How Long Does SEO Take To Work?

Ranking high in search engine results is an ongoing effort. If you’ve spent weeks, months, or years working on search engine optimization (SEO) strategies but haven’t seen substantial results yet, you’re not alone. So, how long does SEO take to work?

At Relentless Digital, we help HVAC businesses perfect their digital marketing strategies. Our comprehensive HVAC SEO services by Relentless Digital help you rank high in search engines, increase website traffic, generate more leads, and encourage conversions.

Below, we discuss the top factors impacting SEO efforts, the average time it takes to see SEO success, and how you can speed the process up to see significant results.

What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of adjusting your site pages and creating content to rank high in search engine results. For example, if someone Googles “AC repair near me,” you want your HVAC business to appear first. SEO helps you accomplish this.

Factors Impacting SEO Efforts and Results

SEO depends on many complex factors. Results from SEO efforts do not happen overnight. Many Google algorithm ranking factors determine your SEO performance and search visibility.

You may wonder why some digital marketing agencies advertise quicker SEO results than others. How long SEO takes depends on your website’s history, your marketing strategy, and how competitive your keywords are. Review the factors below to better understand how long SEO may take for your HVAC business compared to others.

Your Website’s History

Older websites tend to rank better than newly published pages because they typically have long histories of generating organic traffic. Authoritative websites with existing audiences and strong brand recognition can typically see faster SEO results because they already have people visiting the website daily.

Most of your website pages likely have little traffic if you just created a brand-new domain. The first page you publish will take longer to rank well in Google than a page optimized by SEO professionals for months. If you just created your website, you shouldn’t expect it to rank highly in search results soon.

Your SEO Strategy

Your SEO campaign may contain different strategies than others. For example, you may focus on target keywords, quality content, and other on-page SEO factors. In contrast, other companies may prioritize off-page SEO efforts like the website’s backlink profile, title tags, site structure, linking structure, and site speed.

The different search rankings factors you focus on most with your new SEO strategy will impact how long it takes you to see results. If you only focus on keyword optimization and nothing else, you may not rank well. If you work on all the top strategies simultaneously, you can appear in search engine algorithms sooner.

Keyword Competition

Keyword research includes carefully selecting relevant terms with realistic competition levels and generous monthly search volumes. While you want a relevant keyword that generates a lot of traffic, you don’t want something impossible to rank for. High-competition keywords take much longer to see results than lower-traffic terms.

Additionally, the more keywords you try to rank for simultaneously, the better your odds of success. If you only target one keyword across all your website pages, they’ll compete against each other, wasting your SEO efforts. Your keyword targeting strategy should support a diverse blend of competitive and easier terms for short and long-term goals.

How Long Does SEO Take To Begin Working on Average?

So, how long does SEO take to work on average? You can expect to begin seeing preliminary results after about six months of comprehensive SEO strategy work. As you develop domain authority and high-quality links, the Google algorithm and other search engines should rank your pages higher in search results for your target keyword phrases.

After about one to two years, you should expect to see faster improvement rates. While SEO takes time, the resulting traffic amplifies your success once it begins working. The more traffic you receive, the more domain authority you develop, and the higher you can rank in search results.

Average Time for New Websites To Rank in Search Engines

Brand new websites take longer to rank high than existing domains. If you have an old site that you’re re-working for SEO purposes, you may see quicker results than someone building a new site.

Google typically keeps new websites in a “sandbox” for a few months, preventing them from ranking above authoritative and trustworthy sites to prevent scams. Because of these trial periods, you likely won’t rank when you first create your website. The average time to see any SEO results with a new site is between four and 12 months, depending on your SEO strategy.

Why Does SEO Take So Long?

SEO takes time because of the vast competition you must face. Nearly all businesses exist on the internet, competing for space near the top for certain terms. As a smaller business, attempting to gain traffic from corporations with entire SEO content departments takes time, hard work, and sometimes, luck.

Crawlers typically only index sites every couple of weeks. Because of this schedule, changes you make will never offer immediate improvements unless you manually submit indexing requests.

