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

  • TommyCarey Level X3
    • 23

    Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ

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

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


    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.



    Remember to follow me!
    https://www.seoclerks.com/user/TommyCarey


    Thanks!

    Tommy Carey

    #Seo SEO
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    DenisP

    DenisP

    The importance of good website design cannot be stressed enough. I'm not one to really browse the internet on a smart phone, as I typically find the experience more favorable on a laptop or desktop computer. However, some mornings I might be feeling particularly lazy and decide to check out some sites on my phone rather than sitting at my desk right away. Nothing makes me click (or touch, rather?) away from a site faster than it not being mobile friendly. And even though I'm not one to browse on phones very much, I know that there are people who browse almost exclusively on their mobile phones, so it's obviously a demographic that one must keep in mind.
    6 years ago

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    ecra

    ecra

    Good
    Thank you great post keep it up more updates
    6 years ago

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    treecko142

    treecko142

    I agree. Sometimes, when I enter a site and I'm greeted by this horrible mess of web design, I close the tab immediately without even looking at the content, even when you read the topic and it's actually quite interesting. As they say, first impressions last, and it also applies when you have your own website.
    6 years ago

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    DenisP

    DenisP

    The thing is that, I’ve found that poor web design is usually accompanied by poor content anyway. I mean, it generally makes sense that someone who wouldn’t put effort into the design of their website wouldn’t put effort into their content either.

    The same can be applied to people. I’ve often found that people who don’t care enough to put effort into their appearance typically have poor characters as well. It’s a sign of laziness and general disregard.
    6 years ago

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    stbrians

    stbrians

    You are right. There are good points here about getting to the top. It is not a one day job but takes time. We should follow the guidelines and be patient.
    6 years ago

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    Corzhens

    Corzhens

    I also experience some of my regular sites that are not mobile friendly yet. Those sites are better to be accessed with a computer because I get a headache with the improper design especially with some sites that wouldn’t accept the input that I would type. It is imperative that websites should be responsive to mobile browsers because the mobile users now is the dominant group in the internet.
    5 years ago

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    socialshare

    socialshare

    Thank you great post keep it up more updates
    6 years ago

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    kgord

    kgord

    I guess how much you work at it, is how quickly you can rank your website with google. I just think that it if you use SEO and you take care to optimize the site, and use the right rankings you will get a good ranking sooner rather than later.
    6 years ago

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    SiamSEO

    SiamSEO

    You're right - and you're not How long does it take to get to page 1 in Google? Well, how long is a piece of string?

    The time like that is not really a good way to measure it, but rather what you manage to do with that time. There are so many metrics in play that it's really impossible to give any clear timeframe without knowing the specifics, but ranking well especially in a highly competitive niche can take months, if not years.
    6 years ago

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    kgord

    kgord

    I think there might be ways to shortcut that process though. I think if you pay attention to some of the suggestions discussed on here you might find your way to a faster, and higher ranking. I don't think it actually takes anybody years to get a good ranking if they approach it the right way.
    6 years ago

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    vishaljamdagni

    vishaljamdagni

    This really is a common question but still it's something which can never have a definitive answer, because no one can actually predict an exact date as to when would the targeted page would be on the first page of google results. Because we can just do our best and then just see some slow and steady progress with all the different approaches of Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, etc.
    Within this sometimes people get hasty and start going towards the blackhat approaches which do show some results in the beginning but prove to be really harming in the long run.
    6 years ago

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    anahbello1206

    anahbello1206

    I guess it is really a test of someone's patience. That is why planning ahead is very important. One must be knowledgeable to certain aspect of his chosen field in order to succeed. Not preparing enough may prolong the waiting period and might give a minimal percentage of success. I really love reading your post. it gives me a lot of relevant ideas and I am interested in reading more.
    6 years ago

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    Martinsx1

    Martinsx1

    I stick with content because it's what fetches you a good possibility of ranking. Keywords matters a lot, it helps with your optimization. Design of website also provides a good overview on getting your website to be ranked faster. Ensuring not being in a haste to create backlinks as rushed ones aren't created well.
    6 years ago

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    Judas2018

    Judas2018

    It will take different amounts of time for different people or businesses. It also depends on how much work you are willing to put in. There's no one single answer for everyone.
    6 years ago

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    vinaya

    vinaya

    Getting on number one is really difficult if there is a lot of competition. Even if you reach on the top, staying on #1 forever is not possible. In order to reach the #1 spot, your content must be unique and best of the best. In order to reach #1, you need to use keywords that has less competition, you need to baclinks from reputed sources, you need to get a lot of social signals and your website needs unique design as well as a great loading speed. You can try but there is no guarantee.
    6 years ago

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    TommyCarey

    TommyCarey

    Yeah, getting to #1 is awesome, but that's when the real work begins lol. I've had plenty of top rankings over the course of my online career, but it's tough to stick there because your competitors will always be trying to knock you off of your high horse and be the king of the mountain within the rankings lol How long does it take to get to page 1 in Google? Well, how long is a piece of string?

