Once you’re in the business of building or ranking websites, you’ll definitely want to know how long it will take to rank. The quick answer to this is it depends. Every niche is different and it may be possible to rank within 3 to 6 months whereas others may be more competitive and it will take at least a year. So, that question is quite subjective.
Thankfully, there are many studies on the subject and if you are building a brand new site, you can expect to wait between 3 to 4 months before you start getting organic traffic. Then, if you keep on working diligently, you can expect to get a decent amount of traffic by 6 to 7 months. Keep in mind that these time frames are based on being ranked on Google and not necessarily in one of the top 5 spots. In order to rank on the first page of Google, in one of the top spots, you may potentially have to wait for 1 year+.
Your Site & Google Analytics
Google has already stated that they have over 200 ranking factors in their core algorithm. So, the ability of your site to rank is based on how well they match up to their ranking factors. With that said, we will dive a bit deeper into some of the most important ranking factors that you should work on in order to rank higher.
The first thing you’ll want to check is if the domain is clean and free from any Google penalizations. This is especially necessary if you’re trying to rank a website that isn’t brand new. You’ll need to check for both algorithmic penalties as well as manual penalties. So, for algorithmic penalties, you’ll need to go to your Google Analytics and look at your Google-only traffic for the entire year. Pay close attention to any drastic changes in your traffic and compare these to the known dates of algorithm updates. If there is a pattern or correlation between algorithm changes and traffic drops, then your site has suffered an algorithmic penalty. You can check for manual penalties by visiting your Google Webmaster and viewing Manual actions. If you have a manual penalty, there would be a message there indicating the penalty. Once your site has any type of penalty it would be very hard to rank it without first getting rid of the penalty.
Content Quality
Next, another extremely important ranking factor is the quality of your content and its length. Many SEOs often claim that content is king and this is quite true. If your site doesn’t offer in-depth content that truly answers the user’s questions, then it won’t rank. So, make sure that your site offers real value that is better than the pages currently ranking in the top 5 spots and you’ll be on your way to taking one of their spots.
On-Page Optimization & Backlinks
Lastly, your on-page optimization and backlinks are also critical to your Google rankings. After all, Google is still an algorithm and proper usage and placement of keywords will boost your site in the SERPs. Powerful, authoritative, and relevant links will also propel your site forward.
To wrap things up, we have just covered how long it will take to rank in Google as well as some of the most important ranking factors.
Once you consistently work on your website and adjust accordingly, you’ll be able to drive more traffic and work your way up on Google.
Here is the main video that should help the most:
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