How Long Does Local SEO Take and Why So Much BS?
Why is it that there is so much BS surrounding what is really a very simple question – how long will my local SEO take?
This post was inspired by two amazing posts by Phil Rozek of LocalVisibilitySystem.com titled: How Long Local SEO Takes: the Short Version and How Long Does Local-Search Visibility Take, please check them out (I also include Phil’s infographic summarising some answers at the bottom of my post).
The reason I am writing this post is it was some very poor answers to this very question that inspired me to enter into the world of SEO.
So much BS in answering one very simple question!
Before I officially entered the world of SEO I was running a local bicycle retailer, and we interviewed a number of local companies with a view to them undertaking our web marketing.
“So how long will it take,” I asked each company?
The companies I interviewed just did not have a consistent answer to this question, and timescales were quoted from one week to six months!!
So all I can say is there is a lot of BS surrounding this question which I have experienced first hand, and I believe that it is these wrong answers to this question which is one of the primary reasons for the many negative experiences many local businesses have has with SEO.
It’s important to know precisely what local SEO to understand why it is so important for some business, click here to see why.
Why is this question so important?
Customers just want to know, realistically what to expect – how much they are going to need to invest and the timescales for a likely return.
SEO consultants need to understand the answer to this question so they can handhold their customers along the journey without the disruption of unhappy customers along the way.
SEO agencies – Important questions to ask before choosing one Protect yourself from a negative experience by following these tips – https://searchengineland.com/seo-agencies-important-questions-to-ask-before-choosing-one-306824
So why is there so much BS?
I think there are two main drivers: (1) easier to make the sale with short timescales and (2) SEO consultants do not actually know how to answer the question.
(1) More Sales
Let’s face it, if you tell a client it’s going to take 3 weeks to feature well in Google compared to 3, 6 or 12 months, you are telling the customer what they want to hear and therefore you are likely to get more sales. Though it does not take a genius to work out what happens after month when results are not shooting up the rankings, soon everyone is unhappy. The daft thing is, that in many cases all that needs to happen is for a bit more time to pass, and the improvements will start to show.
