Feel like the effort you’re putting into SEO isn’t working? Well, you’re probably just being a bit impatient.
But how long does SEO take to see results? We’ve broken it down for you so you can get a better understanding of why SEO is so important – even if it takes longer than you expect it to.
Let’s go back to SEO basics
Before starting any SEO campaign, you should have some goals ready. These give you measurables for which you can mark your success. You are probably making progress without even realising it if you’re not tracking it. Every SEO campaign should have:
- Goals: For example, to achieve an increase in revenue by a set amount over a 12-month period.
- KPIs (key performance indicators): For example, growth in organic traffic, visibility, impressions, or rankings.
Now, these are super simple goals for beginners. If you’re an old pro at SEO, you might want to make these more specific.
How long does SEO take to see results?
Now, for the bit you’re really here for, how long will it be before you start seeing results from your SEO work?
Well, it’s not as straightforward as that – as if anything ever is. SEO isn’t really something you can do once or twice and think it will get results.
A common reason why people don’t see SEO results is that they think they’ve ‘done’ SEO. If that’s you, sorry to break it to you but SEO isn’t a tap you can turn on and off. It needs consistent ongoing work for, well, as long as you want to have a visible website. In other words, it never really stops.
You will likely have to wait between six and 12 months before seeing results from SEO. Results can be anything from an increase in traffic, leads and or conversions. Of course, there are a number of external variables that can shorten or lengthen that time frame so don’t be disheartened if it’s taking longer.
What type of SEO sees quicker results?
Okay, so you know the timeframe and you’re still willing to put the work in. You may be wondering what type of SEO you should be doing to get these results.
If you’re relatively new to SEO, it’s best to think of it in two forms: technical and creative.
Technical SEO includes things like:
- Crawling and indexing
- Site speed
- Canonicalization
- Structured data
- Duplicate content
- XML sitemaps
You might be wondering what an earth a lot of those are. Don’t worry, these are basically just things that ensure your site is working to the best of its ability. We’ve written an SEO jargon buster if you’re looking for a bit of clarity.
On the other hand, there is creative SEO and yes, you should ideally be doing both at the same time. Creative SEO includes things like:
- Outreach link building
- Digital PR
- Influencer marketing
- Blogging and content writing
- Social media
- Video content
If you just focused on technical SEO, you’d have a well-performing site that doesn’t gain much relevant traffic. If you just focused on creative SEO, you’d have a lot of traffic, but they wouldn’t hang about on your site for very long because it’s slow of clunky. Basically, the two go hand in hand and you should be doing both simultaneously to get the best results – however long they may take.
Are you looking for support with your SEO marketing? Get in touch with us today to find out how we can work together.
