Last Updated on June 9, 2023
Have you started putting more focus and effort into SEO? Chances are if you have, the next question asked is probably going to be is your SEO working? Before we jump into the specifics, it’s good to understand your starting point and that is how your website currently is ranking. There are many free SEO audit tools online or you can have us send you a free SEO overview report.
Once you understand where your website currently ranks you can then use those insights to maybe tighten up some loose ends that may have flown under the radar. SEO is a terrific investment that will continue to provide rewards in all aspects at times, and people are always searching for more reasons to believe in their efforts. However, SEO does take some time to work. In this article, we will mainly discuss the following:
- How long does SEO take?
- How to measure SEO performance?
If you’re new to SEO, perhaps you’d also enjoy reading our article SEO Checklist for beginners.
How long does SEO take?
There are quite a few factors when trying to estimate when you should see results from your SEO strategy. It really depends on the degree of competition for the keywords you’re looking to rank for, and the overall market you’re in.
A realistic SEO time frame to start noticing results is usually ~3 to ~6 months, but if you are in an extremely competitive marketplace it can take up to 1 year, depending on how much work has gone into your SEO plan. Many businesses take patient, long-term approaches when it comes to SEO because they know the strength and potential to receive a high ROI. When SEO functions correctly, you can see a significant amount of benefit.
How to Measure SEO Performance
If you have not been ranked on the first page of Google for your keywords yet after a couple of months, don’t fret. It does not mean your SEO is not working. To check if SEO is working, you’ll want to track a few key performance metrics:
Impressions
The number of times your website appears in search results is called an impression. It is an excellent feeling to first see data recorded as an impression on your site that comes from an organic keyword that you hoped to rank for. Understand that at first, you will rank on lower search result pages before you see the keyword climbing the ranks. How fast that happens is mostly dependent on your content and search engine optimization strategy.
Make sure to benchmark your results so you can compare the performance of your site over time. If you see there has been an increase in your organic search impressions, that is a great sign your SEO is working.
Traffic from Organic Searches
As much as everyone enjoys seeing their site climb the rankings, that is not the primary goal of an overall SEO strategy. However, as a result, an organic traffic increase is a good indication that your SEO is working. Since looking at organic traffic data is especially important, don’t evaluate total traffic data in conjunction with it. The reasoning is that total traffic encompasses all traffic generated from multiple sources, which then will scue the results and evaluation. You’ll want to focus specifically on organic search traffic.
A great tool to use to evaluate traffic to your website is Google Analytics 4.
Number of Pages Ranking
Another good sign of SEO performance for your website is the increase in pages you’re ranking for. An increase in the number of pages you are ranking for means your SEO is working, a drop off however may indicate issues with indexing, which can either be due to being penalized by the search engines or a different issue that still needs rectifying.
When you run into an indexing issue, it means that the pages that you have optimized are not indexed by search engines. This is a result of search engines having trouble crawling your website. The more pages you optimize, the better chances you’ll have for pages you need to be ranking for, ranking.
Number of Backlinks
Link development is essential for off-page SEO. The amount of high-quality inbound links (links from other websites to your own website) your SEO efforts produce matters. Also, this is a vital SEO indicator. When you’re doing a good job at optimizing your website, it’s most likely that incoming link counts will rise.
Keep track of your backlinks to gauge whether it has increased or decreased, as well as, the domain authority ranks for those websites providing the backlinks to your site. Keep in mind that having backlinks from low-authority sites could hurt your website more than not having any backlinks at all.
Domain & Page Authority
An early indication of how well your website stacks up versus your competitors is your Google page rank score and domain authority. Domain and page authority is determined by using a 100-point logarithmic sale. The higher your score, the better your site is considered by search engines.
Brand Mentions
Good search engine optimization raises your company’s visibility and exposure, as these pages will become more popular in Google and other search engines. But it’s not just about your website, your social media presence is also very important and marrying the two will result in a lot of positive outcomes. As people learn the identity of your business, the visibility of your website will increase, resulting in more interest in it.
Conversions
The nature of investment in SEO is because of its key drivers: more traffic, leads, and sales. Conversions are the ultimate performance indicators—are your visitors opting in? Are you getting more leads? Is the volume of call traffic on the rise?
The metrics can be used as an indication of how far you have come when your SEO is working, and it will help inform you about your return on investment through attribution.
Rankings
Professional SEO campaigns should be planned carefully by choosing target search terms. This will help in tracking your campaign’s results and progress by checking if your rankings for intended keywords have moved up or down after making adjustments over a specified time period.
It’s also vital to track your positioning to search for indications if you’re working toward the appropriate keywords. If, after a 30 or 60-day timeframe, you’re still not ranking for the keywords you’re targeting, it may go to show that you’re attempting to rank for very competitive keywords and you’d likely have to decide what’d be the most effective way for you to focus your attention on those keywords.
Conclusion:
A successful SEO strategy takes time. Make sure you have a thorough understanding of how SEO works and what your goals are, as well as, knowing how your site currently ranks so you could fully keep track of your progress over time. Nothing can be optimized if you’re not able to measure, make sure your website tracking is set up correctly on Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console at least. If you need immraite results while your SEO strategy is being implemented a targeted PPC campaign on Google Adwords will drive instant results.
If you need help implementing an SEO strategy, and professional SEO services contact us today for a free consultation.
To understand how your website is currently performing on search, we’re happy to send you a free SEO overview report to your email.
