Understanding SEO and How Long it May Take for Results to Show

How long will it take before I start seeing results?

This is a question that almost every SEO agency has had to answer. Every client asks this question because, let’s face it, the only reason why clients come to these agencies is because they want to see some results.

So it is only natural for them to want to know just how long it will take for them to begin to see these results they so desire.

Our focus in this article is to address this very subject.

We want to address the issues that many clients do not get to consider, factors that they should indeed consider to enable them really understand how to manage their expectations with regards to how long it will take for them to begin to see results from their SEO campaigns.

Let’s get right to it…

Understanding what you are Up Against

First, there are some basics that every website owner who is engaged in any form of SEO campaign or about to get one started should be aware of. To lay a better background, let’s remind ourselves of what SEO is again in the first place.

Search engine optimization covers a set of activities and strategies that are put in place to achieve one major end result – better ranking on search engines.

That means that when a person searches for something related to a keyword or keywords your site is targeting, you want your site to come up among the top 10 in the results – preferably the first spot.

Now here’s the thing. In this article here, you can see that as at January 2019 there were about 1,518 207 412 (over 1.5 billion) websites on the World Wide Web.

Now, each of those websites want exactly the same thing you want.

Yes, all websites do not target the same keywords, but in many cases, at least a few millions will be targeting keywords similar to yours if not the same.

This is one of the reasons why keyword research is very critical. The keyword research will show you how much competition there is for a keyword.

Let’s assume that the keyword you are targeting it not very competitive and you don’t have hundreds of million other sites competing for those same keywords, you will at least have a few million competing websites.

With this background laid, we can now look at the factors that will affect how quickly (or not) you begin to see results.

Factors that Affect How Long it Takes Results to Show

There are some important things that can affect how soon results will begin to come in.  Top among these is how quickly the site gets fully optimized. This therefore means that the first question should rather be how long does search engine optimization take?

The truth is that this process is an on-going one. You must always keep optimizing your site if you want it to keep performing well.

All of that said, let’s now quickly look at a few of the important factors that can affect both how long full SEO optimization takes and how long it will take to begin to bear fruit by way of results.

Budget

This is the first thing to be considered. How much you have to spend will determine a lot of things.

There are tools and services that you will require. These will cost some money so the amount of money made available will determine how much of these tools and services can be retained and also for how long they can be used.

Competition

The next factor to be put into consideration is the level of competition in your niche and for the keyword(s) you are optimizing for.

Obviously if you are going for a highly competitive keyword, you can expect to spend more money and time before you can begin to see any significant results.

Thankfully, highly competitive keywords are also highly rewarding so with a good strategy you can get a handsome return on your investment. We already mentioned above that keyword research is at the heart of any search engine optimization campaign.

Effective Implementation of SEO Strategies

In SEO, it’s not just about effort. It is a combination of both effort and knowledge. You have to be making effort in the right direction.

It is therefore important that the right strategies be effectively implemented. If you do not get your strategy right from the get go, you will most certainly wait forever for any results to show.

Website Type

The type of website you have is also another factor that can impact things. Search engines love content so websites that have tons of good quality content are likely to rank a lot faster than those without much content.

The reason for this is that while the website with loads of content can fully maximize both on-site and off-site SEO strategies, those with little to no content will rely mainly on off-site strategies.

Conclusion

Before embarking on an SEO campaign, understand that it is not magic and it is not an overnight success strategy.

If you are in it to build for the long term, you need to go through deliberate processes that may not have instant results but will benefit your business for many years to come.

We understand that you want quick results, you must however be careful of any agency that promises ultra-fast results. Some folks engage in black hat practices that could get your website banned.

Slow but steady is a motto that will serve you well in this journey.