Are you curious about how long it takes to see tangible results from your SEO efforts? Understanding the timeline and factors influencing SEO success helps to set realistic expectations and maintain a consistent optimization strategy.
SEO involves using a bunch of techniques to improve your website’s rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs) to get more traffic. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and you will need to continue to optimize your site consistently and monitor your progress.
We’ve carefully measured SEO improvements on many websites over the long term. This has given us a clearer understanding of the expected timeline for SEO improvements.
In this article, we will show you real data for how long website SEO takes to show results.
What Is Website SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is a list of practices you can follow to optimize your website so that it will rank higher on search engine results pages like Google.
Search engines are the largest source of traffic for many websites, blogs, and online stores. This is known as organic traffic because it grows naturally from quality content.
Ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) will increase your organic traffic, and this can help increase sales and conversions on your WordPress website.
Some website owners work hard to improve their SEO for months without seeing any results. That’s why many of our users ask us how long it takes to see real improvements in search traffic.
While there is no one answer for every website, it will likely take months. SEO is not a quick fix, and it may take 3-6 months or longer to see any results. Luckily, with consistent work, you can continue to see improved search traffic for years.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how to improve and measure website SEO and how long it takes to show results. Here are the topics we will cover in this article:
Case Studies: How Long Does SEO Take to Show Results?
First, let’s take a look at some real websites that saw significant SEO results in 3-10 months.
While we can’t guarantee you will see the same results as these websites, they can give you an idea of how long you may need to wait before you see an increase in organic traffic.
1. A Cybersecurity Site: 10 Months
The All About Cookies cybersecurity website saw little search traffic growth in the 20 years it had been online.
However, once they started to optimize their website for SEO, it took just 10 months to see drastically improved search traffic.
Their SEO strategy was to align their content with their customers’ journey, win featured snippets and Google answer boxes, and implement product schema.
More details: Case study – All About Cookies
2. A Public Transit App: 7 Months
The Transit App’s website traffic had been at a standstill for 10 years. In 2023, they started to optimize their site for SEO.
Throughout the next 7 months, they saw serious growth in their web traffic that helped them become an industry leader.
Their SEO strategy included producing more content, using automation in their SEO process, adding FAQ sections to their content to win Google answer boxes, and getting high authority backlinks.
More details: Case study – A Public Transit App
3. An Electronics Manufacturer: 6 Months
The Australian electronics manufacturer REDARC Electronics had two websites on two different domains. Their primary website received little traffic, while their Australian site was highly ranked and received a lot of traffic from the local Australian market.
They wanted to merge these websites to boost the primary site’s visibility without losing traffic and rankings for the Australian site. They were able to do this successfully and grew the primary site’s organic traffic in 6 months.
To do this, they migrated their Australian site to a subfolder of the primary domain and created 301 redirects to take visitors to the new URLs. They also optimized for Google image search.
More details: Case study – Australian Electronics Manufacturer Website
4. A Food Blog: 3 Months
Food blogs are some of the most popular types of blogs, and that can make it difficult for new blogs to rank on Google. The Iowa Girl Eats gluten-free food blog saw steady but not groundbreaking growth over the first 15 years of its life.
In August 2023, the blog started to follow a new SEO strategy, resulting in a huge jump in organic traffic over the next 3 months.
The blog implemented review and recipe schema and focused on creating new user-focused content so that the site appeared in Google answer boxes. They also optimized for Google image search and focused on getting more backlinks.
More details: Case study – A Food Blog
5. A Car Seat Safety Website: 6 Months
The Safe in the Seat website was created in 2018 to help parents keep their children safe while in the car. However, they received very little traffic for years.
In February 2023, they started putting serious work into improving the site’s SEO and saw explosive traffic over the following 6 months.
First, they paid attention to Google’s algorithm updates and started creating content that followed the Helpful Content and E-E-A-T guidelines. Besides that, they also optimized for Google image search and worked hard at increasing backlinks to their site.
More details: Case study – A Car Safety Seat Website
How to Improve Website SEO in WordPress
Now that you have a better idea of how long SEO takes to show results, you might be wondering how to grow your own organic traffic.
