How long does it take to get to page 1 in Google? Well, how long is a piece of string?

How long does it take to get to page 1 in Google? Well, how long is a piece of string?

Every time I see someone new to running a website, they always ask the same questions, the main one being "How long will it take to rank my website?". I know they don't exactly know what they're doing, and that's why they're trying to outsource their SEO work, but asking how long something like this takes is the same as asking how long a piece of rope is. The amount of time it takes to run a proper SEO campaign depends on many variables such as your niche, competition, your design, your on-page optimization, your off page optimization and your authority in the eyes of Google.

Whenever I get asked this question, I usually have the same answer, and that is "It could take 3 weeks or it could take 3 years. It really depends on what your competition is doing and how long they've been doing it". Then I usually get the response "They aren't doing any SEO! This should be easy for you!" which I think is funny because it means they are assuming what they're competition is doing, and they probably didn't go and ask or do any research on what they were actually doing lol

In this discussion, I'll be going over the various factors that needed to be taken into consideration when you are estimating the amount of time it takes to rank your website on the first page of Google for your desired keywords.


Your Niche and Competition
This is one of the bigger factors you need to put into consideration. The easiest way to figure out how long it takes to rank at the top of the search results, based on your niche and competition, is to estimate how much they are making each year. The more money your competition is making, the more they can invest in search engine optimization, which means you have an uphill battle on your hands and it could take a good amount of time to hit the top of the search results.


Your Websites Design
Not many people think their design can help then increase in the rankings, but if your design isn't responsive (mobile friendly), it won't hit as high in the rankings as it could have. Having a responsive design just means your code is slightly altered in order to show up correctly when someone on a mobile device visits your pages. Sure, every website can be seen on a mobile device, but that doesn't mean it's responsive or mobile friendly. If you have to pinch and stretch the screen to read the content on the pages, it's not responsive and you need to go back to the drawing board with your design.

You can outsource the design work in order to make your design responsive if you don't know what you're doing. It shouldn't cost you too much, you can likely get a designer here on SEOclerks to help you out with this task.


Your On Page Optimization
You'd be surprised how many people don't know about on page optimization and how it alone can help rank a website in lower competition niches. By editing your titles, descriptions, headers, alt tags, etc. you can boost your rankings gradually in the search engines. If you're not optimizing your website, you won't likely beat your competition in the search engines.


Your Off-Page Optimization
Many people do this wrong, and that's why they tend to outsource it. They either don't know what they're doing or they screw it up and need everything fixed lol. Off-page, optimization is where you basically build your popularity online, in the way of building backlinks aimed at your pages, and Google boosts your rankings because people are talking about you.

If you aren't doing any off page optimization, and you decide to outsource the work, it will take a minimum of 3 months even in a low competition niche if the company you choose to do the work is doing it right.


Your Content
Having content alone is good and all, but having optimized content is great! Google loves websites that have massive amounts of unique and high-quality content for their readers to go over. Google wants its users to find the best information possible, and if they see you as the authority for that content, they will rank you near the top of the SERPs over time


Your Authority Within Google
Doing all of the above is a great start, but it will take a while before you start to beat your competition that has already been seen as an authority by Google. You'll need to overcome that competition in the authority race before you start to see top rankings, and that amount of time is unpredictable really. You could be doing this your entire career and trying to get that top spot in the SERPs. It may never happen, but if you don't try, you'll never know if it's achievable.




In Conclusion
The amount of time it takes to rank your website at the top of the search results within Google can't really be measured. Good SEO companies can give you estimates, but they won't be down to the week, it'll be closer to a 6 month give or take type scenario if you're in a medium to high competition niche. Even then, it could take you years to get ranked for your main keywords that are 1 or 2 words long.



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Thanks!

Tommy Carey