Expecting immediate results when it comes to organic SEO is an excellent way to ensure that you’ll be immediately disappointed. It’s true what they say… nothing worth having ever came easy and this is certainly the case when it comes to search engine optimisation.
We often hear from clients wondering why they’re not on page one of the search results and, very often, they’re at the very start of their campaign, with just a month or two having passed.
In organic SEO terms, this is hardly any time at all.
It’s important to remember if you are embarking on a new campaign that it can take months to see any kind of positive traction at all and, in fact, you may even see your results go in the opposite direction… but this isn’t because no work is being done.
In reality, it’s because a huge amount of work is being undertaken behind the scenes and your site is starting to recalibrate.
What’s the holdup?
With organic search, there are all sorts of different factors at play that can affect your rankings and it takes time to address each issue in turn.
Other problems can also emerge over time in line with algorithm changes (which often happen quite sneakily and can often go unnoticed at first), which means that we’re constantly having to review the situation and make amendments to the strategy here and there.
In terms of ranking factors, we look at competition, domain age and authority, inbound and outbound links, keyword difficulty, site usability, the overall user experience, mobile optimisation… the list is long and there’s a lot to tick off once the initial research stage has been completed.
It also takes time for search engines to crawl and index your site, which is why you may see your rankings dip at first. This is actually a good sign, however, since it means that your site is starting to be indexed and search engines are starting to take more notice of it.
Where your keyword list and search terms are concerned, generally speaking the bigger the monthly search volume the harder it will be for you to get your site to rank.
This is simply because there will be lots of other sites out there competing for the same search terms so they can drive all that lovely traffic to their site, rather than the competition’s.
WIth this in mind, including some low volume search terms can be a good strategy to employ, since it means you can start to rank for some keywords and send traffic your way while you wait to gain further traction on your more competitive terms.
Competition is also something you’ll need to consider when you’re first starting out. Every market out there has competition but, naturally, some sectors are more competitive than others.
Some of the most competitive are finance and insurance, retailers, travel and tourism and jobs… so this is definitely something to bear in mind if you’re wondering why it’s taking so long for you to show up in search results.
And don’t forget! If you’re trying to make a name for yourself online in one of the more competitive industries, other brands will be engaging in the same SEO strategies that you are, which is why it may take months for you to get anywhere near where you want to be.
Bridging the gap
You’ll know that your SEO campaign is starting to take effect when you see improvements in your keyword rankings and a hike in your web traffic.
It’s important to note, however, that an increase in web traffic won’t always translate into an increase in sales and if you’re getting the traffic but aren’t selling more, it would be wise to look at other areas of your business to see what could potentially be getting in the way of profitability.
If you’re still waiting for your organic SEO campaign to take effect, there is a way in which you can bridge the gap a little and bring people to you while you climb the search results.
Running a Google Ads campaign alongside your organic search strategy can help you draw customers in and make those all-important sales until you’re at the top of the search results. Once you’re up there, you can turn your paid-for ads off and start reaping the benefits of all your hard SEO work.
Something else to bear in mind, however, is that search results are fluid. Just because you’re on page one and in position one at the moment doesn’t mean you’ll always be there, which is why organic SEO is an ongoing process and one that is constantly evolving to help you stay on top.
If you’d like to find out more about search engine optimisation and how it could benefit you and your business now and well into the future, get in touch with SEO agency Ad Rank One today.