How Long Does SEO Take To Work? – SEO Consultant Answers
The most common question anyone working in SEO – whether that’s in traditional SEO consulting services, SEO tools or AI software for SEO – is asked is: how long will it take to see results?
We’d all love to be able to give clients an exact timeline and precise guarantees, but the truth is no person and no company on Earth can do this. If they do, be warned: they’re leading you down the garden path…
That does not, however, mean SEO service providers cannot provide realistic expectations or timeframes for results.
In general, search giant Google says any SEO project needs to run for “four months to a year to help your business first implement improvements and then see potential benefit”.
‘It typically takes 4 to 6 months to see organic traffic from SEO’
– WebFX
At aiNANSI we project that you will see results (ranked keywords and improved Google Search Engine Page Ranking) within 2 to 4 months, provided there are no major technical errors on the website that need to be addressed before the AI can start working.
Statistically, most aiNANSI clients see results in as little as 12 weeks, while others take longer.
But why, if aiNANSI is such a game-changing AI-driven SEO solution, does it work faster for some websites than others?
The Variables At Play
While aiNANSI’s AI for SEO does not discriminate between the size or type of the website, it still has to work within the parameters of Google’s search algorithm and is therefore subject to the same performance-influencing variables.
Backed by our team of human SEO consultants, aiNANSI’s AI for SEO covers key aspects of technical SEO for the client, making most of these variables manageable.
The only major performance-influencing variable aiNANSI cannot control is competition: The more competing web pages your business is up against, the longer it will take to get top of page search results.
The level of competition depends on what kind of business you’re in, where you’re located, where your target audience is located, how many direct competitors you have within a specific geographical location, etc. (more on the importance of local search here).
For example, if you own a butchery in Blodgett Landing, New Hampshire (population 101) that specializes in Christmas Turducken, you don’t face much competition. With aiNANSI, you’re likely to get top of page Google ranking within a few weeks for keywords such as “Turducken near me”, “best Turducken”, “Blodgett Landing butchery”, “Blodgett Landing Christmas meat”.
Whereas if you own a butchery in Miami, Florida (population 6.1 million) specializing in Christmas Turducken, it may take a few months to get a Page 1 Google search result for searches such as “Turducken near me”, “best Turducken”, “ Miami butchery ”,“ Miami Christmas meat ”.
Another major differentiator in competition is how long your competitors’ websites have been running, how good their SEO is and how much they’ve spent on SEO / continue to spend.
‘The average top-ranking page also ranks in the top 10 search results for nearly 1,000 other relevant keywords’
– Ahrefs
Say you’re a fairly new entrant to the health food e-commerce market in the United States who hasn’t yet invested much time or money in organic SEO services, you’re going to be up against established, well-monied and nationwide competitors like Thrive Market and Natural Zing.
In this case, it’s going to take aiNANSI’s AI-driven SEO solution far longer to get top of page ranking for your newbie health food website in this large and highly-competitive market.
Is Your Website Ready?
How quickly aiNANSI’s AI-driven SEO solution can start working to produce results also depends on whether your website is in optimal condition for the AI to function optimally (more on that here).
aiNANSI will not work optimally if your website is not optimized for the most important Google search factors, such as usability and technical SEO, which together dominate Google’s 200-plus algorithm search factors.
For example, due to mobile search overtaking desktop search, mobile optimization has become mandatory in order to be ranked by Google.
On the technical front, Google is downgrading the ranking of websites that are not optimized in terms of metadata, URLs, headlines and tags.
#DidYouKnow? Google has switched over to mobile-first indexing? This means if your website is not optimized for mobile-first, it won’t rank on Google search.
During the onboarding process aiNANSI’s SEO consulting team undertakes a full analysis of the client’s website (at no cost) and produces a report of what needs to be done to ensure aiNANSI can work optimally.
If the changes are major, for example the entire website needs to be mobile optimized, it will take longer to get the site ready for aiNANSI.
Whereas if there are only minor issues to correct, such as SPAM links, the SEO consulting team can get the website ready for aiNANSI fairly quickly.
Ultimately, how long it takes for aiNANSI to start delivering results depends on how much work is needed to get your website optimized for the AI to perform optimally.
AI, Not Magic
aiNANSI is a game-changing AI-driven SEO solution that works more efficiently and cost effectively than traditional SEO, but it’s not magic. Unfortunately, there is no wand that we can wave to make your competitors’ years of hard work and investment into organic SEO services suddenly disappear.
Yes, aiNANSI will optimize your website’s SEO 24/7 and progressively improve its Google ranking over time, saving you time, effort and money.
But no, it cannot magically push your website ahead of competitors who have invested considerable time and money to achieve top-of-page organic ranking. Or at least it’s not going to happen over night if you’re in a highly competitive marketplace – it’s going to take some time for aiNANSI’s affordable SEO services to catch up and then overtake the competition.
Therefore, every aiNANSI client needs to set expectations for results according to their website’s current ranking, optimization and marketplace competition (see the expectation check-list at the end).
aiNANSI’s Performance Guarantee
As you can see, it’s impossible to guarantee exactly how long an aiNANSI SEO package will take to deliver top-of-page SERP for any website. This is no different to any SEO expert, SEO consultant or SEO service provider (no matter who/what you use, or how much you pay).
‘Your prospective SEO should be able to give you realistic estimates of improvement, and an estimate of the work involved. If they guarantee you that their changes will give you first place in search results, find someone else’
What we do guarantee, however, is that aiNANSI works to generate top-ranking keywords over time, in addition to continually optimizing important aspects of technical SEO (such as backlinks and meta data).
Importantly, aiNANSI does all this with no effort or expertise required by the website owner, and of course it is a far more affordable SEO service option.
Consider the latest stats from SEO data firm Ahrefs:
– 75% of SEO agencies charge a monthly retainer.
– The most popular pricing tier for that retainer is USD 500 to USD 1 000 per month.
– For per-project pricing, 88% charge USD 150 per hour for their services.
These prices increase depending on the client’s geographical reach. And you can expect to pay more for more experienced SEO agencies, with those who’ve been in business charging 102% more for monthly retainers and 39% for more per hour.
‘The median cost per month for SEO services in the US is between $2,500 to $5,000 per month’
– Sparktoro, 2021
Compare this to aiNANSI’s affordable SEO package starting price of USD 332 per month for any business of any size, and the value is clear.
Expectation Checklist
Follow this 3-point checklist to set your expectations for aiNANSI:
1. Is the website new or newish? (NB: New websites/web pages include those that may have been published for a while but have low or zero SEO ranking, making them invisible to Google – i.e. they are ‘new’ in Google’s eyes).
Yes: It will take longer to rank; do not expect Page 1 results within the first 2-4 months.
No: It will be quicker to rank (just how quick depends on 2 and 3 below).
2. Is the website perfectly optimized for aiNANSI (according to the tech analysis report)?
Yes: aiNANSI can start ranking it immediately.
No: The SEO consulting team will have to first optimize the website. The length of time this takes depends on the level of optimization required.
3. Is the website up against serious competition?
Yes: Do not expect Page 1 results before 4-6 months.
No: Expect results within 3-6 months.
We’re always here to help should you have any questions on your website’s SEO performance – hit the Contact Us button.
For more SEO Tips & Trends, follow us on LinkedIn.
