The team at R6 Web Design are often asked how long does SEO take? There are a myriad of issues that control how fast your site will progress in the rankings on Google.
Is your site more than one page back on a google search? If your site is a bit older it might have been hit with a manual penalty from Google on the other hand maybe competition outperforming you in search results. Whatever the reason, improving your site’s ranking takes time and there is no hard and fast rule on how long that is.
SCO is a little bit like the flu. Once you discover that you need to get better you go and see the doctor and he may give you an antibiotic. At first you don’t see any changes then you progressively start to feel better and better – SEO is a bit like that at first: you don’t see many changes, then the changes made start to slowly take effect. Every time Google re-craws your site they see that you’re doing a slightly better job every time. Rankings will improve but it is a two-way street and patience is always a virtue!
Google updates its algorithm regularly and over the last year they have had major updates. These updates work to refine the process of search results for internet users.
Recent changes have tipped the search concentration to the mobile platform – if your website is not responsive then your site may fall back in rankings.
SEO providers work in the past the current period and the future – they know what works in the past, they know what works now and the future is a bit of a guess as search engine companies take control of the goalposts that control where your website will rank.
Content
Does your site have authoritative content? Does it deserve to be on the front page of Google and is your site the authority on the on the product that you sell in the area that you have targeted?
Do you keep your content up-to-date? Have you got good quality content pages relevant to the searches that people are making for your product?
Making dramatic changes
Google penalises sites that have dramatic changes which are targeted to increase search engine rankings. An example might be adding 20 landing pages on one day all designed to target specific keywords. A good strategy is to work with your SEO provider and deliver changes to your website gradually so that the Google robots can crawl your website and make incremental improvements.
SEO is complex and takes time to make work
When websites don’t rank as well as they should, SEO teams have to work out why. Troubleshooting is a primary activity that SEO companies take to identify core problems first. Sometimes there is a key reason why websites don’t rank these need to be identified by this troubleshooting process. Methodologies and tactics used in the past may not also work in the future – what did work may not work in the future and this needs to be adjusted on your website especially if there is a penalty involved in a tactic used in the past that was perfectly legitimate to assist rankings.
SEO is a two-way street
Ultimately as owner you are responsible for your website. Whilst you may not be able to provide content (not many of us are literary writers) understanding the needs of the content needs to be relevant and updated regularly is one of the key factors to ranking success. There are no shortcuts when it comes to achieving high rankings it takes hard work a fair amount of time and a commitment by both parties to achieve the result.
Conclusion
SEO is a complex process. We wish it was easy but it isn’t. There are many variables are factors control where your website will rank but it’s essential to understand that SCO takes time a financial commitment from you as the owner of the website and most importantly a competitive offer and well-written content combined with top-quality images and information, regularly updated will set you on the path of better rankings.
Just be prepared to wait!
