Are you a small to medium Business and wondering how SEO takes or Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) takes to make a difference?

Here we take a look at some key issues as well as progress expected for SEO services within 3 months, 6 months and at 12 months.

We are often asked at The Business Detective “How long Does SEO take” or “How long does it take to appear on Chat GPT?”

We always tell everyone that SEO is not a quick fix. Seeing results can often take up to 6 months with significant gains about 12.  

As a company that provides managed SEO Services we ensure that we are making regular consistent changes as part of our monthly packages to make the quickest gains possible.

With every project we take on we look at the following:

1. How long will it take to Optimise the relevant Web Page or Website.
2. How long before Google or Bing shows a change in ranking.

The first part is dependant on the size and scope of the project. Some websites do not have the appropriate content and have never had on page SEO completed.

On Page SEO

Here are some examples of the key areas we consider for “On page SEO”

1. Keyword research – Identifying primary keywords and long tail keywords and ensuring they feature in content
2. Title Tags – Do they include the relevant keywords, are they the optimal length, are they engaging.
3. Meta descriptions – Do they include keywords, are they the optimal length (150 to 160 characters) and do they summarise your content.
4. Header Tags – H1, H2 and H3 tags. Ensure only one H1 tag appears, using H2 tags as sub headers
5. URL Structure – Short and descriptive and include relevant keywords.
6. Content Optimisation – Ensure you have high quality content with appropriate keyword placement which is an optimal length.
7. Internal linking – Anchor text and strategic linking is the key to Google understanding your website as an index to a library.
8. External Linking – Links to credible external sites which are relevant
9. Image Optimisation – Does each image have Alt text, a filename and compressed to ensure your page loads as efficiently as possible.
10. Mobile Friendliness – Is the website design responsive to Mobile and Tablets.
11. Schema Mark Up – Making your Website compatible with AI searches.

Google Rankings

Research indicates that once Google uses a ranking transition period when your website has been changed. This can often mean your ranking moves up and down the rankings before it starts to climb and hold a consistent position.

So what are some of the key things that Google considers:

1.  Domain Authority – How old is the domain and how much trust can be placed in it.
2. Structure – Sitemap, Does the website pages load quickly, Can the website be ‘crawled’
3. Internal Links
4. External links to the page based on their credibility
5. On Page Optimisation

Timescales

Month 1 – SEO Project audit, Keyword research, planning

Month 1-2 – On Page SEO, Technical Fixes

Months 2-3 – Relevant Pages Published

Months 3-4 – Website is ‘Crawled’ and Rankings change but expect volatility

Months 4-6 – Rankings are unstable

Months 6-9 – Rankings stabilise with ‘quick fix’ keywords also known as Long tail keywords appearing on Page 1 of Google.

Months 9-12 – URL Domain Authority increases with further external and internal link building, Content creation and developed sitemap

Months 12+ – Significant impact on Organic traffic to Website.

Here at The Business Detective we provide a 6 weekly SEO update as part of all of our packages ensuring you know progress at each step of the way.

How do  We Measure SEO Performance?

So how do we measure Status, Progress and results associated to SEO and GEO?

We currently use All in One SEO, Pro Rank Tracker and SEM Rush as well as other free tools like Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google search console, I like to think you can never have enough data and statistics when it comes to your own business.

Remember that Google changes its algorithm regularly, your competition adds content to their website as part of their marketing strategy and all competitors are consistently adding internal links and back links to their site, increasing there credibility and ultimately there domain authority.

When we measure performance its important to note we are looking at the following data:

1. Impressions – How often do you appear in a search?
2. Clicks (traffic) – How many visitors are there to your website?
3. Leads Converted to enquiry or sales – How many of those visitors are actively engaging with your business through calling you, emailing you or buying something
4. Domain Authority – Is your Domain Authority increasing and gaining more credibility with search engines
5. Indexing, Sitemap – Is all of your content visible and has been crawled by Google or other search engines so it is ‘discovered.’
6. Technical matters – Does each page of your site have any on Page SEO errors?

All of this means that Search engine optimisation is not a quick fix, it is an ongoing project between us and yourselves.

When we start any project we will set some key performance indicators, objectives and a terms of reference. These change with every project and are based upon timescales, budget and your business objectives.

Before we finish we thought we would highlight some common myths relating to SEO

a) Search engine optimisation takes years.

b) Search engine optimisation is very expensive. This couldn’t be further from the truth and we offer affordable SEO for small businesses with tailored services.

c) The more content you put on your website the faster you will see results. You should aim for high quality content posted consistently, not unrelated, no context content quickly.

d) Once you are Number #1 on Google you stay there. Companies that reach the holy grail of Number #1 on Google and stay often use a digital marketing agency and have a detailed digital marketing strategy dedicated to executing it.  Once you get there, you have to stay there and this requires the same hard work and dedication as the first part.

Interested in more information, then contact us today for a free consultation and lets chat through some of our SEO packages, we offer a range of local SEO for small businesses and SEO Monthly packages.