THE BAKERWOODWARD BLOG – NEWS YOU CAN USE

With such a bewildering array of marketing options — digital and otherwise — we like to focus blog posts on actionable intel. Whether it’s a staff-written how-to or a link to somebody else’s smart idea, it’s news you can use in upping your marketing communications game.

April 12, 2021

SEO Results: What's a Reasonable Timeline?

Changing trends in marketing can make waiting for results seem unreasonable. However, to see the SEO results you want, waiting may be necessary.

As is often said, “good things come to those who wait.” In digital marketing, with trends rapidly changing, that can seem purposefully unreasonable. However, in terms of SEO, that is the name of the game. To see the SEO results you want, it can be up to your  strategy to gain the steam it needs. That usually takes time, with an exact timeline hard to predict. However, the  payoff can make that patience well worth the wait. 

When Will I See SEO Results?

In marketing, immediate ROI is a reassuring thing. You know that your marketing and your investment are working. It can be hard to settle for anything less. But SEO isn’t a strategy demonstrated by quick wins. 

When will SEO results be seen? It often depends. And it relies on an assortment of determinants, including what industry you’re in, your website, your competitor’s websites,  your current SEO/SERP standing, and where you’d like to be in the future. In general we see results taking 6 months +/- to propagate and even longer to see full value. But that’s not the end of the story. 

Now, there are rare cases where tightening up an SEO loose end can lead to something immediate. For instance, if there’s a site error that’s stopping your site from being crawled properly by search engines or read by screen readers. Setting it straight can offer near-instant benefits. Again, it doesn’t happen every day—and those immediate wins likely should have already happened. 

The Factors at Play

We touched on different factors that could influence when you see SEO results. These are essential to understand—and will help you gain a broader picture of what all is at play with search engines. 

The industry you’re in can affect the time it takes to see the results you want. Why? Because Google and other search engines apply certain restrictions or requirements to specific industries. This means some industries, more than others, have to put more initial legwork into their SEO strategy. This helps optimize their actionable E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness). 

Similarly, the competitors you’re vying SERP rank against can influence when results show up. Highly competitive industry keywords aren’t going to be easy to rank for, especially if your competition already has a significant presence for those keywords. Ousting them from their position will take time, along with good substantive content, because of the way Google and other search engines award rankings. 

If you haven’t guessed yet, SEO is supremely web-influenced. Your website, serving as your virtual storefront, can make or break your SERP rankings. A website that has bugs, broken links, thin content, and deficient metadata can signal to search engines that this is not a website that searchers would want to visit; think of all these things as red flags flaring up on a search engine’s radar. Without a solid website that has been configured for search rankings, the SEO results you want to see will be much harder to reach and it will take longer to get there. 

Finally, what you put into your SEO efforts affects the eventual outcome. If you do it halfheartedly, don’t expect a miraculous rise in SERP rankings. However, if you invest in SEO expertise, devote a budget to it, make SEO a priority, and keep persevering—you’re much more likely to find success. 

So, what’s the verdict? The answer to the question at hand? There’s no set timetable we can give you. For some businesses, it may take a few months. For others, it can take up to a year or more. 

There's no magic formula that will offer immediate SEO results—promising that wouldn’t do you, or your company, any favors. But starting now is the first step to getting your marketing where you want it to be. Let BakerWoodward Communications help take you there. Contact us for a marketing consultation, we would love to talk SEO and other strategies that could generate growth for your business. Plus, be sure to browse back through our blog for more much-needed marketing help!