How long does seo really take to generate leads

As a business owner we all know that SEO generates long term growth and market share enabling us to rely less and less on paid advertising and that organic leads lead to higher online reviews and a better reputation, right?

But what's lost in the discussion of "how long does SEO really take" is that there are different types of SEO and to win the battle you need to do all of them at the same time to expedite results. So let's go through each type of SEO. and how long each takes by itself, compared to when all are done at the same time together.

Website SEO results timeline and definition

Website SEO results seen in 30 days

First we must realize that there are two types of results. Ranking growth going from 100/100, to the top 10, to the top 3 rankings of page 1. Traffic (link clicks to your site page) is the real goal. No one cares about how high you are ranked if their are no clicks.

Most SEO agencies tell you SEO takes 3-12 months to begin showing results because they want to sign you up for a monthly retainer of 3-12 months. Not true. In the first 30 days your targeted keywords if SEO is performed properly should grow in ranks. During your monthly review of SEO website keyword rankings you should the green or blue arrow showing each keyword grew in its rankings.

However, the keyword difficulty and intent are the two biggest factors on fast you'll get to page one. While page one is the first goal, the number one ranking gets almost 40% of all clicks, number two ranking gets 18%, and number three gets 10%, for a top three total of almost 70% of all clicks (backlinko stats). So page one really doesn't do anything unless you the top 3. You want to dominate, you need a top 3 listing.

How long does it take to rank "low competition keywords" to the top 3?

Low competition keywords with a difficulty of 0-15 should rank to page 1 in 30-90 days, no exceptions. To get the top 3 of Google you and your team will need to get there and then continue to optimize the content every 90-120 days to remain there. That requires blogs on related keywords linking to the page. Create an online biosphere always directing the next link to your home base; the main page for conversion.

EXAMPLE: If you're wanting to get more gutter clients, writing blogs a blog on downspouts, then gutter types, then gutter colors, each pointing back to the gutter installation page. Why? The blogs are smaller, and can build your authority on the site and in the mind of the visitor. Plus, internal linking to your additional pages creates a better overall website SEO structure score.

How to use Time on Page as an indicator

There's two ways to see how much people like your page in an effort to further optimize it. Are they staying on you page for 1-3 minutes? If not, improve and elongate your content, add more pictures, and make it more entertaining. The second KPI is if they are filling out a form on that page or bouncing out of your site.

Match Intent of the Keyword

Keywords and phrases have an "intent." Informational intent should be blogs. Commercial means they are ready to give their information and possibly buy. Transactional means they wish to buy something online (only good for eCommerce). Navigational is useless most of the time. If you don't match the intent your page never hits the top 3 of Google Maps.

Ranking your Website Faster with Branded Traffic

There are two types of SEO website traffic; branded and topic. Branded keywords are your company's name and direct link clicks or QR codes scanned that lead to one of your website pages. This is one of the best ways to gain your website authority to 20 or higher and fast. Website authority helps Google ascertain if your website is credible for the topics you discuss. So what should you do?

• Create a QR code flyer with your website URL. Hand it out to everyone and get people to visit your site.
• Send emails to friends and family members with a clickable link to your website asking them to visit and tell you if they like your new website. It's not to get leads, its to grow your authority and branded traffic. Each new online visitor helps, repeat visitors help a lot.
• Go onto Facebook and LinkedIn and do the same email but in a post. "Hey everyone, can you please visit my site and then message me if you like our new design." Again, do not ask for the business, you are building the foundation for your brand that Google will later reward you with.

How long does it take to get actual website leads?

Now we're talking about website conversion. If you paid someone to optimize your website, great! If not, good luck. You are a plumber, roofer, local auto repair, you're not an SEO genius. Shell out the clams and get it done. It does no good to drive massive traffic to your site and it's so poor in structure, content, and layout that no one ever clicks or calls.