The best way to start is to create a high-quality website with relevant and helpful information. In other words, you should make the type of content that Google will want to recommend in its search results.
For more details, you can see our guide on how to write a great blog post.
However, you will also need to optimize your site’s code and formatting to make it easier for Google to find and understand your website content.
There are many SEO tools and plugins you can use to improve your site’s rankings, but you should choose just one plugin to avoid conflicts.
We recommend All in One SEO (AIOSEO) because it’s the most comprehensive SEO toolkit and helps you improve search rankings without learning any technical SEO jargon.
It will give each WordPress post and page a TruSEO score and show you ways you can improve that score. Other features that will grow your search engine visibility include rich snippet schema markup, smart XML sitemaps, SEO health checks, and much more.
AIOSEO will also help you to use a focus keyphrase so that you can target the keywords and phrases that you think users will type in search engines to find your content. It also offers a unique Link Assistant that suggests internal linking opportunities to improve your SEO.
That being said, you will need to know which keywords you want to optimize for with AIOSEO. That’s where a keyword research tool can come in handy.
You can easily find the keywords people search for about a topic using our free Keyword Generator Tool. This free tool will instantly come up with hundreds of keywords you can optimize for to help users find your content.
As you can see, there is a lot involved in optimizing your site for SEO, and that is one reason it takes time to see results.
If you haven’t optimized your site yet, then you can learn how in our ultimate WordPress SEO guide for beginners.
How to Speed Up Website SEO Results
There is no fixed timeline for when you can expect to see SEO results. It is different for every website. However, you may run into roadblocks that can slow your progress.
Let’s take a look at how you can leap over these hurdles to speed up your SEO progress.
Start Early
Don’t wait before starting work on your SEO strategy. This will only delay your progress.
We recommend that you start to implement SEO best practices from the launch of your site and make sure you begin with WordPress site settings that are critical for SEO success.
Solve Technical Issues
You will also need to fix any technical issues on your site, or Google may penalize it by ranking it lower. For example, you should ensure your website loads quickly, has an SEO-friendly URL structure, and is mobile-friendly.
You can visit All in One SEO’s ‘Advanced SEO’ and ‘Performance’ sections for help with finding and fixing many of these technical issues.
We also recommend you work through our technical WordPress SEO framework checklist to rank faster and avoid delays in SEO improvement.
Monitor Google Algorithm Changes
From time to time, Google changes its search algorithm to make sure that the best and most relevant search results are ranked highest.
These changes can have an impact on where your site appears when users search for a certain topic. Algorithm changes could improve your rankings, but if your site doesn’t match Google’s new requirements, then it may become less visible. This can lead to a drop in organic search traffic.
That makes it important to monitor Google algorithm updates and respond quickly to any changes that affect your rankings. This will ensure your website stays competitive and visible to your target audience.
Bypass the Competition
If there are already established, quality websites in your niche, then it may take longer to see SEO results. In particular, it will be difficult to outrank the competition on high-competition keywords.
Instead, you should target low-competition keywords that other websites are not targeting. You will find it much easier to rank with them.
When using keyword research tools, you can look for keywords with the lowest search volume. These are the keywords that fewer websites are targeting, so you will see faster results by adding them to your website content.
You can learn more in our guide on how to do keyword research for your WordPress blog.
Be Patient and Consistent
Remember, while waiting for SEO results, you will need to consistently focus on creating valuable content and engaging with your audience. Stay focused on people, not search engines.
Over time, your efforts will show results, and your website will climb up the search engine rankings, bringing in more visitors and potential customers.
How to Measure Website SEO Results in WordPress
Of course, you will never know if your SEO strategy is working unless you are measuring it.
Luckily, All in One SEO has a Search Statistics addon that lets you track your SEO progress. After you add your WordPress site to Google Search Console, you can visit the All in One SEO » Search Statistics page.
Here, you can view SEO statistics, track keyword rankings, discover your top-performing content, and more.
