Imagine the internet as a huge supermarket with virtually hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of products and services to offer for just one keyword alone. Newly designed websites, in their early stages of establishment, do not always rank as well as others who have been around for, let’s say seven years or more years.
The strength of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can then aid these beginner websites in getting a higher position in search engine results. However, it takes time for SEO to show positive results; it is important to understand that affect the SEO ranking timeframe.
Keywords
Image by Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
These are the words used to initiate a search. Of course, more websites will try to rank for a keyword closely related to their content. The level of competition for a certain keyword affects the length of time for the optimization to take effect. If there are already a lot of websites ranking for a particular keyword, it is likely that new websites will rank low against old and more established ones.
Number of inbound links
Also known as backlinks, these can play a great role in increasing a website’s link popularity, thus securing a decently high rank for a certain keyword. Take this scenario as an example:
You have a new website, and you want it to rank high in search engine results. Start by looking for sites that have existed for five years or more, or sites that rank within the Top 100. Once you have several such websites, you can write guest blog posts with the permission of the website owner or administrator. That blog post should include a link or URL to your new website.
So, when a visitor enters those sites, sees the post that you have made and clicks on the link, you earn one page view. Now imagine that 1 view multiplied by hundreds, even thousands of visitors! Your website popularity and subsequent page ranking increase in the process.
Content
Image by Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In order for a website to rank high in the search results, the content must be fresh and updated regularly. Remember that search engines are still programs; they detect quantity rather than quality. You may have some great content on your site, but if the website itself is not updated, then your site will suffer.
Online presence
Strategies such as blog updates, e-newsletters, article syndication, and online press releases are just some of the strategies that build up a website’s presence on the internet. A strong Social Media presence – with engaging posts and tweets (known as Social Signals) can also help boost a website’s position. Fresh content, and an active profile help the Search engines detect a website that has something valuable to offer it’s audience.
Age of the website
Believe it or not, the age of the website is also a factor for ranking. A site that has been around for more than a year and has a lot of content can be considered as having an established presence. It is then easy for search engines to rank that particular site in its results.
On the average, it can take three to six months for SEO strategies to obtain a desirable result. So, give SEO the time to work its wonders, and see the good results for yourself.
