Google isn’t as predictable as some people may think, therefore ranking in Google can be just as unpredictable. It can range from days to weeks, to even months to get a number 1 ranking term or keyword. We’re not saying that you shouldn’t pursue because having an online presence can make all the difference in website conversions. So here are some of the things that people need to consider when looking at how long it can take to rank well in Google search.
Domain Age
Depending on whether you have a brand new Domain name or one that you’ve had for 5+ years, will help Google to determine if your website has enough authority to rank well in search straight away. Google works a lot of its algorithm on Trust, which means that if Google has seen and known your Domain name for a longer time then it will automatically be more trusted by Google, therefore, rank well faster.
Having a new Domain name isn’t the end of the world because with some hard work and time your new domain name will begin to build up trust and google will see it for what it is. But don’t worry too much about it, this is just one of the many factors that Google considers when deciding which websites to show people.
Site Size
Website size is also a tricky concept. But content is key in the eyes of Google search, which means it is very important to any website marketing. The more content that is on the website, the better. If you have a larger site, you will then have more pages with more keywords and therefore have more chance of people finding your website, you have to think of a website like a net, the bigger the net the more fish you’re going to catch and it is similar in Google.
Having a larger website can also help Google identify you as a trusted website.
Competition
The amount of competition for the selected keywords can be a massive contributing factor when it comes to how long it takes to rank in Google search. This is one of the main things that people don’t think about and is one of the more difficulty things to foresee.
An example of this is if you have a keyword that gets a lot of traffic, a lot of people want to rank for it and will perform marketing campaigns similar to yours to try and rank number 1 for that term. The campaigns that have been running the longest will usually have the advantage but there is always chance to jump up the rankings if your campaign is doing everything right.
Search Local
Search local is very similar to competition because there are different amounts of competition depending where you are and where you’re trying to rank. For example ‘London’ will be a much harder location to rank for keywords than somewhere like ‘Warrington’. This is due to the amount of potential users that you can get from that location, e.g. London’s population is 8,123,000 whereas Warrington’s population is 202,200.
So if your small company looking to build an online presence but have a small budget, try ranking for local areas first and then move up into the bigger areas once you have started to get some traffic. You can read more about this in one of our other blogs about how Google Business Listing can help local SEO!
Conclusion
SEO isn’t in any way an exact science! Google’s algorithm is always changing and it’s hard to keep up with it, but if you going to try then give our other blog a read about how to keep with Google’s Changes. It’s nearly impossible to tell how long it can take to rank well in Google Search because it’s all trial and error. Some things work and some things don’t, it all depends on what your website needs and wants to achieve.
If you are still struggling to gain any traction then sometimes external factors can help SEO growth such as Social Media and Back-linking. But they are for another time and maybe another blog! If you need any help with your SEO or improving your online presence then get in touch because we can help.