The ‘SEO Statistics’ tab will show you a timeline of your website’s search impressions and clicks over a certain period of time. This makes it easy to see whether your organic traffic is growing because of your SEO efforts.
The timeline displays Google logo markers whenever Google updates its algorithm. This lets you see at a glance whether your search traffic was affected.
There are also markers whenever you make an SEO change in AIOSEO or a change to your WordPress site so you can see how they affect traffic.
Note: Another good way to track your organic traffic is using Google Analytics. For more information, see our beginner’s guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.
FAQs About Website SEO Results
Do you still have questions about improving WordPress SEO? Here are some answers to questions about SEO that we are asked most often by our readers.
How long does website SEO really take to show results?
There is no fixed timeline for when you can expect to see results for your website SEO efforts. It depends on various external factors as well as your own effort and ongoing commitment.
However, many websites start to see more traffic within 3-6 months after putting effort into their SEO strategies.
Why does it take so long to see SEO results?
SEO takes time because many factors influence your rankings on search engine results pages. You need to address these factors before you see significant increases in organic traffic.
For example, you first need to wait for search engines to crawl and index your content. You also need to spend time setting up your website correctly, creating quality content, discovering and adding the most effective keywords, building backlinks to your site, and much more.
What if I don’t see SEO results after 6 months?
Don’t panic! Take a fresh look at your SEO strategy, check for technical issues, and make sure your content is truly valuable.
Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix. Stay focused and continue to optimize your site, and you’ll eventually see your organic traffic and rankings climb.
Do paid ads like Google Ads show results faster than SEO?
Yes, paid ads can bring immediate traffic, but that traffic stops as soon as you stop paying.
On the other hand, putting effort into optimizing your website for SEO builds long-term organic visibility that keeps driving traffic.
Should I use ‘black hat’ SEO tricks to get fast results?
Absolutely not! Black hat SEO uses unethical tactics that can get your website penalized or even banned by search engines.
Stick to white hat SEO techniques for sustainable, long-term success.
We hope this tutorial helped you learn how long website SEO takes to show results. You may also want to see our guide on how to create an email newsletter the right way or our expert pick of the best analytics solutions for WordPress.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Dennis Muthomi
thanks for this SEO timeline. The case studies were super helpful, showing real examples of SEO progress.
I’ve been working on my site’s SEO for a few months and it’s nice to see that results take 3-6 months or more. I liked the tip about targeting low competition keywords.
I’ll be trying this out to speed up my SEO. Good reminder that patience and consistency is key.
Moinuddin Waheed
I can correlate with this experience.
I think 3-6 months target to get somewhere in seo and ranking is a good approach.
I have seen blogs getting good results within a span of this time period.
But the recipe is to follow the standard seo procedure like blog calander, regular updates, content optimising, using AIOSEO with its full potential like adding schema markup, internal links building and others.
This will surely give you the results within this timeline.
Suman Sourabh
Yeah, SEO takes a lot of time. When I was working in marketing, I was enhancing the SEO of the site, and it took a few months to eventually show the results.
Jiří Vaněk
Thank you for the perfect examples and case studies. I started a blog, and I struggled with SEO for quite a while before I learned how to use it. The first six months were more of a coincidence when someone found my website. I wrote for two to six people a day. Then I started exploring, among other things, here on wpbeginner how SEO works, and I also implemented AIO SEO on the website. Approximately after six months, I managed to increase the traffic from 6 people to 150 people per day. I know it’s still not much, but it gradually improves. And I owe many ideas from articles on this site.
Moinuddin Waheed
Thanks to this blog post and the timeline expectations for new blogs to get appearance in Google searches, I have seen educational updates blog from India ranking and getting huge traffic in just a matter of three months.
I was closely following that website as I was working for one for myself.
This helps in right content calender, regularly posting articles and doing seo in AIOSEO like a seo pro.
These traffic like hindered in the initial days may seem very little bit with consistency, it will explode like anything else and you will start getting huge traffic.
Moinuddin Waheed
I have been in the same situation of quitting blogging for lack of enough traffic on my blog.