    I always tell clients that they need to keep building high-quality links even after they hit #1 for their desired keywords. Normally they listen to me, but sometimes they stop paying me for my work and go off on their own, then come back in a month or two and complain that their rankings dropped and they now need my help again. I always tell them "Well, it will likely take 2 to 3 months to get you back on top" which they get annoyed with, then I say "This is why I told you to keep working on your SEO even if you were on top of the rankings." lol
    6 years ago

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    flyinwashi682

    flyinwashi682

    If we were to earn a penny each time someone asks us this question, we’d have made millions by now. Almost any new business who considers doing online marketing in Mississauga wants to know the answer to this question.

    ‘How long before my website gets ranked on page 1? How soon can you get me there?’

    Well, it is actually not a very bad question to ask either.

    Considering that only 8.5% of online search traffic ever goes beyond the first page of Google, you’d either be on Page 1 or not be on the internet at all.

    A popular joke among internet marketers is that ‘The best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Google’.

    The fact is that nobody knows a clear and concise answer to the question.

    And here’s why.

    Google’s Massive IndexIt is estimated that 700000 search queries are made every 60 seconds on Google. And for each of these queries, the Google Bot tries to match the query with billions of webpage in its index. To bring up the results on the first page, Google considers numerous factors. Some of these are known to the common public. Others remain a secret. The known ones can be used as a reference to make changes on the website that allows the Google bot to crawl your website and match it against a particular query.

    The unknown ones are mere speculative guesses.

    Considering that these are algorithmic programs, even Google would not be able to precisely predict how they affect each other and also, the search results.

    What an seo company can do is look at your current website, identify any areas that need improvement, suggest strategies to improve the chances of ranking and then suggest an estimated timeframe based on past experience.

    What are the known factors that can affect the time taken for a website to rank?Your ranking can be affected by a lot of factors like the competitiveness of the business niche, your competitors, the quality of your website and your marketing efforts.

    For example, if your business niche is not overly competitive and your main competitors are not actively marketing their websites on the internet, then on an average, it may take from 6-8 months for your website to get ranked on page 1.
    6 years ago

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    Corzhens

    Corzhens

    I understand that when it comes to SEO particularly in the ranking with the search engines, it is not an exact science as of now. I agree that it can be 3 weeks up to 3 years to see your link on page 1 of Google and other search engines. To be honest, I still don’t believe 100% the methods that I have been reading in forums about SEO because some of them admit that they cannot guarantee the ranking. That’s the reason why I am saying that it is not an exact science. Short of being skeptical, I believe that there is a way of getting a good ranking to land on page 1 of the search list but it is a combination of things.
    6 years ago

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    jpyy

    jpyy

    I admire anyone doing self-SEO nowadays. Nonetheless, I don't think anyone can win without shelling out some cash. It's simply not as easy as back in 2010. However, though, the increased difficulty is probably a good thing cause a lot of junk was rising to the top.
    6 years ago

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    centurion

    centurion

    As far as I know it will take minimum 90 days to make any rank of your website. For keyword based position also 90 days are maximum. First 45 days for on page optimization and the second 45 days for off page optimization. Within this 90 days if your keyword research is right and analysis is correct than you will get the result about rank. To get a rank means you will get huge traffic. To get rank on specific keyword- its totally depends on keyword research power, analysis the competition and important keyword based do follow hyperlink or back link.

    Thanks
    Centurion
    6 years ago

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    TommyCarey

    TommyCarey

    Eh, that's not really true. It could actually take 10 days for a niche that has almost no competition or it could take 10 years if you're in a niche that is extremely competitive.

    The only way to really know how long it takes to rank for a specific keyword is to get to work and count the days. There's no way to predict how long it takes, so saying 90 days is already wrong, and you shouldn't be telling people that because you'll just spread false information that could hurt a legitimate SEO company because they read "It takes 90 days to rank a website!" which isn't true.

    Every website is different and every niche is unique, there are too many variables to figure out exactly how long it will take to rank a website, but we can give estimates of 6 months or 1 year and bust our butts to get those quotes to be a reality.
    6 years ago

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    Everett

    Everett

    I would happen to agree with this, no one but Google (the gods of the search engines) knows exactly how long it takes to rank a website. However, they could possibly be providing the information of 90 days because that is how long it took their site to rank for their money keyword. As for me, it usually takes a month from the inital start of my SEO campaign (and the SEO campaign can last a couple of months), and I do not have that much competition. Plus, you have to take into account all the variables that the search engines use to actually rank a website. So for someone to actually give a number and state for a fact that it takes 90 days is not that great of advice - totally agreed.

    I would say your ranking depends on quality of content, quality of backlinks, keywords in the domain name itself, social presense, traffic to website, your google trust score, etc. For new sites you could take up to 6 months to rank for your money keywords (again this is not set in stone due to the many factors search engines use), for older sites and especially if they are 'trusted' by Google it could be less time. Not one but Google knows exactly how long it takes, or exactly what they are looking for in terms of ranking - we can only assume with the information given to us.
    6 years ago

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    treecko142

    treecko142

    I disagree, as there isn't really a set time when your website will gain ranks; it still depends on your demographic target and the quality of your website itself, as well as the amount of promotion that you do.
    6 years ago

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