How Long Does SEO Take to Work?

Understanding SEO

Ask three different marketers to define SEO and you’re likely to get three different answers. And honestly all three of their answers are probably correct. That’s because SEO really isn’t a “thing” that we can see or touch. Rather SEO is a digital process that occurs slowly over time – our job as markers is to manipulate this process in your favor. However as a business owner you’re probably only concerned with one thing – How long does it take?

Why does SEO take so long?

As I mentioned earlier SEO is a process. Google (and other lesser used search engines) utilize a searchbot to “crawl” and “index” new and updated web content to put in their databases. In order to be eligible for the index content must have been created using the most up to date SEO guidelines. Then once the content is on your site, it takes a minimum of 2-3 months to start seeing an increase in web-traffic. However this is the minimum amount of time it takes to see results from your SEO efforts. Most start to see web-traffic increase around the one or two year mark.

Is there a way around?

Unfortunately there is no say to “cheat” the SEO system. Although there are some tactics that can speed up the process significantly. One way is to utilize Long Tail Keywords. With long tail keywords you utilize longer, more specific search terms instead of competing for keywords with companies that have large advertising budgets. For example, rather than using the the single keyword “oil,” a long tail keyword would include an entire search term such as “When Should I Change My Oil.”

Another way to increase the effectiveness of your optimization strategy is get more website hits by sharing you content on social media. SEO formulas reward content that gets web-traffic on it’s own. A great way to do this is by having your team share your business’s content on their own social media pages. Then when your site is indexed into search engines the traffic that you’ve already accumulated will give you more credibility.

It’s is worth it.

We understand that SEO doesn’t pay off right away. It an investment that, in order to be successful, takes a sustained effort over a long period of time. However we promise you, the hard work is worth it. If you need assistance designing a social media strategy that works for your business contact Milk Street Marketing today.