How long does SEO take to work? (2023)
One of the most common questions SEO experts are asked is “how long does SEO take to work?” or how much does SEO cost?. Among industry professionals, search engine optimization (SEO) is a hot topic. And there is no simple answer to this question. When it comes to SEO, long-term planning is key. For those who lack patience, another digital marketing approach such as paid search or social advertising might be a better choice.
So How long does SEO take to work?
Regarding our question, here’s a brief answer: with an effective SEO strategy and the right support from a reliable SEO company, your website’s SEO efforts will start showing some kind of movement within 6 to 9 months, although it could take more than 12 to 24 months before you start seeing the full results. Stay tuned as we will discuss below what factors influence how long it takes for a business to see growth as a result of an effective SEO strategy.
#1 Backlinks
Backlinks remain an integral component of SEO, but their effectiveness depends on a number of factors. First and foremost, determine how many backlinks your website has; more links pointing at it means better rankings in SERPs; however, quality over quantity typically comes into play here too; high-quality backlinks from relevant websites tend to influence results more than many low-quality ones from irrelevant ones, and authoritative websites can help achieve this effect.
However, to achieve successful backlinks, you need to build relationships and produce quality content that readers will link to. Your link-building tactics should be based on quality content – ensure it’s original, unique, and easy to share on social media channels; this will make your content more visible so others will link more frequently.
But what is quality content?
#2 Quality Content
Content has always been king, and will continue to play an even bigger role in the future! Just see what Forbes has to say about quality content. It plays a major part in improving your search engine rankings – the better your content, the higher and faster a website will appear in search engines, leading to greater visibility and increased traffic.
Content quality is the top factor Google considers when delivering the best results. On top of tweaking existing content, you can also add more value to your website with new material, which in turn enhances your sites quality and helps it rank higher in searches.
The more words you have in your content, the higher amount of keywords you will potentially rank for organically. The purpose of long content is to give readers valuable information about a specific topic in more detail.
To craft a successful content marketing strategy that will boost your SEO performance, it’s essential to know what your competitors’ content is worth. Use tools such as “Ahrefs,” “Moz,” and “SEMrush” to analyze each competitor’s status and determine how often they publish new material and about what topics they cover. Gathering this data is key for creating an effective content marketing plan.
#3 Domain Age & Website Authority
Despite Google’s announcement that the age of a domain has no impact on search engine optimization, it still matters. Many case studies have shown that older domains can benefit from SEO faster than younger ones. With more backlinks, older websites have a higher chance of being recognized as authoritative and credible.
Also, there is a lot of content on an old domain, including articles, blogs, images and videos. The website does not necessarily have to use SEO strategies or advertise directly to get clicks. Older websites are naturally ranked higher because Google considers content as a ranking factor.
#4 Technical Issues
Sometimes, technical issues on your website can be the difference between success and failure, not your SEO strategy. To make sure everything runs optimally, address any technical issues so search bots can more quickly access, crawl and index it more easily.
“404 errors”, “Cheap and unreliable web hosting”, “Page load speed” and “Broken links” are some of the most frequent technical issues you should monitor. Depending on its complexity, it may take anywhere from 15 – 30 days to resolve all technical issues.
At Southtown Web Design, we understand the importance of having a website design that is optimized for technical SEO. That’s why we always make sure to incorporate it into our designs from the very beginning. We go beyond just making sure that our sites adhere to best practices—we strive to make them as search engine friendly as possible.
#5 Keyword Research
For successful SEO, it is essential to identify your target audience and the relevant keywords. For optimal visibility, we suggest creating content specifically targeted at certain words or phrases.
To determine what words users are typing when searching for similar services, utilize keyword tracking tools like “Google Trends.” Your content should be aligned with emerging trends within your target industry and utilize tools like “Ubersuggest” or “Ahrefs” for keyword research. These resources are essential if you want to create content that accurately reflects user search queries.
A successful keyword competition strategy revolves around long-tail keywords. These are longer and more specific words used when someone searches for a product or service. It may take up to 24 months for websites to rank for highly competitive keywords; however, long tailed keywords usually take three to six months before seeing positive outcomes. It is possible to achieve this sooner if you target the right long-tail keywords.
They don’t generate as much traffic as the more competitive keywords, although we all have to start somewhere and this is an easy win that will still generate some sort of traffic going to your site.
#6 Expertise
Even though most people want to do the work themselves and spend less money, it makes more sense to let an SEO specialist decide what strategies to use and what changes to make to a website.
An SEO specialist should be an expert in different areas, including technical improvements, content creation, internal linking, and backlink building.
Avoid SEO specialists who use outdated tactics, as the algorithms that set the rules of search engine optimization are constantly changing. In other words, SEO requires ongoing tweaking and edits due to Google’s constant algorithm updates. Having a lack of knowledge of the current methods can cause you to waste resources without making progress and lose even more time in the future to solve the problems caused.
Bottom Line
In 2023, several factors can expedite your website’s ranking process in Google search results. Although improving a site’s authority may cost money, the benefits in terms of free traffic from searches with Google are worth it in the end.
Before beginning any SEO or local SEO campaigns, there are several important steps that must be taken care of in order to get a better understanding of how long SEO does take to work.
But don’t fret – Southtown Web Design is here to assist you on this journey. Reach out to us today to discuss your business goals and to conduct a SEO audit to get a better understanding of areas that we could improve initially.