Do You Have Realistic Expectations of SEO?

Do you have realistic expectations of SEO? SEO is comprehensive in scope and many people know what it is, but do you know how heavily it influences your business goals? In this article, we’ll discuss what should your expectations be for SEO.

How Long does it take for SEO to Start Working?

So really, how long does it take for SEO to start working? Let’s start by taking a look at the definition of optimization. To optimize means to make the best use of the resources available to achieve an expected outcome. Therefore, implementing techniques to improve your search engine optimization can happen quickly.

However, seeing the results of your activities take longer. The desired results can take months, to achieve. That’s because SEO is dynamic, meaning it’s always changing. Why does it change?

SEO changes because people change, and that’s who you are optimizing for. The goal for improved SEO is for your website to properly communicate with machines so that they can understand who you are targeting.

There are a lot of factors that affect your SEO strategy and website traffic, but the short answer is… it doesn’t happen overnight. The different factors to SEO campaigns influence the time frame of the work involved. Well, that brings us to what criteria affect your SEO rankings?

What criteria affect your SEO rankings?

Let’s say you did your keyword research, optimized your blogs with keyword phrases, and you’ve started building backlinks. Now what? Well, let’s take a look at some of the criteria that also affect SEO. Some of the criteria affecting your organic website traffic are page speed, meta descriptions, geographic locations, and competition.

What are Common Misconceptions of SEO?

The biggest common misconception of SEO is immediate returns, like sales or signups. SEO is a very comprehensive strategy that is multifunctional and ongoing. There are several incremental tasks that go into SEO and each task has a function that is directly linked to improving your rankings.

Another misunderstanding is that SEO is a one-time application. However, the activities are ongoing; actively monitoring your SEO is key to seeing organic results over time. The good news is the long-lasting effects of good SEO. Building a strong foundation for your site can benefit for years.

Once you are ranking on page one organically, you’ll start seeing more website traffic in the long run. If your goal is to rank locally, you’d want to set up a Google My Business Listings. This strategy helps searchers find your business locally; for instance, ‘barber near me’ versus, typing in the keyword ‘barber’. Google My Business (GMB), or the local map pack will show the top three results based on your local area.

Setting Realistic Expectations of SEO

Whether you want to rank nationally, locally, or in multiple locations, unrealistic expectations will cause small businesses to become dissatisfied with their SEO agency. So let’s recap: