So, your research has led you to the conclusion that SEO is the next big step to invest in. Having looked into professional SEO companies, you discovered one that suits your needs. They have the experience, they have the portfolio, and they have the range of services that you want. So, what else is there? Hire them and start planning what to do with all that revenue coming your way – eventually. SEO takes time to show results – something that most business owners fail to understand at first. So, let’s see if we can explain why that is?
How do people come to this question?
From my experience with clients not familiar with moving company SEO, this is how most projects develop. They sign the contract, we start working on their website and online brand development. After a month, they start asking why nothing has changed. After that, they begin to hover over the website, examining where their investments are going, why are their rankings the same, and why they aren’t seeing more leads and conversions.
In their minds – marketing traditionally brings quick and easy conclusions – it either works or doesn’t. If it works, keep milking that strategy and if it doesn’t – try a different approach. Unfortunately, this is not the case when we talk about SEO. And despite how many times you might have heard it before – SEO takes time. It really does – and the reasons are logical:
- Getting acquainted with the industry and its trends.
- Exploring the local market and competition.
- Finding the best possible keywords to rank a company for.
- Creating relevant content specific for that company and industry.
- Creating local business listings and citations for the company.
- Building a strong backlink profile through guest blogging and outreach campaigns.
- Exploring different ways to advertise your business.
These are all important steps that take time and detailed research. That is why people look at SEO like a marathon.
SEO takes time – but why is that?
There are over 1.7 billion websites today. And this is a number that continues to grow even as you’re reading this. So, you can only try to imagine how much time it takes Google to recognize your website and its online authority.
And for any new updates and modifications that you make, search engines need to circle back to your website and analyze those changes. They need to compare the value of your website with your competitors and confirm that the data your site offers trumps that of all other relevant sites.
It takes time for Google to recognize your website and assign it to the authority it deserves. It takes time for it to see that changes have been made, compares the quality of your website and your content to everyone else in the same space.
What is the right question to ask here?
Nobody is really interested in just how much SEO takes. What people really want to know is how much it takes to see any real results from it. And this, of course, carries an entirely new series of questions. Why? Because “results” have a different definition for each person. We each have our goals to achieve.
If you were to ask an SEO company what their definition of results was – it would be increased traffic and move conversions. And sure enough – this is what companies are after as well. Looking long-term, each company wants to achieve growth and development. However, when it comes to SEO, all business owners expect is to “be #1 for their favorite keyword”.
What’s changed?
Not so long ago, the notion of SEO was quite simple – find 5-10 generic keywords with high potential and low competition. Focus all your efforts on ranking for those keywords. Watch your website become a lead generating machine.
Today, things have changed for the complicated. More companies are now involved in the optimization process, which is one of the reasons why SEO takes time to give results. So, if you thought that it’s simply a matter of picking several generic keywords, think again. Today, it’s a matter of choosing the perfect keywords for your business, and chasing after them. Otherwise, you will probably be in for quite a disappointment.
Conclusion
Despite the fast-growing and expanding reach of digital marketing, you will still find those loyal to “the old ways”. And far be it for me to condemn such an attitude. Everyone has a right to their opinion and to run their business as they best see fit. After all, why fix something that wasn’t broken, to begin with, right? Well, that notion is a double-edged blade. Although you might not need to fix your business, you should aim to upgrade it. That is when most forward-thinking business owners opt for SEO solutions.
