Inbound Marketing Agency: What’s a Normal Lead Time for SEO Changes?

Inbound Marketing Agency SEO Tips

Are your site visits and conversion rates stagnant or declining? Maybe your competition is outperforming you in search results or sales. Perhaps you?ve just undertaken a major overhaul of your site and the search engines haven?t quite caught up. Whether you?re the site owner or an inbound marketing agency responsible for client?s SEO rankings, it?s important to understand the lead-time involved for SEO results.

So what is an accurate and realistic SEO timeline and how do we adjust strategy to take this time lag into account? Let?s look at some factors to consider.

Keeping Your Site ?Fit?

SEO is an ongoing process.? It?s not a ?one time fix? solution. If you examine SEO, it works much like your personal fitness routine. If you start skipping those gym visits or quit going to the gym, you?re not going to achieve any measurable results.? Like the gym, SEO begins with an overall examination of where you are with your site, setting realistic goals and starting any program slowly and methodically.

Your first priority when developing an SEO strategy is to examine your current site. You need to understand where you are before you can improve your SEO efforts. Diagnose what the problems are.? For example, you?ve just changed your design and conversions are slipping as you move down in the page rankings. Analyzing where your current shortcomings may be will offer guidance on how you can rebuild strong authority and rankings moving forward.

Be realistic in both your approach and your expectations. Moving too quickly and expecting immediate results might cause you to overreact and do even more damage. Much like exercise, approach SEO slowly and methodically and in time, you?ll begin to notice positive results.

Take a Long-Term Approach

SEO is a complex process, much of which requires technical troubleshooting. Google is constantly tweaking their algorithm and that means you?ll need to make continuous strategic adjustments in order to continue ranking.

There are many variables that go into SEO. Your inbound?marketing agency is not only dealing with current SEO.? They also have to look at design, code, and decisions that were made in the past and present, to consider your site?s future direction. That?s why your strategic development needs to begin with a complete audit of your site.

Once you have a solid understanding and foundation, you need to move forward by developing an action plan. Improving the relevancy of content, adding unique new content, link building, using keywords effectively, and adding important information to influence local search are all long-term approaches that will pay off down the road.

Have Realistic Expectations

SEO is an ongoing process, so it?s important to have a realistic understanding of what to expect.? Don?t trust the inbound?marketing agency that promises a #1 ranking in six-months or less. A well-executed SEO strategy could take longer, even up to a year or more before the benefits manifest fully.? Ask your agency for a timeline of what to expect, both before and after your site audit.

A helpful approach is to work with your inbound?marketing agency to develop a realistic goal oriented timeline. For example, 2-4 weeks for a comprehensive audit, 1-2 months for any technical changes, 2 months to improve and revamp content, 3-4 months for link acquisition, etc. Taking this approach will give you the time to methodically work on your improving site, as well as the long-term perspective to make and see lasting changes in your SEO ranking.