Search engine optimization (SEO) is an ongoing process that aims to optimize your website for search engines. It usually takes between three and six months for the first results to become visible. However, this period can vary greatly and depends on various factors specific to your website.
In this article, we address the following topics:
- How long does SEO usually take?
- Why does SEO take so much time?
- What factors influence the duration of SEO measures?
- A typical SEO schedule: What happens in the first six months?
Read on to find out how long SEO usually takes and take a look at a typical SEO timeline. Alternatively, you can contact us contact online, to speak to one of our experts about customized SEO strategies for your company.
Why does SEO take so long?
The nature of search engine optimization explains why it takes longer to see results. While other digital marketing strategies can bring instant traffic, SEO is an ongoing process that requires consistency.
For one, Google needs time to find, crawl and index pages. When you update your website and add new content, Google starts crawling that content to determine what it's about and what search intent it fulfills. This natural process is out of your control.
Second, it takes time to apply SEO best practices to all of your pages. As much as you may want to make all updates at once, you need to make changes over time to prove to Google that your site is trustworthy. Plus, continually adding new content takes time to write, edit and publish.
Important findings
- It takes time for Google to find, crawl and index pages.
- It takes time to apply SEO best practices to all your pages.
What factors influence how long SEO takes?
SEO is measurable, even if the results are not immediately visible. The following factors influence how long SEO takes:
- History of your website: Older websites have a better chance of ranking well simply because they have been around longer. Although there is no direct correlation between domain age and SEO, Google needs time to index your site. The older your site, the more time Google has had to index it. New domains can still rank well! This means that Google is taking in more information about your site at once.
- Competition: Your competition can influence the development of your rankings. In a highly competitive industry, it can take longer to see success with a few SEO changes than in a smaller, specialized market. A competitive analysis can help you understand the market and the potential timeframe.
- Resources provided for SEO: The time frame varies depending on how much you invest in SEO. The more you invest in SEO, the better your chances of ranking well. However, some companies cannot afford to invest all their resources in SEO and wait for results.
- Your strategy: SEO is all about knowing which changes will have the biggest impact. Sometimes you target the wrong SEO measures for months before adjusting your strategy. That's why it's important to constantly evaluate your plan and make sure everything is working accordingly. Working with a professional SEO agency will ensure that you're always making the biggest impact.
A typical SEO schedule: What happens in months 1-6
To better understand the time associated with an SEO strategy, it's easiest to look at it month by month through an SEO timeline. Let's break down months 1-6 and see what your plan might look like during that time.
Month 1
In the first month, you should have researched and selected the best SEO agency for you. Here are some factors that your SEO plan will cover in the first month.
Research
SEO specialists start by researching everything about your brand. This information is necessary because every company is unique.
Your SEO team will examine your industry, its competitiveness, your specific niche, competitors and their rankings, as well as more detailed topics such as important industry keywords.
All of this information will help shape your SEO campaign. If you do SEO in-house, you may have less extensive research to do as you know your business well. In this case, you can focus on competitors and market analysis.
Website audit
Once you are accepted as a client, your SEO agency will examine the structure of your website, the existing content and the overall user experience.
The best SEO agencies also conduct a thorough SEO or website audit. This process helps them see what content you already have, develop opportunities and create a game plan for a comprehensive SEO strategy.
Keyword planning
Content is what allows you to rank in search engines. However, in order for your content to rank in search engines, you need to create pages that target keywords that your target audience is searching for online. For this reason, keyword research and planning is an extremely important part of the SEO process.
It helps SEO experts determine the scope of keywords you need to target, how many and what type.
Month 2
Remember that the above points do not always take a whole month to complete. Depending on the quality and status of your current website, your SEO agency may be able to start tasks in the first month that would normally take the second month.
Website modifications
The second month is typically when more technical SEO work begins. Your SEO team will enter the backend of your website and make the necessary changes to ensure you rank higher in search results.
The changes should be consistent with your website audit. For example, if you already have great alt tags for your images, there is no need to pull an alt tag report and fix them. However, if your website's meta descriptions are missing, they should be updated.
If your website is old or you bought it from someone else, it may need a complete SEO overhaul. This process alone can take months. Your SEO agency will usually let you know in the first month if your website needs a complete overhaul.
Ensuring a responsive design
Responsive design means that users have a great experience regardless of the device they are viewing your website on. If you have a website that is not responsive, it will look different on a smartphone or tablet than it does on a desktop.
Buttons could be cut off, images could take up the whole screen and navigating the site becomes more difficult. At this point, your marketing manager will make sure that your website is responsive, as this will also affect your rankings.
Month 3
In the third month, the real work begins. This is where the content really comes into play.
Keyword selection
Before your SEO team can create and implement content, they need to review the long list of keywords identified in the first month and narrow down the keywords they want to target.
Different keywords are well suited to different types of content. For example, there are long-tail keywords and generic keywords.
