It's not going to be immediate. And if someone promises immediate results, run.
We are talking about, of course, SEO results. They are plenty of "companies" that will promise immediate results. They'll talk about link building (a better term would be link spamming) and how they can rocket you up the results.
Just run. It doesn't work that way. SEO is like a tree, sitting in the wonderful Google Forest. The sooner you plant the tree, the more you water the tree and the more hands you have on deck, the more growth you'll see.
Maile Ohye, a tech developer at Google, had this to say.
"In most cases, SEOs need four months to a year to help your business first implement improvements and then see potential benefit."
If we're talking local, you can trim a little bit of that off. I'd say that 4-8 months is probably more accurate. But the biggest problem we see, over and over again, is that business owners wait for everything to be up and running before deciding to work on SEO. That should be flipped!
If they would've begun their SEO efforts from the start, months earlier, they wouldn't be behind the eight ball when everything is rolling. Your website is brand new and ready to acquire customers, your social media is engaging and ready to drive in leads; what does that matter if your SEO isn't up to par? You're screaming in an empty arena. This leads to a lot of frustrated business owners at a time they should be excited.
If you are planning a revamp, or even starting a new business, there are plenty of ways to get started on your SEO right away.
The first thing to do is make sure your GMB (Google My Business) listings are claimed and optimized correctly. You'll want to build out a contact profile and add a generous amount of photos.
Next, your review campaign. This isn't as relevant for new businesses, there is no one to review you yet. But if you're currently operating and planning a new website reveal or marketing push, this is perfect! Gather reviews, post them (or if you want to be certain it's done correctly, hire an agency to help) and let the Google spirits smile upon you. This will pay massive dividends to you in less than a year.
You can also get started on legit link building as well. It takes time for you to gain authority with these so you'll want to get them as soon as possible.
The earlier, the better. Keep that in mind and you won't fall behind your competitors. You want everything working in unison, it doesn't help your online marketing if one aspect has to pick up the slack for another.
As always, consultations are free. You can contact us here.