Posted At: Aug 02, 2024 - 120 Views
The returns on investment of SEO operations are always very complicated to model, especially because the time required for an article/site to be correctly referenced on Google is very difficult to estimate and can even sometimes seem almost random. However, real SEO experts are perfectly able to estimate precisely, in a given context, the time it takes to appear on the first page.
In this blog, we give you the keys to, in turn, be able to accurately estimate the time to “rank” on your content, and especially the tips to speed up this process.
What are the Factors that Affect the Duration of SEO Results?
There are some factors that influence the time it takes to get a page referenced with a keyword. You can’t really tell how long it will take to rank your pages before you’ve audited your site. How many keywords does he want to target? What is the competition for these keywords? What is the current state of the site? What’s the budget? All of these factors affect how quickly a website can reach the top of the Google pyramid.
Current site performance: If there are any problems to be solved, it will take longer. That doesn’t mean you can’t start working on keyword research or content creation. You should do this as soon as possible. But if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, for example, it just can’t reach SEO heights.
It should be noted that a website that loads slowly and lacks authority will perform less well than a fast site that has a lot of quality backlinks.
Technique: Solving technical issues doesn’t necessarily speed up the ranking process, but it’s something most people try to sort out first because it’s so important. What are URLs, canonical tags, and hreflang tags like? Is the site well indexed? If you have a large budget, you can resolve issues quickly because you can outsource these tasks. Otherwise, it will take longer.
Old/New website: Generally speaking, an older website will perform a little better than a new one. This is true if and only if the site has something useful to provide. Either way, the Search Engine Marketing platform i.e. Google doesn’t trust a website when it launches. It could be another automated SPAM site or just a really bad site. You’ll need to spend some time indexing it well, showing Google that it’s well structured and fast, and people like it. You’ll also need to factor in the time it takes to build the website if it doesn’t already exist. Is it a small site? A bigger one? Does it have basic functionality, or is it a complex e-commerce store with features that are difficult to implement?
Large/Small Website: Again, in general, large websites tend to perform better. Why? Because that also means they’re probably a bit older and probably have backlinks. However, even though large websites can rank a page faster than a small one without authority, it will also take longer to rank all the pages because there are many of them. If you decide to tell your client, “I think we could rank these keywords in less than a year,” then you will have to post for them very regularly, which is unlikely.
Current performance of the site domain: Domain performance is key to knowing how long it will take to rank. If your website has no backlinks, it will probably take you a lot longer to rank for a target keyword than if you had thousands of (quality) backlinks pointing to that keyword.
Competition level: Now that you have defined the position of your website or that of your client, you can take a look at your competition. The secret here is to spot the opportunities. If you want to have a long-term strategy, focus on creating high-level content and target keywords with a medium to a high level of competition (while still being realistic).
Content quality: When you want to rank for a particular keyword, you need to know what kind of content is already ranking there. Is this a well-written article? What about the information? Is there real added value? Does Google rank short articles or “guides” of up to 10,000 words? You can use the SEO services in Dubai to answer all of these questions.
Competitor domain performance: If you are going after websites that have very strong signals indicating they are qualitative (such as Wikipedia), it will take longer than if you are competing against websites that do not have a strong link profile. Therefore, if you see that a results page is full of websites with a poorly performing domain, it is a (good) sign that you can rank faster than usual. This often happens in local SEO niches, where smaller sites are more likely to be the only ones targeting these keywords. If major websites aren’t targeting keywords directly in the title, there are two possible reasons:
These sites have immense authority (they probably also have backlinks with the keyword as anchor text), and it will probably be very difficult to rank on them. If you see that no other “smaller” site is listed, it’s probably a good idea to move on. There is no relevant content that directly targets this keyword. Therefore, you will probably be classified by tomorrow morning.
SEO budget: Budget is really important when trying to figure out how long a website should rank for. It directs everything from how quickly technical fixes will be implemented to how content will be written.
- Technical budget: Depending on the degree of optimization of a website, the technical budget required can be small or very large. It may even happen that the best solution is to redo the site from scratch. It costs money, but also time. If you need to rebuild a website, you can’t start posting content right away. Better to wait until it’s finished.
- Content writing budget: Content creation is the longest and most expensive part. You can’t educate someone or get links to something that doesn’t exist. Your customers can’t read the article you never published. If you only have $ 10 to spend on an item, this one probably won’t be the best. If you invest $ 50 or $ 100 instead, you could have something good. Of course, you should also take into account the other factors mentioned above, such as competition. If their content sounds like a $ 5 investment, then a $ 10 article might be enough.