With that out of the way you most websites have 3-5% conversion rates, with E-Commerce at 2-4%. However, we build sites that within six months have 8-17% conversion rates based on the number of original pictures they give us. So let's do the math shall we:

Any marketing or SEO agency that can't get you to 300 visits per month is a joke, but the more important things is not traffic it's leads; aka website conversions. Then look at what your closing rate % is. If you close 3 of 10 leads that 30% and so on. Then input your average sale price. Now multiply leads x closing rate % x average sale to get your revenues and you can quickly see that conversion rate is more important than actual traffic.

how long does it take to get top 3 on google maps?

Google Map Rankings is the #1 lead source for businesses with a physical address but it takes a lot of work. Google Maps like website SEO rankings is all about the top 3 listings on that local search for each individual keyword term.

The top 3 of Google Map Pack gets 68% of all clicks and calls from local searches!

General rule of thumb is that the least competitive keywords (0-10) are top 3 in 30-90 days if you can follow the steps below with your agency. Harder keywords will take 6-12 months.

Google Business Profile

We have a full blog on this topic and while it discusses HVAC its relative the same for any business with a physical address, but here's a summary of it; get a boatload of reviews and often. optimize your profile with the right services and categories. Post every 5 days, manage your reviews, have people ask questions on the profile, and about 30 other things but that's a good start.

Link to our Local SEO Google Maps Blog

Online Listings

Google wants links to other sites that will drive visitors to google profiles. So by creating and managing 50-70 local listings on sites like Angi's list, top mechanics in _______ (your city name), etc. You can improve your rankings on Google Maps faster. Just remember that these listings have to have the same information as your Google Account or your rankings drop off the face of the planet.

Big Keywords take months, why?

Page 2 or higher in Google Maps doesn't exist and will never give you leads. To go from page 2 or higher in Google Maps to page 1 will take 3 months for highly competitive keywords with constant reviews, a high review rating, and the other 298 things an agency should do for you. Why? Because the competition has been doing what you're trying to do for years. You don't jump into a title fight until you've beat contenders and the audience loves you.

Social media seo is often forgotten

Social Media is its own SEO search engine

68% of Americans use Facebook, 77% of Americans have a LinkedIn profile, 42% of Americans have a twitter account. Optimizing all these profiles can take maybe an hour, but ranking them is based on your post frequency, clicks, share, and overall followers. Building social media SEO takes the longest time; usually 6-12 months to where your posts and links to your blogs are creating possible valued leads and referrals.

Jeezo, how do I grow social media faster?

• Create "useful, informative, and entertaining content"
• No copy/paste of ideas. Take topics that people want to hear about and add something original to it.
• Splice in information with humor
• Get friends and family members to like, follow and share your posts. The algorithm will see this, but just know if they don't click on your content and actually read it, their engagement is classified as supportive and not commercial.

Social Media SEO is largely most effective for blogging for local companies to increase website authority and future SEO rankings, and for E-Commerce stores for clicks to product pages and instant sales (only after brand trust has been established with "the clicker.")

how much does each type of seo cost?

Google Maps SEO

Google Maps SEO ranking also includes reputation management, and the costs vary like website SEO, but most will cost you $1,000 to $5,000 per month as well.

SEO Packages

90% of businesses should consider both at the same time for a reduced package price of $1,500 to $3,000 per month. At TIP, we charge a flat rate of $1,800 per month for complete marketing since we don't have to work with other teams, it's all internally.

Website SEO

Optimizing your current website will cost $1,000 to $3,000 dependent upon the size of your site, what state your business is in, and the agency you choose. Monthly website SEO will cost $500 to $5,000 dependent all those same factors plus the level of competition you face.

SEO should be performed on all levels, all types, and it's going to cost you $1,500 to $3,000 per month. It will provide you with ranking growth and traffic growth in 1-3 months. You should see new revenues in 3-6 months, maybe faster. SEO is not a 1-time thing, one and done. It's a constant improvement on your company's online visibility and as a business owner, a talented local business with technical skills outside of marketing, if you want to dominate the search engines and your market, you will need to eventually hire someone or some agency to do it for you.

takeaways on how long seo really takes

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