One of the questions I get from clients is when should they expect SEO results. This is also one of the misconceptions from clients that doing SEO for a month will get them results, or it is just needed short term.
There are things to consider which will affect this. But still no ethical SEO specialist who can tell you the exact date or even the exact month on when you get results. Results as in, get that #1 Rank on Google, get conversions such as people getting in touch with your business because they found you on Google, your website, or by just having engagement with your potential customers or audience on your website.
Here are a few things to consider and to weigh in when deciding on how long you should stretch your patience in getting the desired SEO results.
Competition
This is usually taken for granted for most of the clients. They thought of competition as if they’re competing with a large company or not. And some are even not sure yet on where is their market. I have clients who just check their local competition but want to rank not only locally.
For example, they’re a wedding gown boutique based in Sacramento California, but want to be known as a go to place when it comes to wedding gowns for the whole state of California. Or of course, who don’t want to think big, they want to be known in the entire US.
I am not trying to stop you to dream big, or discourage you in your dreams. But if possible let’s take baby steps, that’s if it is applicable for your business. Let’s target your local market first, and then by state, and then go national. But the mistake in the above example, is wanting to compete for the entire state or nationally but only checking your local area.
You see in SEO, the more specific keywords we target, the better. For example, competing for the keyword “wedding gown” or even “wedding gown boutique” is hard, especially compared to “wedding gowns in sacramento” or “wedding gowns boutique in sacramento ca” which is very specific. For the keyword “wedding gown” we’re not only will be trying to out rank shops that has wedding gowns in Sacramento area, not only in the state of California, maybe not only the entire US but the world, and also Amazon which is a big brand and a huge site to compete with.
This is the same for non-brick and mortar businesses. For example you’re selling organic soaps, it is hard to rank and compete with the keyword “soap” since there are a lot of soaps, even the keyword “organic soap” is already hard to compete with. But if you have a turmeric bar soap, the keyword “natural organic turmeric soap bar” will be better. The more specific, the better.
But this doesn’t mean you won’t compete with “organic soap” keyword. It’s just it may take months to rank for that keyword. And we don’t want to wait months for us to gain rank for that keyword that is too broad. And that’s why it’s important to choose the right keywords for your website, since it will be the roots in your SEO marketing campaign.
Website
We’re not only talking about your website but also the website of your competitors. If your website is new, your competitor’s site have been around more and most likely Google give them more value since they’re also updated not only through content but also updated when it comes to optimizing their website to give what search engines like Google wants such as being a mobile friendly website, and provide what their users or customers need to get more conversions and keep them coming back.
So as a website owner, you should be open to changes on your website. Although I do understand that you’ve talked with your website developer for months probably, made drafts, made a number of changes to have that website design. But having a good looking website for your eyes, doesn’t matter. What matter is what your customers think, and what Google thinks about your website. Because it’s your customers who buy, and it’s Google who’ll give you customers when you rank and you won’t rank if your website is not pleasing for Google.
And of course, if your website is new it needs a lot of pushing to compete with the others. And if your website have been around awhile, we must also check your website’s existing status with Google – was it penalized? How many backlinks did you have? Was it ever linked to websites that is causing you issues or have a bad reputation?
Speaking of Google. Google is the #1 search engine these days, and YouTube is probably next – which is also owned by Google. Majority of my clients traffic for the past 10 years are coming from Google, and that’s an average of 70% of their website traffic, and only less than 1% of their traffic is coming from Bing or Yahoo.
With this, Google make regular changes in their algorithm or in other words on how they rank websites. They mostly Google doesn’t announce it, and we the SEO specialists just feel something is going on and we talk to each other to confirm it. If there are major changes, they’ll announce it after they’ve implemented it and even keep on updating that major update.
This is why it is important to have your website optimize, and keep it optimized. To keep your website (in layman’s term) likable by Google and getting good points and start to increase our ranking, and keep increasing our ranking to reach the first page of search result (ranking 1 to 10).
SEO Service Package
Other than those mentioned above, another important thing to consider is the SEO service, and the SEO package you have availed.
You can’t get a 5 star hotel room for $20 or a Michelin star food from a fast food resto.
I currently offer 3 different SEO packages. Each designed according to budget and to which can bring you better results. If you’re in a tight budget, then I have a $300/month SEO service package, but it’s more ideal for local businesses or simply those who are in a tight budget. But if you’re competing with a huge market, the result will be a bit slow since there are less things done. But if you can add a bit more budget, I have a $500/month SEO service package that can give you better results.
Point is, don’t expect to out rank your competitors in the entire US with a $300 budget a month. Since most likely, your competitors who are on the top have a budget of at least $1,000 a month in their online marketing campaign.
If you want to find out more about my SEO service packages, you can visit this link: https://resume.gadumaguing.com/seoservice
When will I get SEO results?
I am currently celebrating my 10 years in the SEO industry and for the past 10 years, I’ve noticed that for the first 3 months you’ll START to notice difference. You’ll see improvements on the first and 2nd month but the 3rd month is better. But you’ll see better results in 4 to 6 months, so at least give 6 months for your SEO specialist to show you if his/her methods works.
SEO is not an overnight job, or a job that can be done in just 1 month. Even you get the #1 ranking on the 6th month, it doesn’t mean you’ll stay there forever. There are others who will try to out rank you just like what you did. And if you don’t try to do anything to stay #1 because you stop having your website be taken care of by a SEO specialist, then there will be a time when one of your competitors will out rank you.
I hope this was able to answer your questions and clear things out when it comes to SEO results. But if you have any questions or clarifications, or even have inquiries about my services please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.