How Long Does It Take To Rank On Google?

When I say that more traffic, more customers, better leads, more coversion, more sales and higher revenue are the things that every online business is striving for, I’m sure that I speak for every single business entity in the market, regardless of the type or size. We all know it. Everyone is working towards achieving these things. Businesses are running from pillar to post, trying to get their hands on something that will help them get one step closer towards realising their goals.

But what if I tell you that there’s only one thing that you need to focus on and everything else will automatically fall into place? Surprised? Well, this should come across more as an assurance than surprise when I tell you that all your goals will take care of themselves when you take care of this one thing that I’m about to let you know. YOUR WEBSITE’S RANKING ON GOOGLE. The whole of the online marketing game is nothing but your Google ranking. Your website’s ranking decides the amount of success you will have in terms of traffic, leads, sales, revenue etc. Let me tell you how.

When your website is on the first page of search results, you will be visible to an enormous number of customers who are looking for the services you offer. This translates to more clicks and activity- heavy traffic, more deals and more revenue from these deals are the obvious consequences. However, when the website is on let’s say third or fourth page, none of these materialize.

I’m sure that by now you have realised that instead of focusing on several things, you only need to streamline your focus on one agenda- getting your business to rank on Google. Your concern, now, should no longer be “How long will it take to attract the traffic etc” but “how long does it take to rank on Google”. In the following parts of this article, I have made an attempt to address this query.

The best answer to the pertinent “how long?” is the amount of time it takes you to fulfill the ranking factors of Google. When we hear that a professional or an SEO Expert is working on improving the ranking of your website, it is essential to understand that the work that is being done is to fulfill the ranking factors and nothing else. So, all of it boils down to these ranking factors.

 But wait. There’s plenty of them, right? While all of the numerous ranking factors do come into play in some way or the other, there are some of them which become more apparent and involved when it comes to the initial stages of obtaining a rank on Google. Let’s take a look at them.

If you have ever had a discussion with someone who knows things about Search Engine Optimization and how all of it works, I am pretty much sure that you must have heard the notion that you mustn’t expect any significant results within the first six months of getting live with your website. I’d like to tell you that this is absolutely true. While I’m not ruling out the possibility of making progress during this time period, what I’m telling you is that this timeframe is nothing but the Domain Age of your website.

It simply means how long your website has been in the open. Domain Age is a significant factor when it comes to ranking on Google and when it’s said that you will only get any ranking after the six months period, it goes on to show how Domain Age works as a Google ranking factor. Google associates the domain age with your consistency, experience and legitimacy. It also serves as a probation period for your website. Ahref’s Study on how long rankings take showed that the average site ranked #1 was over 900 days old.

The older your website, the better chance it has to make it to the rankings. So the first six months are something that won’t show much of an outcome of your work. However, this doesn’t mean that you stop working on what’s necessary during this time. In fact, the quality of work that you do during this time decides what the future is going to be like. My advice- Put in the most solid work at this time and wait to reap the benefits.

When you get a legit Keyword Research done for your website and the niche that you are targeting, you get to know that the keywords that you can incorporate and focus on vary from each other in terms of how competitive they are. When you focus on the less-competitive keywords, you have a higher chance of ranking earlier and better than usual. But when the bull’s-eye that you are targeting in the form of the keywords are something that are highly competitive in nature, you need to toil and it takes more efforts and time to secure a ranking for those.

Now what makes a keyword more competitive than the other is the volume of searches associated with each of them. More searches means more competition. If you are looking for ranking on the easier keywords, it won’t take too long. If you are shooting for the most competitive ones, you have to put in the work and time. We all know, patience is the key.

What you post on your website as its content is what you have to engage with your customers, and of course, the search engine. This simply means that ensuring that you offer prime quality content to the customers should be the first thing on your priority list. Rich, high value, relevant and fresh- these are the attributes that the content you publish must have. 

Legends have it that it is better to compete with yourself and not others. Not when it comes to the digital marketing game. Make sure that the content you offer for a certain topic is better and more valuable than anything that your competitors offer.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times. Google loves quality work- whether it is that of the content you provide or the Backlinks of your website. Backlinks from high authority, legitimate and authentic resources adds such values to your website and content as well. When these attributes get attached to your website, Google knows that you are the real deal.  

When you are successful in earning these links, you are successful in propelling your website to greater chances of ranking faster. I used the word “earn” because that’s what you have got to do. You have to rightfully earn them through offering top-notch and meaningful content.

All of what you do through the website is for the customers. It therefore becomes essential to analyze how the customers engage with what you offer. Google does the same. Customer’s engagement with your website is a serious and probably the most important ranking factor that is considered. 

This has two parts to it. Number one is the clicks on your website. This is vital as the higher number of clicks means that you have successfully earned the interest of the customer to engage with your website. The second, and the more important facet to it is the amount of time the customers spend on your website. 

If the customers find the content to be useful, relevant, appealing and most importantly, satisfying what they are looking for, they would engage with it for a considerable time. On the contrary, if the content on your website is spammy or with no usability, they will get off it in no time. More engagement of the customers means what you offer is valuable and helpful and that’s enough for Google to prompt you for rankings.

These are some of the most important factors that need to be taken care of if you are looking to get or improve your rankings in the Google search results. My take on this is that there’s a common ground for all of this. It all narrows down to the quality of work you do. I have mentioned it before, GOOGLE VALUES QUALITY. If you can ensure that in all your work, you will achieve what you are looking for. Following a proper and legit strategy to get the work done that will help you fulfill these ranking factors is the key. When you complement it with experience and expertise, you are in for the best. If that’s what you are looking for, hire an SEO Expert and watch the game change for you.