Most search platforms, like Google, constantly update their algorithms, so you must adjust your content to meet modern needs by reviewing newsletter updates from sites like Search Engine Land. SEO is an ongoing effort, but it can offer enormous rewards for your business.

Can You Ever Expect Instant Results?

Instant SEO results do not exist. SEO takes a minimum of a few months to begin working. After developing a large audience and decent domain authority, you can enjoy more expedient results each time you post more content.

How Fast Can SEO Work?

How long does SEO take to begin working if you do everything right? The soonest you may experience any business value from your SEO strategy is between two and four months. You will not reach your ranking goals this quickly, though you may begin seeing a few results.

During this preliminary stage, you must focus on the critical factors that can harm your ranking as you develop more traffic. For example, if you just published your website a month ago but discover a slow loading speed on certain pages, this can throw off your entire strategy. We’ll discuss how to resolve these issues below.

Which SEO Strategies Take the Longest?

As mentioned before, different SEO tactics offer various short and long-term wins. The most time-consuming activities typically offer the strongest results, though you’ll have to wait some time to see the increased rankings and traffic. Such long-term activities include:

• Link-building: This tactic includes generating inbound links from other websites to demonstrate your authority and generate traffic.
• Content writing: Consistently creating relevant, high-quality, and engaging content is one of the best ways to develop long-term traffic.

A few SEO tactics that take less time and offer quicker results include the following:

• Keyword optimization: This tactic involves researching terms and including the best ones throughout your website’s content and structure.
• Competitive analysis: Researching your competitors can give you insights into different digital marketing strategies you can implement to reach your target audience. For example, you may discover new terms you want to rank for.
• On-page optimization: On-page SEO includes your visible content, page structure, headings, etc.
• Technical SEO: Technical optimization involves your website’s construction, loading speeds, navigation, usability, and site map.
• Off-page optimization: Off-page digital marketing strategies include generating inbound links, posting on social media, or improving brand awareness to ultimately increase website traffic.

How Can You Tell If SEO Is Working?

Clearly, SEO takes time. We’ve mentioned a few times that you’ll notice preliminary and full results after certain periods, though we haven’t discussed what these results should look like.

SEO success is easy to measure and track. The main goal you want to achieve is an increase in business revenue over a set period. You can use key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your progress toward this goal.

The primary KPIs you should track to tell if your SEO efforts work include the following:

• Organic traffic: How many people searched for your target keywords and selected your website from the results?
• Visibility: How visible is your website in search results?
• Impressions: How often do search engines display your content?
• Keyword rankings: Where does your site rank for your desired terms?

You can measure the above KPIs using tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and more. Many SEO tools will show you in-depth data for all your pages with convenient charts and graphs so you can view trends over any period to see how your strategies progress. If you don’t notice growth in the above figures after focusing on SEO for at least six months to a year, you should consider seeking professional help from SEO experts.

How To Speed Up Your SEO Results

Magic SEO cheats may not exist, but certain strategies can set you ahead of the game. If you’ve been developing your efforts for a few months with minimal results, we recommend adopting the following tactics.

Perfect Your Technical SEO

Technical optimization is one of the biggest factors that can harm your rankings; luckily, it’s one of the easiest things you can fix. No one wants to click on a website and wait seconds for it to load or struggle through a confusing maze of links and disorganized navigational structures. You can perfect your technical optimization by checking the following items:

• Page loading speed: Check your page speed using an SEO crawler. If the speed isn’t up to par with Google’s algorithm, you can improve it by optimizing your images and removing any faulty custom javascript. Image optimization involves compressing image sizes so they don’t reduce page loading speeds.
• Duplicates: Occasionally, you may accidentally create duplicate pages during your website construction process. Duplicates can throw off your sitemap construction and cause other issues. Use a site crawler to locate and remove any duplicate content.
• Broken links: You may have a few links that lead to broken pages. Maybe you deleted the content, or the original author removed the page. Be sure to should edit or delete any broken links.
• Mobile versions: Ensure that all your site pages look good and function well on mobile devices. Mobile optimization is a critical ranking factor. We recommend using pre-set mobile templates for optimal experiences.
• Crawler errors: SEO crawler tools can show you all other technical issues impacting your ranking. Resolve as many errors as possible.