- Budget outreach and backlinks: There are so many opportunities with content. If all of your competition is bonding, you might feel like you’re not progressing at all. This is not a problem if you buy advertising from other sites but try as much as possible to make it profitable, even in terms of clicks. Don’t just buy a link that no one will see. Again, if someone asks you $ 1,000 for a backlink, you better invest that in quality content, outreach, and relationship building. It’s not easy to do everything yourself but try as much as possible to develop an outreach strategy that you or someone else can easily execute.
- Social media budget: Social media is one of the immense ways to boost your content. If the signals are good and the content is getting traffic, that means the performance is good, and people may want to see it in search results as well. Managing a social account is not easy. It’s not enough to just share your last article on one page. Your main goal is engagement.
Google Dance and the click-through rate: Once you start ranking on the second or first page, you might notice that sometimes the Search Engine Marketing platform Google places your website at the very top, first or second, but only for a while. Don’t shout victory too quickly; it might just be Google Dance. This happens when Google sees algorithmic signals such as quality content and backlinks, but they also need to verify this with real-time Rank Brain signals, such as CTR. Will users like your content? If Google Dance keeps pushing you to the top, that’s a good sign.
So How Long Will it Take to Get SEO Results?
SEO is not a precise science but an ongoing process. While the basics of good SEO remain the same, it’s important to keep pace with the changes in the latest algorithm and adapt your SEO strategy to them. Your competition is on the alert, and you need to do the same in order to stay ahead.
After setting up the groundwork, while continuing to develop quality content and improve your website, you can expect the following results:
- About 3 months for the first SEO results
- Around 6 months for noticeable SEO results
- Around 12 months for influential SEO results
A study found that most of the pages that rank first in Google are at least 3 years old, and only 22% of the pages that rank in the top 10 were created less than a year ago. In fact, 95% of new web pages take over a year to land on the first page of Google results. Patience is golden! Even if it takes longer, don’t give up. And when you start to see results, don’t stop, so you can stay ahead of the competition.
Keep in mind that these are only estimates. These times may vary depending on several factors and the quantity, quality, and frequency of the content you post as well as the overall quality of your website.
Even though SEO is a constant process, if done well, the results will persist even in the face of updates, and the natural will become a lasting and constant source of traffic and sales. For quick results, you should avail of SEO services in Dubai.
What to Do for Quick SEO Results?
You actually only have three options that can really speed up the process of getting a page to rank in Google. And no, it’s neither easy nor quick.
Get a bigger SEO budget: The easiest way to increase your chances of ranking well is to increase your budget. Better content, professional design, greater outreach efforts, and a post-boost once posted on social media will definitely help you rank higher. However, the cost of posting the content mentioned above can go up to $ 500 or even more. There is also the possibility of buying backlinks. It can save you a lot of time. However, doing this is risky and can get you in trouble. The safest way is to buy Nofollow backlinks. You might think that’s not useful, but in fact, nofollow backlinks help you with SEO. In both cases, quality backlinks are a must. The link should reach an audience that is interested in what you are doing. This is ideal if it can generate traffic as well. If it costs more than $ 250, you’re probably better off spending that on quality content creation or advertising.
Write really great content; When we say “very good,” we don’t mean “quality content.” We mean great content that you spend weeks or even months developing, planning, and designing. Writing this type of content can go viral, which means people will start clicking and sharing it, which will get it ranked very quickly. However, you will probably need to boost its growth, thanks to a boost on social networks, for example.
Target lower competition: Your final option is to target only low-difficulty keywords, which means spending more time on the research phase. This is only to speed up your ranking but not necessarily traffic or profits. You can spend a year ranking on a difficult keyword with a search volume of 1000 / month or only 1 month for a keyword with a search volume of 100 / month, but you will need 10 of these words to get the same traffic. If you are starting with a poorly performing website and a small budget, focus on low-competitive keywords. Use proper SEO tools for monitoring performance.
Conclusion
To see the first results with SEO generally takes 3 months to a year (even for experienced SEOs). But it may also take longer because it depends on so many factors. Of course, it can also take less time. There are many high-quality websites that are poorly optimized for search. A little SEO intervention can dramatically increase their traffic. If you want to achieve good results, you need to invest in quality work, namely:
- Relevant and optimized content that readers will find useful today and tomorrow
- An aesthetic site but also and above all functional
- A site that loads quickly with easy navigation
- A site optimized for mobiles, etc.
