RESOLVING CLIENT CONCERNS: HOW LONG DOES SEO TAKE TO WORK?

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

If you’ve been trying to sell White Label SEO, you’ve probably been asked: how long does SEO take to work?

The answer is a famous one in digital marketing: it depends.

More specifically, it depends on how strong the client’s website is already, how competitive their target keywords are, and how aggressive their investment.

But this answer usually isn’t very satisfying to clients, so let’s talk about some more encouraging ways to answer this question.

What Does “Work” Even Mean?

Before we can answer this question with any specificity, we need to define what “results” look like in an SEO campaign.

The typical campaign is designed to positively impact (1) keyword rankings, (2) organic search traffic, and (3) conversions—typically sales or leads.

And that’s usually the order we see results accrue.

First we’ll see an increase in the total number of keywords a client is ranking for.

Then we’ll start to see rankings on the first page of the SERP (which are the really important ones because almost all organic traffic comes from page 1).

With those first-page rankings comes an increase in organic traffic and—if the conversion rate optimization has been done properly—a corresponding increase in conversions.

3 to 6 Months

So how soon do we start seeing these results? Again, this will vary widely depending on industry. Digital Marketing companies and Personal Injury Law firms are extremely competitive, and so the needle is unlikely to move quickly without serious investment.

But “blue ocean” spaces can probably see results in as little as 3 to 6 months, even if they have a limited budget.

Early results tend to be less “sexy” then the results that accrue later on in the campaign, but it will at least be evidence that what we’re doing is working!

How Competitive is My Client’s Industry

A good way to measure competitiveness is to ask the client for 5 or 6 direct competitors, and compare the client’s domain data to that of their competitors in a tool like SEMrush. If the gaps are very large, that’s probably an indicator that they’re in a red ocean space, and it will take a lot of work to make them competitive.

If you’d like help running this kind of analysis for one or more of your clients, schedule a meeting with Tobes to discuss it!