SEO is a process. I say process since it can’t all be done just by adding a few things here and there. For one there’s research, data analysis, code and content work, external or off-site work and all this work needs to be planned out based on the research. Another important thing to note is that search engines look to see that the work is all done at a natural pace. If too much is done too soon it can be seen as an attempt to cheat search engines in order to gain position online. My hope here is to make you aware of the process and how long SEO will take during each phase.
Search engine optimization steps are broken down into three main groups of work: Planning, on-site and off-site.
Planning Phase
Planning includes initial consultation where the SEO consultant works with you and your website. The consultant will want to know your needs and desired outcome as well as learn as much about your specific business as it relates to helping to market your site. Next, is to learn what are the best keywords to use during the campaign. Also s/he’ll take a look at your competition to determine how difficult certain keywords will be moving forward. If your site is an existing site statistics can be gathered to show where there are needs for improvement. All of this information will be used to plan out a specific strategy to produce the best outcome matching your requested outcome. This process can take anywhere from 3-10 days depending on the complexity of your site, industry or request.
On-site Optimization Phase
Before sending search engines and people to your site you’ll want it ready for them both (this is SEO friendly web design). Users need to be able to access all the information they seek in a easy to navigate and easy to understand manner and search engines are no different. Smarter search engines such as Google also have code looking to determine which sites best serve humans so making sure your site takes both humans and search engines in mind is very important. This phase initially can take the entire first month. To be done correctly it is also integrated into every month making adjustments as needs based on new page or content development or based on continued research from traffic analysis.
Content Optimization
Simply put, this is the process of reviewing, editing or adding content to your website’s pages using keywords from your research phase to best attract search engines. Search engines look at your website as a whole and as single pages. They look for keyword density, the percentage showing the most used words on a given page so they know what works are important. If they are important they know what the page must be about. Too low and you’ll miss being referenced for those words, too high and your site is seen as keyword spamming to cheat search engines.
Coding Optimization
There are also ways to use your keywords on pages that make them stand out more other than just repetition. Placement on pages can help but also placement in links, navigation and code that is not visible to the user but used to tell search engines other information such as page title, page description (which shows up also in search engine results) and other meta tags used behind the scenes. When I say hidden I don’t mean in a cheating since. There were tricks used to hide text years ago that will not work and will get your site banned. The techniques I speak of are requested basic tips directly from search engines to best help them service their search users to determine your websites best matching ability.
Conversion Optimization
Conversion Optimization takes steps to best get action from web visitors. It takes them from passive readers to active clickers and buyers taking action to fill out forms, or viewing pages with specific information. Your site does no good if it can not convert the traffic from browsers to buyers. This can include creating landing pages specific to a product or service or adding buttons in the right place to get their attention and direct them to a particular page.
Off-site Optimization Phase
Now it is time to start directing more viewers and search engines to your website. It can include link campaigns to get links from websites, directories and press releases to point to your site and specific pages using specific words. Search engines will see these links as votes associating that keyword with the page it links to online. It can also include social media optimization where it targets users more so than search engines to gain quicker exposure in a buzzing manner. This phase can make use of pay-per-click advertising too which helps you manage ads placed on search engines or other websites making sure you are keeping your cost to buy ratio in your favor.
This phase is on going. For simple and little competition websites it may only take a few months where difficult and very competitive industries could take much longer. The amount of time will roughly be determined in the planning phase. Give 3-4 months for easy and 6-12 for medium.
