Positioning Strategy for SEO Results and Realistic Timeline Expectations

There is one important factor to remember whenever you are involved in improving the organic rankings of a website, and that factor is time. One of the most common questions is “How long till I start to see results?” This article is dedicated to anyone who has ever asked that question. You will need the right positioning strategy.

It doesn’t matter what industry you are involved in, or what techniques you follow, in all cases you will be a prisoner of time. In the vast majority of cases search engine rankings don’t come over night.

Regardless of the scope of the SEO campaign you are undertaking, you will have to wait for results. It doesn’t matter if you are undertaking a massive link building & social media campaign combined with extreme content development – you will still have to wait for those results. Just how long you need to wait however, will depend on a large number of factors.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER

How long it will take for rankings starts with a few key factors:

How optimized is your site before SEO?
If your established site has no optimization in place at all, and has navigation that is blocking search engine spiders, sometimes opening the site up can result in a rather quick turn-around for results.

How many inbound links does your site have?
If you have an old site with no links, this will add to the time you need to wait. If you have a number of links already, Google will probably be in to check out things within a week or so of updating.

How new is your website?
A brand new site with no links has to wait. Google may find you, but probably not. If you do nothing, your site may not ever be indexed – you must get a few links, and an XML sitemap if you want to stand a chance with a new site.

How flexible is your site?
If your site utilises a content management system, how flexible is this system for customization? If your current back end will not allow for SEO based changes, this will drastically slow down your ranking progress.

How competitive is your target phrase?
This is huge. The more competitive a target phrase is, the longer you will likely have to wait, and the more links, pages, and fresh content you will probably need. Picking a target phrase that has searches, but modest competition is your best bet to get started. As long as your “dream phrase” is relevant, you can go after the bigger fish once your site has some links, content, and has started to find its place on the map.

Is your site positioned to be able to compete?
Take a look at the top 10 sites for your target phrase. If on average the ranking sites have 10,000 inbound links and 1,000 plus pages, and your site has 7 links and 12 pages, you’re likely doomed. You don’t need to match the numbers of the top 10, but you do need to be in the ball park. If the top 10 is littered with all the big guys like Amazon, eBay, and the dreaded Wikipedia, you might just want to consider reevaluating your goals. If your site is not in a comparable position with the rest of the top 10, then you need to either step up your efforts in order to compete, or plan on waiting a very long time.

GET GOOGLE TO VISIT YOUR SITE

How long it takes to start seeing results starts with Google. Once Google spiders your site you will still have to wait for the updated cache to appear in Google’s index, and in most cases, you will have to wait longer still to see any impact in the search rankings. In most cases getting Google to your site is relatively easy, but it can sometimes take a month or longer.

Even a site with some inbound links and an XML sitemap, may have to wait a while. Typically an established active website will seldom have to wait more than a month to get Google’s eyes; however, if your site has been sitting stagnant for several years, it may take longer.