“If you are going to post content on your website anyway, you might as well take the time to make sure Google takes notice of your effort.”
-The Content Factory.
Any digital marketer who has been in the SEO Philippines industry for quite a while would tell you that one of their main goals is to rank on Google and other search engines.
Ranking on search engines means that your audiences have a better chance of finding you or discovering your brand.
More importantly, it is a way to have a wider audience reach.
Unfortunately, there is no magic formula for ranking a website in Google and other search engines. In the same vein, no one can tell you exactly how long it would take you to get to the first pages. Several studies have stated that a new website takes roughly 3-4 months to get its first visits from Google. It is not until the sixth or seventh month that you actually get serious traffic from the search engine. However, you must work in the right direction to ensure this happens. This means that as a provider of SEO services, you should know the best practices for ranking. Keep in mind that the estimates given above are for getting found on search engines and getting organic traffic.
Remember, these estimates do not necessarily mean being in one of the top five positions. To achieve a higher ranking on Google and other search engines, you may have to wait more than a year or a while. However, when it comes to search rankings, some factors are more important than others which will be explained below:
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET FOUND ON GOOGLE AND OTHER SEARCH ENGINES?
According to Google, they use more than 255 independent factors in their ranking algorithm. However, the most important factors that are related to how long it takes to rank for the search engine are as follows:
a.) AGE OF THE DOMAIN
Inevitably, an established website that is old and trusted is more likely to rank higher in Google search results than in its incipiency, provided that other factors remain equal. However, this does not mean that a new website will never achieve good rankings. It will take them more time, however. A web domain is considered new when it has been active (not parked) for less than six months. After the sixth month, a domain can start getting serious traffic from search engines.
b.) CLEAN DOMAIN
Another factor that may work in favor or against your ranking efforts in Google or other search engines is a clean domain. Clean domains are essentially domains that have not been penalized by Google either by a manual or algorithmic penalty. So, how can you tell if your domain is clean? The two ways are as follows:
1.) Check Google webmaster tools and see if you have any manual penalties.
2.) Apart from manual penalties, you should also check for algorithmic penalties by logging in to Google Analytics (or any analytics tool you use).
If your domain is not clean, then it is a complete waste of time to try and rank for any search engine. This is because the penalties prevent you from doing so. To continue, clean your domain first or consider starting from scratch with a new domain.
c.) KEYWORD COMPETITION
Popular keywords tend to have strong competition. That said, you need to be a little particular and selective of the keywords you want to rank for. Going after popular keywords may not allow you to achieve much unless you have a very strong and trusted website. Instead, target low-competition keywords until you get high rankings for those. From there, you can then attempt to rank for popular keywords. High rankings for low-competition keywords get you traffic and links from other websites. As a result, you will have a stronger website that may be able to rank for more important terms.
d.) TYPE OF CONTENT (NEWS ITEM, ARTICLE, IMAGE, ETC.)
Another thing you need to consider when it comes to ranking in Google and other search engines is the type of content you produce. Of course, breaking news and stories will rank faster than stories that are not considered news. To illustrate, content about possible wars in foreign countries is more likely to appear at the top positions of Google than your article about food allergies. Similarly, a new photo of a celebrity’s newborn child will likely reach the top faster than the image you are uploading to accompany your new post.
e.) SEO OPTIMIZED TITLES
An SEO-optimized title is paramount as it helps you rank faster than a non-optimized title. Typically, if you are a garden variety blogger or webmaster with a new relatively website, chances are you only have a few incoming links to your website. This is especially true if you do not have a strong profile. Your efforts in writing the best content will be all for naught if you do not have an optimized title. Needless to say, you are not likely to rank for anything in the short term. If you have a strong website, it may be possible to rank for non-optimized titles quite fast. However, if your website is relatively new, you need to be more selective with your titles to get better results in less time.
f.) CONTENT LENGTH
While content length is an indirect factor, it influences your ranking. To illustrate, a comprehensive and exhaustive article about a topic will likely rank higher than a shorter article that covers the same topic. This is because longer articles tend to capture the attention of other bloggers and receive backlinks and mentions, such as shares and likes, on social media platforms. The ensuing buzz would shorten the time it takes to get noticed by Google’s algorithm.
BOTTOMLINE
As said above, getting good rankings on Google or any other search engine can take time. If your website is relatively new, you may need to wait at least 3-4 months before seeing the first visits from Google. However, once you hit the sixth to seventh mark, you may notice that you are getting more traffic from Google and other search engines, provided that you are working in the right direction.
While ranking for Google and other search engines may be challenging, the key is not to give up. Instead, keep trying white hat SEO techniques, and then sooner, you will get the kind of traffic that you deserve.
