You want what? In less than a week? Give me a break!” — God.
Alternate title: “An Act of God Can’t Get You To The 1st Page of Google Any Quicker.”
Okay, duck and watch out for stray lightening bolts… Here we go.
I blame God… yes, GOD for the misconceptions of time so prevalent in the business word today.
Seriously, stay with me here…
If God can create the Earth, the wind and sun, the plants and animals, and all we see, feel, and touch in 6 short days, why can’t your marketing team do something about getting you on the first page of Google within a reasonable amount of time?
The answer to your question lies in your definition of “Reasonable Amount of Time.”
Okay, without getting all preachy or tip-toeing around blasphemy, let’s just agree that the definition of “Day” in the verses outlining the creation of life might – JUST MIGHT – be a little off from what we collectively understand as seconds, minutes, hours, days and so-on. But, as lowly purveyors of marketing and SEO, we’re really not creating the universe from a single spec of light. SO maybe – JUST MAYBE – REASONABLE expectations for the time it takes to succeed in search engine optimization (SEO) needs to be defined.
How do we do that?
The first thing you need to do is stop listening to those that say “Good SEO can be achieved overnight,” (or some shockingly short amount of time). While not unheard of, that’s rarely the case.
Good SEO Strategies require monitoring and constant management over time.
SEO takes time. While, as mentioned above, a few case studies we’ve experienced return search engine optimization strategies as quickly as 12-24 hours or less (see: SEO Case Study Video – July 28, 2016 — https://spokecom.com/video-quick-seo-tips-for-speedy-ranking-success/ ), most of the SEO cases we work with are much more involved, and yes, time consuming.
Effective SEO cases require intricate planning, research, and proven search strategies to reach optimal ranking. Each case, each web site, each landing page, each keyword needs to be thought through individually for best search relevance.
So what do we tell our customers to expect when we embark on a good SEO program? What is “Reasonable Time?”
How long does Good SEO take to show results?
When taking on an SEO program for a client, we take the following into consideration:
- Website / Digital Asset Structure – Where are we starting and what needs to be built for optimization – or rebuilt?
- Customer Search Characteristics – How do your customers search… (read: not you)?
- Timing – Do you want to be relevant this week or relevant at Christmas?
- Marketplace Relevance – An integral part of branding: What makes YOU relevant to the search?
- Competitive Research & Analysis – What are your competitors ranking for? What searches are they winning? How can you beat them at the SEO game?
- Keyword / Keyword Phrase Research and Strategy – What are your targets? How do (can) we own them?
Each of those elements takes time to work out. While there is no definitive answer for the time it should take to rank your site on search, if you were to allow, say one day (a grossly low commitment in each case) to work on each of the stages above, you’d have 6 days… Ah, yes. Back to the “Create the world in 6 days or less,” concept. Can it be done? That’s a question only God can answer with any certainty.
Whether it’s 6 days, 6 months, or 6 millennia, you want true strategy behind your SEO success. No plug-n-play SEO trick will get you the results you deserve, and no SEO strategy is replicable from one client to the next. So be prepared to make a time investment that reflects your commitment to the project. While some SEO companies say 60-90 days before you see results, we often see returns sooner and can start making real rank impact well within that time-frame.
Looking for more? Please, give us a call. For more information on search engine optimization and digital marketing strategies or to discuss your needs for marketing communications, please feel free to reach out to SPOKE Communications through our Web site contact page, email biz{at}spokecom{dot}com, or call us directly at 515-257-6584.
