sites may have been around for a few years and are content-heavy. In some of these cases when an SEO agency starts auditing if we discover issues related to the content, the time span to fix the issue could be 6-12 months. Let’s remember that based on the Quality Raters Guidelines bar is set higher for YMYL websites.

Here is an example of a client in the health science education that already had a presence online and had very little or no SEO work done. In fact, we did a whole website migration for this client which brought up a whole different set of tasks to take care of.

The screenshot from the Google Search Console shows the data from July 2021, right after the site migration, until January 2022. In addition to implementing the on-page SEO, and maintaining the URL structure, I leveraged the power of the Google Search Console regex feature to uncover topic ideas to build a content calendar and started publishing content in the blog. In a few days, we started seeing an uptick in traffic, and in less than 6 months the organic impressions almost increased by over 140%.

Another factor to consider is if a website has a bruised online reputation due to receiving a
penalty from Google, which could be for using inappropriate SEO tactics. After the penalty issue is been taken care of, usually the site will start seeing a positive reaction in about 2-3 months.

In my years of experience as an SEO consultant, one element that often goes unnoticed but plays a pivotal role in SEO success is the regularity of updates and maintaining consistency. SEO is not a one-time task; it’s an ongoing process. Search engines, especially Google, value fresh content. Regularly updating your website not only provides value to your readers but also signals search engines that your site is active and relevant.

Moreover, consistency in your SEO efforts ensures that you stay ahead of the curve. The digital landscape is ever-evolving, with search algorithms getting updated frequently. By staying consistent, you can adapt to these changes swiftly, ensuring that your website remains optimized for the latest SEO standards.

In conclusion, while various factors determine the success of an SEO campaign, the regularity of updates and maintaining consistency can significantly influence the time it takes to see tangible results. Remember, in the world of SEO, persistence and consistency are key.

Throughout my journey in the realm of SEO, I’ve come to appreciate the nuances that different industries bring to the table. It’s evident that the SEO strategies that work wonders for a local bakery might not have the same impact for a multinational tech firm. The industry-specific challenges and opportunities play a significant role in shaping the SEO landscape.

Another pivotal factor that I’ve observed is the influence of geographical location. While the digital world might seem borderless, the truth is that local SEO holds immense power. The preferences, behaviors, and search patterns of users can vary dramatically from one region to another. For instance, a keyword that’s trending in New York might not hold the same relevance in Tokyo. Thus, understanding and optimizing for local search patterns can be a game-changer.

Lastly, the dynamic nature of SEO demands regular monitoring and adjustments. Search algorithms are ever-evolving, and what works today might be obsolete tomorrow. It’s crucial to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry, continually monitor your website’s performance, and make necessary adjustments. This proactive approach ensures that you’re always a step ahead, ready to adapt and thrive in the ever-changing world of SEO.

Takeaways

The answer to the first question – How long does SEO take to work, can be divided into three scenarios:
1. For search queries with low competition, it is possible to see results within 7-10 days or
about a week
2. For search queries with medium competition SEO campaigns can produce results within 4-5 weeks
3. And, for search queries with high competition, you are looking at 4-6 months

Being a small brand in a competitive marketplace should not make you feel inferior. Every brand starts small. Experience has taught us that businesses with a well-aligned SEO strategy who execute fast and consistently will be successful and rip the fruits of their work.
SEO is an ongoing effort, so set measurable goals, align them with business objectives, prioritize well and invest in SEO, to see significant long-lasting organic growth.

If you are interested in a website review or audit, reach out and let me show you how to increase your sales leads and revenue from organic SEO. I would be happy to offer you a free and informative SEO consulting session.