Focus on Link-building Efforts

When generating rankings, crawlers consider how authoritative and trustworthy websites are on the given topic. When determining authority, Google considers your current traffic, website age, and backlinks. Links from highly renowned websites prove to Google that others believe your website is legitimate, helpful, and informative.

Link-building is an incredible way to direct more leads to your site and construct authority. You can conduct link-building campaigns in a few different ways:



• Direct outreach: You can directly ask various companies in your industry for backlinks. For example, you may find a blog post about Houston’s top five HVAC companies. You could email the author and ask them to include your service in a revised or future article version.
• Testimonials: Sometimes, brands may ask you to write a testimonial about their product. You can review the item and link back to your website. For example, you could review a new energy-efficient air-conditioning unit while linking to your AC installation service page.
• Directory listings: Many online directories exist, like Google Business Profile, Yelp, Yahoo!, and more. Listing your website in these directories with unique and helpful descriptions can direct more visitors to your site.
• Relationship building: Building relationships with other professionals in your industry is an excellent way to land backlinking opportunities. You can find such people by joining various niche online community forums, social groups, or in-person events.
• Guest posting: Guest posting occurs when you write a blog post or article on someone else’s website. You can use this opportunity to link back to your own. Guest posting works best when you write for websites with larger audiences than yours.
• Blogging: An excellent way to develop organic backlinks is by starting a blog. The more high-quality, informative, and unique articles you publish, the more likely other people will share them across their websites or social media channels.

Create High-quality Content

Content is everything in terms of SEO. The more content you create, the more ranking opportunities you generate.

Creating high-quality content isn’t easy. You must include the correct keywords without keyword stuffing while still catering to your audience’s needs.

When creating any content series, like a blog, we recommend the following:

• Research a wide selection of relevant keywords
• Don’t use the same keywords in all your articles
• Use keywords appropriately so they sound natural
• Research the results pages for your keywords
• Write about similar topics on the results pages but add unique insights
• Consider who your audience is and what questions they need answers to
• Consider the types of content your audience seeks (i.e., long vs. short-form or video)
• Publish new content at least two times per week
• Ensure that your articles are around the same length as the competing ones
• Use visuals, lists, and headings to break up large bodies of text
• Share posts across social media accounts
• Adjust any content that doesn’t perform well
• Link internally throughout your content
• Include enticing calls to action at the end of each article

How Much Time Should You Put Into SEO?

SEO is a long-term investment. You cannot make website changes a single time and expect results. Instead, you must consistently create content, research new terms, and adjust pages to meet modern demands and keep up with the enormous corporations ranking number one for your desired terms.

As an HVAC business, you likely don’t have a dedicated digital marketing department that can focus on SEO full-time, but that’s OK. Most recommend spending approximately four to 15 hours per week on SEO strategy work, which equates to just about one to three hours per day.

You can dedicate an SEO strategist to handle this assignment or consider an SEO agency. At Relentless Digital, we offer comprehensive SEO services from expert marketers who know how to improve your rankings. Working with an agency lets you focus on your business while leaving the complex SEO factors to the experts.

Expedite Results With Professional SEO Support From Relentless Digital

If you searched “How long does SEO take to work?” to find this article, you’ve seen how powerful SEO can be when done well. At Relentless Digital, we specialize in helping HVAC companies rank high in search results so they can generate more traffic, leads, and customers.

We offer ample educational content on improving your digital marketing strategies. For example, learn more about Google Business SEO measurement tips and tricks.

If you want to expedite the results from SEO strategy work with professional help from our Relentless Digital experts, schedule a strategy call today to learn how we can boost your site traffic, rankings, and visibility.