New Websites Take Time to Rank

It really does not matter what your niche is or the keywords you are trying to rank for, SEO for any new website is going to take time.

In fact, in some cases and industry niches for up to a year. This is the reality of the SEO space and if you feel that your website is better looking or flashier than your competitors, therefore it should rank faster, this simply won’t happen.

Trying to speed up the ranking process is a really bad idea and will only end up with a Google penalty.

There is the temptation to try and do anything you can to boost your rankings and there are businesses out there who will have will not believe this and try to do their own SEO. But, at the end of the day, the only way you are ever going to solidify and cement your online position is to do your SEO slowly and ethically.

The frustration is huge. You can see that your new website is sitting on page ten or in some cases has not even been indexed by Google and you think that by buying a few links you are going to somehow improve the situation. This is never going to happen. You may see a slight bump in your position, but nothing like you hope it would be.

How long does it take to rank on Google for new websites?

It can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months to start to see rankings on Google and these might just be long tails keywords that are easy to rank. As stated above this is only for new websites. For aged websites, the case s different and rankings will start to climb almost immediately if you implement ‘on page’ amends. There are a lot of sites that have never looked at their actual site and it may take only a few tweaks of the content of the home page to see positive improvements.

For brand new websites the wait is far longer. Trust and authority need to be established and this can only be done by constantly adding content over time as well as building links. Then and only then will your site start to rank. It is a waiting game and you are at the mercy of Google’s ranking algorithms. Google will only rank websites that they deem as trustworthy and for your new website to prove this there must be lots of rich and informative content on the website that users will want to read. Plus there must be backlinks from other authoritative websites that link to your site as a sign of trust. Then and only then will your site begin to rank. Search Engine Journal backs this up in their article Why Content Is Important for SEO by telling us that; it takes effort to get organic search visibility, rankings, and traffic. You can attain this by consistently creating optimized content.

Let me also add that if you are in a really competitive industry where the first page of Google is dominated by Government, education and established businesses, the wait could be many years.

This is a curse for so many businesses who have gone to the effort of designing a website but no one is seeing it or visiting the site. I see this all the time in areas of medical and legal areas where the competition is super-fierce.

To get a better idea of how websites get to the front page of Google we first need to take a closer look at how Google indexes website pages.

How Does Google Find my Website?

Google has ‘Google bots’ or what are commonly known as spiders that are constantly indexing new content throughout the web. There are billions if not more pages being added the whole time and it’s the job of these wipers to collate this information and add it to Google’s index. If your site is able to be read easily by these spiders, chances are it will get indexed very quickly. In some cases maybe a couple of weeks.

To learn more about Google and how the search engines work take a look at the video by Matt Cutts who heads up Google’s spam team.

When it comes to finding your website there are about 200 factors that Google takes into account which means your site has got to be compliant. It’s not all about backlinking as some SEO companies might try to tell you. There are many small changes you can do to your site to help improve its overall quality which will make it easier for the search engines to index

How to Improve your website’s overall quality

There is no silver bullet that will instantly push you to page one. But the following are some really quick wins you can implement on your site to help the whole indexing process.

– Website Speed. Look at your website’s loading times. Speed is an important ranking factor. Get rid of large graphics, pop-ups, or videos that will slow your load times. Pingdom is a great tool for checking website speed.

–  Page titles. Correct web page titles and descriptions will help Google index the page based on the topic.

–  Quality content. Having quality content throughout your website is a major ranking factor. Writing creative copy is what attracts those Google bots to your site and if you consistently add fresh, new, informative content they will be visiting your site regularly. Over time this will add trust and therefore higher rankings.

–  Website structure. Your site has to be easy to navigate and a clean web interface that helps visitors get around your site easily is vital. Complicated menus will not only confuse your customers but will also make it harder for Google to index your site.

–  SEO. Try to find an SEO agency you can work with who will be able to implement all this for you.

–  Include alt tags and title tags. These are placed on all images of your website to help Google learn more about your web pages as the bots cannot index images. Have a read this article for a better understanding of this important ranking factor.

Local SEO rankings – quick wins

If you have just started a small business and have a new website then your probably going to want to attract local customers. Competing on a larger geographic scale is no use to you and this is where local SEO becomes the focus. Ranking newer websites for local SEO businesses will take time and in many cases up to 6 months, but there are ways in which you can help Google find your site.

– Google My Business. Register with Google My Business immediately. If you have a legitimate address and local phone number this should be the first thing on your list. Click here.

– Local Content. Content that is focused on your local area is great if you are in a competitive niche with little or no chance of ranking for super competitive keywords. You might like to look at targeting suburban areas like Home Loans Bondi or Plumbers Kellyville. Targeting local areas is a far better way to implement SEO as the gains are a lot faster than saying to try and target the keyword Sydney. You will never rank (unless you have a massive marketing budget) for keywords like Home Loans Sydney so go for local suburban areas for quicker rankings. Plus, people want to shop locally so you will have a local consumer base ready to buy from you. According to the Commonwealth Bank, new research from CommBank Rewards found that 85 per cent of Australians intend to buy from local brands and businesses to help them on the road to recovery.

– Maps. In the contact section of your website adds a Google maps clearly showing that you’re a local business.

In summation:

When it comes to your Google rankings you really have to think long term; 6 months to a year to start seeing a return on your website investment as well as decent traffic to your site. Some less competitive keywords will rank quicker than others and this is where you will start to see a trickle of traffic flow through. But, patience is the key here. Unfortunately, for most businesses that need to see a cash flow from day 1, this is not ideal. There are however other marketing platforms (social media, Adwords) you can try to generate traffic and these should be explored in conjunction with the Google waiting game.