It may be longer than you think!
When clients start a new SEO campaign, this is often the first question that crosses their minds. They know they need to be seen online, and they understand that SEO is the way to get there. However, many are mistaken on just how long it takes for a new page to rank favorably on popular search engines like Google. “It depends” is usually not a favorable answer to such an important question. There are a few factors that stick out as important when evaluating how long it takes to rank.
With age comes rank.
Age seems to be the most important factor in websites ranking in the top spot. The majority of top-ranking sites are older than two years. There are a fortunate few younger than two years that rank in the top ten spots. But these sites usually have domains with a high DA (domain authority).
What is Domain Authority?
Domain authority is a system developed by Moz to predict the performance of a website in search. It is important to note that DA is not a metric used by Google to determine where a website ranks. It is a tool used to predict where a website will rank. So, what makes for a good DA? According to Moz, websites with a high number of external links to reputable websites tend to have a high DA. Brand new sites always start with a DA of one.
Keywords also make a difference.
The keywords you choose can make a difference in how quickly you rank. Keywords can also be the difference between how high you can rank. Websites that try to rank for insanely popular keywords have a much more difficult journey than websites that try to rank for long-tail or less popular keywords. Good online marketing plans will include both those head keywords (broad topics) as well as long-tail keywords (specific)
Slow and steady wins the race.
Aesop says it best: slow and steady optimization wins the organic SEO race. It takes time to build your domain authority, to build those external links to reputable websites. It also takes time to create meaningful content that your guests want to read.
It is important to concentrate on keywords and content creation to rank well. It is also important to make sure that your website is crawlable by search engines. Websites don’t rank for many reasons. A free SEO analysis can help you to see just where your website needs modification to see improvement in rank.
