How long will it take for my site to rank well in Google?

Written by Helen
January 27th, 2010

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I’ve (SEO) optimized my site, now what?

Just like any other SEO (Search Engine Optimization) specialist I get this question all the time. Needless to say, this is probably one of the most desired answers people would love to know, too! So, I thought I would write a post about it, hoping to shed some light, and make your site’s SEO prospects more clear for you.

First of all, , SEO is a long-term process and nothing happens overnight. That’s just how things go. There are some rare species that get indexed overnight and start ranking well within a month, but this is not the usual scenario, especially if you are in a highly competitive industry.

After you optimize your site, all you can do is to continue building links to it, be patient and hold your breath hoping that your competitors are not as hard working as you are (SEO-wise).

Why?

Example.

• Your site has been optimized recently and you are now super excited, checking your ranking position in Google every morning, hoping to see it on page one any day now.

Hold your horses and let’s put things into perspective here. There are roughly 234 million websites out there (as of December 2009) and there were 47 million NEW websites launched in 2009. Obviously, just like you, owners of all of those new sites want to be ranked on page one in Google and other search engines, too.

• Now think of this situation as if you WERE Google. How would you choose those top ten for that lucky first page of yours? That’s a pretty tricky task I would say, wouldn’t you? Just like when you meet a new person, it takes a while for you to start trusting them. You, most likely, will ask some mutual friends if that person is trustworthy or not. You will then meet with them several times before you start talking about personal stuff or invite them to your home.

The web world is the same.

-    It takes time for Google to gather information about your site.
-    It takes time to compare your site to other similar web properties
-    Lastly, it takes time to decide why your site should be trusted more than your competitor’s

What can you do now?

There are several things that you can (and should) do if you want to gain a decent ranking position and stay(!) there. (Given that your site is optimized and all basic on-site SEO factors are all intact.)

Three SEO must-dos:

1. Continue building links to your site. This should be your number one priority.
2. Build content. Write useful articles for your clients and partners. If Google sees that you provide helpful information to users it then will add some brownie points to your site.
3. Watch what your competitors are doing. You want to make sure that you are not only on par with their SEO initiatives, but that you have a plan on how to out-smart them.

One last thing. If you do meet an SEO company that promises you page one in a month, that’s not a good sign. No one can promise you that, and if they do that, it means that they are using some dirty SEO techniques (black hat SEO) that you could pay for in the future. If your site gets caught, Google may penalize and remove it from its index for good.

So, how long will it take? It can take anywhere from one month to a year (in a highly competitive field).

Evaluate your objectives, set realistic SEO goals and keep up the hard work. SEO is a long and tedious process, but it’s so worth it once you see your site on that so looked-after page one (or even two) of Google.

Still have more SEO questions? Give us a shout and we will be happy to provide a free SEO evaluation of your site.

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