Generic keywords typically consist of one or two words and describe a broad topic. These terms include „pizza“, „shoes“ or „dogs“. While generic keywords often have a high search volume, many other businesses in your industry also target them. This means that it is often difficult to rank for them organically. Long-tail keywords are often more targeted and consist of three or more words. These keywords are specific to your niche and target a very specific need. They include phrases like „pepperoni and pineapple thin crust pizza“, „red high heels with ankle straps“ or „sheepadoodle puppies in Bavaria“. Each of these keywords fulfills a very specific need. Although long-tail keywords have a lower monthly search volume, they attract more qualified leads to your website - people who are most likely to buy your products or services.
When it comes to keywords, a combination of high search volume and low competition is ideal. As you can see, a lot of work goes into selecting keywords before content can be created. That's why content creation takes a whole month or more, depending on what your website needs.
Content creation
One of the most important parts of an SEO campaign is content creation. As you can see, it's a process of determining exactly which keywords you want your content to target, but after the SEO strategists have determined the keywords, the content creation begins.
As with keywords, there are also different types of content. In the third month, your SEO agency will combine each keyword with specific content that best fits each topic.
For example, there is long-form content, blog content and general product and service content. At this point in your SEO campaign, your marketing manager will determine what content your website needs and create the right plan for your website.
Long-form content typically contains more than 2000 words and is extremely important for SEO purposes. It has been proven that long-form content drives higher organic traffic, more social shares and more backlinks.
In years past, companies could create content that was full of keywords, but Google has gotten smarter since then. For your content to rank, your website needs to provide content that matches user intent and not just use the keyword.
Blog content is a bigger commitment as it needs to be updated regularly. However, blogs are extremely beneficial for SEO. That's why most SEO companies recommend implementing a blog and offer blog content at an additional cost.
General product and service content describes your company, your history and specifications, as well as descriptions of your products and services. This content is crucial if you want your specific product offerings to rank in Google - and if we had to guess, that's one of your goals.
The sooner this content appears on your website, the better. As soon as your content is live, Google can index it and rank it in search engines.
Don't expect your newly published content to appear in search results within the first week, but you might start seeing well-written content at least somewhere in search results after a month or two.
Month 4
In the fourth month, you should start to see the fruits of your SEO campaign. At this point, you should notice increased website traffic and an improvement in website rankings.
However, this does not mean that the SEO team's work is over. They will continue to implement content on your website, fix technical issues and ensure that your website functions optimally throughout.
Continued addition of content and technical aspects of SEO such as link building are important this month to keep the SEO momentum going. Authoritative link building is important for your ranking as it shows Google that other high-ranking websites trust your information enough to link to it.
To increase backlinks, your marketing manager could contact other companies in your industry and ask them to link to your content.
Month 5
By the fifth month, you should start to see real results from your SEO campaign. You should see an increase in website traffic and possibly some additional sales as well. This means that your campaign is working and can give you a good idea of whether your campaign is effective.
What will your SEO agency do this month?
Integration of social media
If your social media profiles are not yet linked to your website, this is usually the time for your SEO agency to catch up. In Germany, it's especially important to use platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to reach your target audience. Your marketing manager can help you identify the best platforms for your brand and develop an effective social media strategy.
Analysis of the current results
An important part of an SEO agency's job is to report their findings back to you, the client - and some of the most important findings are analytics about your campaign.
Your SEO team should keep an eye on your campaign throughout the process, but around the fifth month you may really see an increase in traffic or conversions. Your SEO agency will use tools like Google Analytics to show you how your campaign is performing.
Month 6
Don't be discouraged if you haven't seen the results you were hoping for by this point. The above factors will determine how long it takes for you to achieve organic traffic through SEO.
However, if in a typical case your website is generating increasing traffic by this point, congratulations! But it's not time to stop yet. Here are your SEO activities in month six:
A/B tests
A/B testing is a tactic that marketers use to test different elements on your website. For example, you might have implemented a call-to-action (CTA) button in your SEO content, but now you want to try a different version in a different color to see which one works better. You could therefore carry out an A/B test.
This test allows you to see which variation of a particular element performs better and to implement this version on your website.
Heatmap tests
Another test that marketers could use on your website is the heatmap test. This test shows how far down a particular page users scroll before they leave the page. It also shows where users click most often and can indicate if you need more interactive elements above the fold.
Ready to start your SEO campaign?
An SEO campaign is easier with a partner. Let CSW simplify the process and achieve data-driven results for your business with our SEO services.
We use the latest technology and our experienced team to manage your SEO campaign from start to finish. We handle all the research, technical work and more. With our help, you can take the guesswork out of SEO and focus on an SEO strategy that will bring you lasting improvements in search results.
Request a free quote today and see what CSW can do for your business!
Why CSW is the right choice for your SEO needs?
If you have a SEO agency that increases your online visibility and delivers sustainable results, CSW is the right partner for you. Our SEO strategies are designed to help you stand out in a competitive market.
Especially if your company is based in Düsseldorf, we can help you as a SEO Agency Düsseldorf help you to be found better locally. Our expertise in local SEO ensures that you are at the top of the regional search results and address your target group directly.
Contact us today to find out how we can help you achieve your SEO goals. Our team is always available to answer your questions and help you on your way to better search engine rankings.
