If we look at the bright side, SEO is the most beneficial and effective strategy a company uses making it the most integral part of every marketing plan but on the darker side, it is an extremely painful slow process that takes a month or even months to generate results. 

It is a process that doesn’t happen overnight. There are several companies making big promises to rank your site on top within days which is known as Guaranteed SEO services. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t work in this way no matter what the actual result takes time.

An authentic and experienced company will always request you for at least 6 months or more than 8 months to present an outcome, here you can read more in-depth about How Long Does SEO Take To Start Working?

SEO requires time to produce accurate and direct results depending on the types of projects.

But the question is WHY does it take so long?

Here’s the answer, WHY?

1. More Competition, More Time

Nowadays every entrepreneur is struggling to participate in the race of ranking high in search engines. The more the competition is, the more time will require to rank high on SERPs.  

In case competitors are not working diligently on their SEO then you might experience fast results. But you know that you cannot vanquish a competitor’s company’s size but you can generate quality content, better links, and increase engagement to overcome competitors.

We never know what competitors are doing to rank on top, maybe they have experienced SEO professionals behind them or maybe you produce content that accelerates your SEO efforts, meaning front page ranking is a continuous moving target. 

No matter which way you look, the reality is competitors are using SEO which means it will require time for us to get in level.

2. Keyword Research

If your keyword has a large search volume, then it will require time and will be difficult to rank high on search engine result pages (SERPs). 

Depending on your competition some keywords are tough to rank such as ranking for keyword “Cell phone repair” will be hard and time taking as compared to “Cell phone repair Burnaby”. That’s because multiple websites are ranking for the same keyword to lead traffic for their business.

High Competitive keyword Vs Low Competitive keyword
High Competitive keyword Vs Low Competitive keyword

But the point is that the more detailed the keyword research is the more chances to rank your content and the more time will assume.

But there is no fixed time required for keyword research; it basically depends on the tools you are using. Few paid tools such as SEMRUSH and AHREFS are the platforms, offering detailed keyword research and all your SEO needs in one place to save your time.

Among them, Ubersuggest is the best and the freemium tool we’ve used till now.

3. Location Matters

The location of your business or company is another factor affecting SEO efforts. 

For example, ranking in the whole Country is much tougher than ranking in the state or city because of less crowd which means there would be fewer chances of competing with many other small businesses.

Along with that, your country’s language can also affect your ranking. It is necessary to consider website language based on your location and objective. The more languages your website has, the more people will visit and the higher it will rank.

4. Domain Age

In other words, domain age is how long your domain has existed. The older your domain is, the less time will be required for SEO to rank because it is easier to rank keywords on older domains as compared to new domains. 

According to an expert, it is easier to rank for a keyword on an older domain as compared to a newer domain if all things are equal.

In addition, Information Retrieval Based on Historical Data is another source to verify the trustworthiness of domains. It says that there are certain signals who can distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate domains. In simple words, a domain can be renewed for a time period of 10 years. The legal domains are generally paid in advance for several years whereas illegitimate domains are seldom used for more than one year. So therefore when in the future a domain expires its date can serve as a factor to detect the legitimacy of that domain and thus documents confederate therewith.

So long story short, you cannot do much to stop search engines from making your SEO results based on your domain age, except registering an older domain instead of a newer one.

If you’re starting with a new website instead of buying an expired domain you can buy an old domain to reduce the time required for SEO to generate results. But if your website is well-progressed on a new domain then wait for months or even years to see the results because the fruit of patience is sweet.

You can easily find domain age by several paid and free domain age checkers such as smallseotools, The Hoth, MOZ PRO e.t.c.

Domain age checker
Domain age checker

 

5. Gaining Google’s trust

It is one of the significant factors of being slow for SEO success. 

In 2015, Google started releasing documents called “search quality raters”  which are used to determine which sites are trustworthy, helpful, and easy to use for real people.

How does this really affect SEO?

Basically, these documents include complete detail regarding Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) which are the most important components to consider while generating a site. They state that recommendations from expert sources are great examples of a very positive reputation. They also state some categories such as medical advice require more formal expertise and skills which means Google wants their raters to use their own research skills and instincts.

We all know in the real world it is not easy to earn expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness (E-A-T), to gain your audience’s trust and Google also understands that it requires time to reflect these achievements online. That’s another reason why the SEO process is slow.

6. Backlink is a Vote

Backlinks are also referred to as “inbound links” which means “a link coming from another site at your own site”

Now you’d be thinking, how does generating links from another site at your own site can slow down your SEO process? That’s not actually that slows down the process but quality backlinks as a vote takes time to gather with thrid party trust on your site.

Let me be more clear!

Generating links at your site is not the reason affecting your SEO efforts but the quality and quantity of those links are affecting your SEO ranking.  As per the research, the most authoritative type of off-page SEO is the number and quality of backlinks at your website.

According to Moz, The authority of linking sites and linking pages both matter. In simple words, while linking it is necessary that your backlink is referring to an authentic and relevant page from a trusted source rather than some ordinary unknown site.

We know finding good inbound links is not easy. The harder and time-consuming it is for us to get relevant link. With a massive increase in the number of sites today, it is not easy for Google to detect and filter out purchased and irrelevant links.

As a matter of course, less no. of high-quality links have a greater impact on your SEO efforts as compared to a large number of low-quality links from some non trusted sources.

This can be one of the biggest factors of why SEO takes time to generate results. All you need is to give time to those backlinks aiming to achieve high rankings in SEO.

Having a tough time detecting quality links. Here you can easily learn 3 ways to measure link quality.

Difference Between Natural Link Building Vs Spam Link Building
Difference Between Natural Link Building Vs Spam Link Building

 

7. Consistent content also matters

Last but not least, The content you published on your web also plays a vital role in when your SEO would generate results. 

Flooding your site with more than one content at a time is not healthy for your SEO rankings.

Let me tell you why.

Because when you upload your content in bulk it becomes hard or impossible for search engines to list all your content at the same time. Because listing content one at a time is much easier and less time-consuming for Google than listing all the content in bulk.

Apart from it, it’s become hard for us to certify which content will be chosen by Google or which not. 

The best way to overcome this fact is to make a schedule regarding uploading new content on websites. We know a great content strategy is calculated that is why you should have a content calendar or schedule to follow.

How long does it take for SEO?

It is the most frequently asked question and the answer is simple. As mentioned above SEO requires time depending upon the type of content and project. As per the research, a major project can take approximately 6 to 12 months to generate results.

By the time you would be noticing results. Result you achieve within 6 months would be less as compared to the result you achieved in 12 months.

Final Words

Always remember slow and steady wins the race.

SEO success is slow and requires time because it moderately builds up and accumulates momentum over months or years. If you are waiting for SEO to rank your site then spend less time worrying about what will happen because we guarantee you are on the right path and the results you receive would be worthwhile.  Looking for the best SEO services for your business? Softvira provides efficient SEO services to help you increase brand awareness, build credibility and rank higher on SERPs.