Why is SEO super hard in 2020? How long SEO takes for new sites?
This is the most frequently asked question that every SEO asks “My website is new and I'm still not seeing a lot of visitors. How long before I start seeing results from my SEO effort?”
When you're putting all this time and effort into making your website to get to the top, you're anxious, you want to see results right away, don't you?
This article will break down the question of how long does SEO take to work for a new website.
SEO used to be easy and following a specific formula would get you to the top of page one, and in many cases when I share my SEO journey, back in the day I could get a top of page one in a few months, maybe even six months at the latest for the head terms, they were like auto insurance and credit cards.
But nowadays SEO is super competitive, there are over a billion blogs on the web, there's roughly one blog for every seven people, and there are even more websites on the web, so when you combine all of that, it makes sense on why SEO is so hard in 2020.
Because now Google has its prime pickings to figure out which website they're going to place on top. In other words, they can be super picky, while 5, 10 years ago they couldn't be as picky.
So first, let's start by seeing how SEO has changed over the years.
Keyword research:
This is one of the big areas, this wasn't nearly as competitive a market as it used to be. There are thousands of websites, if not millions of websites created every single day.
As of January 1st, 2020, there are over 1.7 billion websites online.
That's a lot of competition.
It used to be that you could focus on five or six keywords, maybe even ten, and those keywords would bring in most of your site traffic.
Companies used to be able to focus on small groups of generic keywords and see great results. The reality now is, it's a lot different.
Websites now must have a list of 50 to 100 keywords or more depending on the site. And at a bare minimum, each page on your site is going to need to be targeted at least at one keyword.
However, in most cases actually three or four keywords per page.
Content:
Now, the next thing that's changed is content. It used to be that you can simply write an article and implement the keyword a fair number of times and Google automatically would rank you, a.k.a. QR density. The more you put the keyword in your page, the more they know about that page is around that topic and then you're ranked.
Now that doesn't necessarily flow naturally and it didn't really work well for users, hence Google doesn't look at density the same way anymore.
Google has gotten smarter and they changed their expectations a bit. They're not just looking at a site shoving in the same keyword and stuffing it and ruining the searchers' experience.
They made some big changes to improve their rankings by not showing low-quality content as high. So now when you're writing content, it's not about that keyword in there, naturally, it'll be in there and other synonyms will be which Google can tell because think of them as a big dictionary and thesaurus.
So they know what the article is about even if you don't have that keyword in there. Their main priority is to deliver high-quality content and keeping the search intent in mind.
Remember when someone types in a search query it usually is a question, right? It's not necessarily specifically a question with a question mark, but when someone does a Google search they're looking for an answer to whatever they typed in, and if your page does that,
provides that answer with that content you're in the good graces. if you don't, you're not going to do well.
So don't just shove in keywords within your content and write long pieces of articles because people say Google wants 2,000-word article ranked at the top. It's not about word count. It's about providing what the users are looking for as quick as possible.
If you do in 500 words, 2,000 words, 5,000 words, whatever it may be, whoever does it, in the easiest form for the user without shoving in keywords and creating the best experience is who's going to do well and the best in the long run.
So how long does it take to rank on Google? Well, are you ready for this?
The answer is it depends. I know it's frustrating.
According to Forbes, the average it takes for a new site is four to six months to start seeing
some traction in service.
However, because there're so many factors in SEO, there is no definitive answer. Every industry is different as well. It's easier to rank for a plumber in a localized city than it is to rank for auto insurance nationally.
On average, based on my experience, even if you're starting a new website and you're actively working on your content, on-page SEO and link building, it can take roughly six months
before you start seeing results.
It doesn't mean in six months you're going to rank at the top and get what you want, but it usually takes six months to start seeing traction.
And the best way to start seeing the traction faster is going after the long tail phrases
which convert better than head terms.
So if you want to rank faster, there are some important SEO factors that you need to know if you want to rank. The first thing we should look at is your site is
- Is it secure and is it accessible to Google crawlers?
- Are you using HTTPS?
- Is your robots.txt blocking the right pages, allowing access to the right ones?
- Using a site map and submitting it to Google Webmaster tool, so Google can crawl on your pages?
- Is your website fast in load time?
- If it's fast, not only it's going to boost your rankings, because it's a part of their algorithm, and then you get to use Google PageSpeed to see how fast your website loads, both on mobile and desktop devices, and they'll tell you what to fix as well. But mobile speed time and desktop speed time affect conversions as well.
Mobile friendly:
The other thing that you need to look at is, is your site mobile-friendly? Did you know that over half of the searches on Google are done by mobile devices?
If your website doesn't look nice on a mobile device, like an iPhone or Android device,
don't expect them to rank it high up. The other thing that you have to look at
is, do you have authoritative content. If you just have a me-too content, it won't cut it. Google doesn't want the same regurgitated content over and over again.
They want you to provide something unique, that people haven't read before. Try to blog on something new, that people haven't seen before.
I know it's frustrating, but the world has changed and, yes, there still is new stuff that people are learning about. Not everything has been written even though there's been over a billion blogs on the web.
Another thing you need to look at is quality backlinks. Getting links from authoritative sites is one thing if those sites are emulated you're not going to do as well.
Are you creating amazing enough content to attract the right type of links? Are you creating amazing products and services to get more links?
Social signals:
Another thing I want you to look at is social signals. Even though social signals have no effect on ranking. According to Google, there is a correlation between pages that rank high and have a decent number of social signals.
Remember, Google wants to rank pages at the top that people love. So if people love a page,
they're more likely to link to it. They're more likely to share it on the social web. They wouldn't just say, “Hey, I'm going to link to it, but I would never share it.” They go hand in hand.
Business listing:
The other thing that you need to look at is, do you have your business information listed. Especially if you're a local business. You need to claim your Google My Business profile, you need Yelp reviews, Google reviews, have a good Better Business Bureau page. The more reviews you can attract the better off you are.
The big takeaway is, when you do the right things and you go above and beyond and put the user first, you're going to rank faster than if you just try to optimize your page for Google and not put the user first.
