6 months minimum. We’ve certainly seen results appear in a shorter timeframe, but we’ve also seen it take longer. SEO typically boils down to the competitiveness of the industry, what keywords we are targeting, and how aggressive our strategy is.
Examples of competitive industries in search engines are real estate, law, finance, insurance, and health and fitness, to name a few. Being located in a major market also amplifies the challenges. But none of this means there aren’t realistic strategies that can be deployed.
Going after keywords that are actually realistic to rank for is one of the first items we discuss when developing an SEO strategy. For example, consider that we want to go after a specific keyword, but we see Amazon, Target, and Walmart in the top 3 positions of the search results. We could spend 20 years optimizing our site but would likely never outrank the big guys. That’s a big waste of everyone’s time and resources.
Identifying a realistic strategy is critical for success.
It’s also important to remember that at the end of the day, it’s up to Google. While we can’t force Google to index us higher than our competitors, we can use our experience and best practices to ensure we’re putting ourselves in the best possible position.