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.
How Long Will it Take For Rankings?
You now know some of the determining factors, but how long will it take for your site to see an
improvement in its organic rankings? I really wish there was a solid answer to this question,
but with such a vast array of variables there is no way to know for sure. I can say however,
that from experience, the timelines below are fairly accurate.
Niche Industry
A niche industry is represented by phrases that are relatively specific, such as "widgets
Bellingham". While they don't require a geographic modifier, phrases focused on a very specific
area often are considered niche. Phrases used for a niche site will also often return less than
100,000 results in a Google search. The top 10 ranking sites will also often have less than 100
inbound links each.
Timeline:
- Brand New Site: Possibly as little as a few months
- Established Site: Potentially it could literally be over night, but most likely around 6 weeks.
Medium Industry
Medium Industry terms are slightly more general, but still include some kind of modifier, such
as a state or color; "Washington Widgets" or "Blue Widgets". These phrases often represent no
more than a few million results in a typical Google search with the top 10 ranking sites having
between 100-1,000 inbound links.
Timeline:
- Brand New Site: 6 months to a year
- Established Site: 2-4 months
Highly Competitive Industry
These pages are those with phrases that are rather broad and seldom have any modifiers, such as
simply "widgets". You will often find tens or even hundreds of millions of competing pages in
Google for your target phrase. Often the links required for the top 10 will be in the thousands,
or tens of thousands (sometimes even in the millions).
Timeline:
- Brand New Site: Anywhere from 1 to 5 years
- Established Site: Could be as long as a year or more
For a brand new site, starting with nothing, in most cases you will be looking at around a year
before you start to see significant ranking changes. You may get the odd ranking here and there,
and start to see some traffic, but for any phrases that are remotely competitive, it can take
quite a while. Unless you have a very tight niche, expect to wait at least 6 months before you
see any movement at all. This is not to say that you can't get quick results, but in the majority
of cases it is quite rare.
For more established sites, rankings tend to come much more quickly. One significant factor in
determining time is links. If your established site has lots, but the site itself is simply
lacking fundamental SEO or proper navigation, then you can sometimes see results rather quickly.
If you have no links and need to build them, it significantly increases the wait time. Even for
an established site, achieving links in a competitive industry can still take some time.
Rankings Are Taking Forever
There are a number of reasons why your site may not achieve results. If you find that your
campaign has been going on for a long time and you have seen no movement what-so-ever, it is
possible that one of the following is hindering your efforts.
Spamming & Penalties
In some cases your site may take forever to achieve rankings, or the rankings may not come
at all. If your site has been previously penalized for spamming, you absolutely must clean up
all traces of the past dirtiness.
Once the site is entirely cleaned up, then you can
apply for
re-inclusion. This is certainly no assurance that Google will ever pay your site any
attention again, but it's the first step to the land of maybe.
Duplicate Content
If your site has utilized mass amounts of duplicate content, chances are you will not ever
see rankings until you replace it all with something original and meaningful. There is no
"duplicate content" penalty per-se, but you are essentially penalizing yourself if you copy
content. Google tends to look at the first instance it finds online for a piece of content
as the official source (not always the case).
If you copy content that is already out there and indexed by Google, they will discount your
content as it is already indexed somewhere else, and your site or page will simply not get
any rankings for it - and rightfully so.
Links (or lack thereof)
If your site has no links, you probably will not get any rankings, even after you are fully
indexed. This is not always the case, I have seen sites rank well for various phrases with
zero inbound links - but it is rare, and should not be relied on.
Build up
your links – period.
On the flip side of this, let's say your site has thousands of links, but they are from free
for all sites, link farms, or "bad neighborhoods", and so on - they won't help you. These
links won't necessarily hurt you, but will be essentially ignored. You need quality, relevant
links.
Competition
You just may be out of your league. If you have a small operation, and are competing for a
major ultra competitive term, chances are you won't ever see the light of day. Not to say
it is not possible, but if you are competing in a well established industry where literally
10's of thousands of links are required, and your target phrase is experiencing millions of
searches a month, you need to weigh your targets. Chances are your keywords need to be
re-evaluated as your chances of success are slim.
Not Listening
If your SEO gives you actionable recommendations, follow them. Recommendations are given for
a reason, to help you achieve rankings. If you are not willing to implement what is suggested,
then your campaign may go nowhere. I have seen websites fail to rank simply because clients
ignored recommendations. Your SEO will not be able to help you if you refuse to implement their
advice.
A Little Success Story
I have seen rankings come literally within hours. It is very rare but it happens. In one
specific example a blog post was put up on a very specific niche topic that had almost no
coverage online. Google coincidently spidered the blog within an hour or so of posting, and
within an hour from that, the blog post was #1 in the organic results for the most relevant
phrase. The site saw a giant spike in traffic for the next couple days while the phrase was
a hot topic. (The search phrase was very specific and localized: "election results"). This
shows that for a site with an established link base, and a good reputation in Google, rankings
can sometimes come extremely quickly.
Regardless of industry and target phrases, you will have to wait for your search results.
Just how long you will wait varies on far too many factors to give a solid number, but
expect to wait for results anywhere from a few days to several years. It's the best time
frame I can give without knowing specific details of your site and project.
INTERNET MARKETING WEB DESIGN