After going through different articles on seo and other techniques here on wpbeginner, I have already started writing blog posts consistently with all the relevant suggestions and techniques in mind.
This timeline of seo results is the number one thought that persist in our mind while writing.
Thanks for setting the clear expectations.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad we could share some expectations
Admin
Jiří Vaněk
I actually had a similar experience. I also tried to create relevant articles on my blog, but the traffic was zero. I, too, turned to many techniques here on wpbeginner, and their recommendations for markup schemas helped me the most. Yes, now I spend almost as much time on SEO settings as I do on posting articles on the website, but my traffic has increased by hundreds of percent (which is logical since I started with 6 people per day). But wpbeginner can save the day with great advice.
Moinuddin Waheed
I think SEO should never be taken in isolation. It should be in mind right from when one is started making or planning for a website. This way one can always have a better and comprehensive approach towards seo and ranking.
The problem with most of us is that, we take seo as something separate and think that we would be doing separate effort for seo, which infact never happens.
Jiří Vaněk
Yes, I agree with you, Moinuddin Waheed . With SEO, it’s really good to start right from the beginning. Choosing a domain, preparing Google Search Console, creating articles, and headlines. The first mistake I, for example, made was that I didn’t have an SEO plugin and didn’t focus on keywords. I simply hoped to make it with the quality of the articles. Then I installed AIO SEO, and half of the articles were red, and the website settings were terrible. So, it’s true that it’s good to think about SEO right from the start and adjust the content to keywords immediately.
Said Ramadhani
Thanks for the explanation.
If I just started to build a website for 2 months that has 10 articles, and I commit to posting 1 article a week in the future.
I wanna ask 2 questions:
1. Could I do the link building (like guest posts) simultaneously? Since the domain age is still young.
2. Will it give a negative impact on my website?
WPBeginner Support
You can certainly start guest posting if you have the opportunity to and it should not have a negative affect on your site.
Admin
Said Ramadhani
Thanks for confirming, I once thought it had a certain time to do link-building.
Jiří Vaněk
My experience is that the sooner you start with link building, the better. The point is that thanks to this, the domain will gain a reputation much easier, better and faster. Just be careful when choosing a website, you will want to list the links. So that they are of good quality. That’s super important.
Moinuddin Waheed
For link building, it is always good to start early as it takes time and effort to see the real results.
So the early one starts the earlier one would be able to see the results.
I have seen people writing blogs for years and have not written articles for backlinks which is infact a crucial part of seo.
As for impact on seo, it would rather have positive impact and no negative impact as such.
Ibrahim Augustine
thanks for sharing this SEO really takes time i started seeing a some traffic after 6 months of publishing content on my blog
Keith Prinkey
I would like to dispute this. if you submit your site to Google search console, results are much quicker. unless this was covered and I missed it? I saw results in as little as 2 days.
WPBeginner Support
That is less of an SEO change and more letting Google know your pages are available to crawl, when we say SEO we mean your content strategy and how you write.
Admin
Mrteesurez
SEO is more than just crawling or indexing. Some SEO plug-in has instant index to quickly submit your post to Google.
But the post might be showed but not rank. When you search a keywords related to it’s title, that post will not be listed.
It’s takes time to rank a site as the this writer (WPbeginner) has said.
Jiří Vaněk
Yes, that’s right, and I do the same. When I publish a new article, I immediately go to Google Search Console and notify Google about the new content. It usually gets indexed faster this way. However, the problem is that without quality content and good SEO, it might get indexed, but the question is on which page and position it will appear. You could end up on the 35th position, where no one will find you. That’s why it’s good to have quality SEO, not only for indexing the website but also for the position where Google will index you for a keyword.
Anuoluwapo Olabode Oludare
SEO is one of the aspects of Digital Marketing that still blows me away sometimes. Do you have any tutorials or string of articles on SEO from start to finish that I might learn more abouy SEO from?
Thanks.
WPBeginner Support
We have an article that you should find helpful for starting out below
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wordpress-seo/
Admin