SEO HORROR STORIES: What to Do If You Don’t Have Time for SEO?

SEO is scary for many reasons. One of the most frightening is the lengthy time it takes for an SEO campaign to take shape and produce results.  

If you thought The Walking Dead was a long and never-ending story, it’s got nothing on the standard SEO plan. On the plus side (unlike The Walking Dead), at least an SEO strategy is worth your time and investment. 

Still, just how long does SEO take to work? 

According to research across the board, you generally have to wait between three and six months before seeing results from SEO. We know, we know – that’s not ideal. Plus, this length of time is particularly terrifying when compared to conventional marketing tactics that produce instant results, such as PPC ads and sponsored content.  

If you don’t have time for SEO and there are alternative marketing methods that deliver with speed, why even bother optimising your content for search engines?  

We’ll tell you why you still need SEO, despite the chills it instills. 

Why SEO Is Worth Your Time  

Your time and resources are precious – we know that. We also know you can be hesitant to settle on a marketing strategy like SEO because you’re worried about wasting said time and resources. However, we’re here to tell you that SEO is worth the investment –100%.  

Of course, you need to incorporate the right strategy and wait it out before that all-important organic trafficOrganic search traffic (sometimes called natural or unpaid search) is the traffic that's driven to a website because of unpaid placement on a search engine results page. starts arriving. Yet, numerous major long-term benefits come from a sustained, effective SEO strategy. Don’t believe us? Here’s a quick rundown:  

• Targeted, high-quality traffic that wants to consume what you have to offer 
• Those consumers will give your ROI numbers a significant boost 
• You gain promotion round-the-clock, without needing to start new marketing campaigns 
• It enhances credibility and trust in your brand 
• Your entire marketing funnel – from awareness to retention – is targeted 

• It helps you optimise the user experience on your website 

Yup – SEO is rather good, and you don’t need to be a marketing expert to see that’s the case. 

The Essential SEO Areas to Focus On  

For an SEO campaign to be successful, there are many areas you have to cover. Did you know that Google has over 200 ranking factors? That’s pretty darn frightening, alright.  

With that said, three critical pillars impact how fast your website benefits from SEO. These are:  

• Content  
• Backlinks 
• Competition 

If you’re wondering how long to get SEO results, it’s mostly down to these three variables. You need to evaluate each one and see how they can impact your progression.  

Some campaigns can take as little as one or two months before they start landing some juicy, candy-laced search engine placements for targeted keywords. On the other severed hand, those not so fortunate could be waiting around a year before they begin receiving a return on their investment.  

Let’s take a closer look at the three variables in a little more detail.  

Content  

Quality content is the backbone of an SEO strategy. If your web pages are fluff pieces that are light on content and value, you can wave goodbye to any chances of them showing up in relevant search results.  

Simply put, you need to produce informative, well-researched, high-quality content – the type that will keep readers glued from the first word until the last. While there’s no set word count for an article or blog post, it’s advised you aim for at least 1,000 words in most cases.  

Obviously, there’s more to simply crafting a well-written article. You have to incorporate keywords, internal linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages., produce title tags and meta descriptions, etc., to ensure your pages are optimised for search.  

To speed up SEO results, it’s highly recommended you stick to a consistent schedule when publishing content. A steady flow of content not only encourages Google’s web crawlers to explore your new pages frequently, but it entices your target audience to do the same. What’s more, having a loyal following that enjoys your content directs positive user experience signals towards the search engines, further enhancing your SEO efforts. 

Backlinks  

Backlinks are imperative for SEO – that’s no secret. It seems like every other guide references inbound links in some way – and that’s for a good reason; backlinks work. 

Various factors determine the success of your backlink profile – and how quickly these kick into action to assist your content’s visibility. The most obvious is the volume of backlinks you possess. In theory, the more links you collect, the quicker you will achieve SEO success.  

However, a group of low-quality inbound links won’t do much for your website’s performance. In fact, shady, spammy links can harm your website’s ranking – scary thought, huh? This is why you need to priortise acquiring backlinks from authoritative, relevant websites with a high Domain Authority rating.  

Generally speaking, a small selection of high-quality links will perform much better than a large collection of low-quality links. The reason for this is simple: it’s difficult to earn those high-quality links. So, if Google sees a number of them linking your website, it’ll be impressed, which will lead to your site receiving a healthy ranking boost.  

Competition 

Competition is natural in the business world. If you’re selling a product, no matter how original it may seem, there will always be others competing against you for sales.  

In the SEO sphere, however, demand plays a big part in the competition. When you operate within a small niche, you can expect the competition for profitable search results to be much less than, say, a company selling accounting services.  

The fewer competitors you’re up against, the fewer web pages that take up valuable space on Google for keywords you want to target. The result: it takes less time and effort to reach that coveted first page of Google’s search results. 

In high-demand markets, you’re not just up against a larger volume of companies; you’re also competing against the best marketing professionals. Large organisations won’t settle for second best, and they’ll dip into their deep pockets to bring in the top SEO talent.  

What does this mean for you? You’re in for a tough, arduous boss battle to climb the search mountain. If you’re a little Frodo Baggins leaving the shire to trek through orc-laden lands all the way to Mordor (Google’s front page), you’ll need Gandalf to help you (hint: we’re your Gandalf). 

What Actually Is SEO Success?  

Every business has different objectives and goals. Many companies will be primarily looking to improve sales numbers; others will be aiming to enhance their visibility, while some organisations might be in search of boosting profit margins.  

Either way, these play a role in what can be defined as SEO success. 

Alongside your business goals, you need to utilise KPIs to measure the success of your marketing campaigns. If you fail to track the metrics, you won’t understand the results achieved by your SEO tactics.  

What KPIs should you measure for an SEO campaign? Here’s a quick list:  

• Organic traffic 
• Average session duration 
• Conversions 

• Search/keyword rankings 
• Search visibility 
• Link profile 
• Click-through rate (CTR) 
• Load time 

• Bounce rateBounce rate is the percentage of visitors to a website who visit only one page. A high bounce rate indicates that visitors are not satisfied with your website. 

By measuring all of these KPIs, you gain a much clearer picture of the success of your SEO plan. For example, an increase in organic traffic points towards improved visibility in the search engines – and your efforts targeting relevant keywords are working. However, other metrics like CTR demonstrate if your content is hooking people in, while average session duration highlights its overall quality. 

For most, the penultimate SEO success is to land on the first page of Google’s search results for your main target keywords. Still, success can come in many forms, and an improvement in just one of the above metrics can be chalked up as a win for your business.  

What If You Really Have No Time for SEO? 

You understand the benefits of SEO, and you’re aware of the main areas to target with a strategy. You also have a better idea of what success with an SEO campaign means. 

Despite all of this, you’re facing a true horror story – you have no time to spare for an SEO campaign. This is a realistic situation for a small company that’s stretched thin. You’re focusing on sales, customer service, balancing the books, other marketing strategies, etc., and there’s no room in your schedule to create an SEO strategy – never mind deploy one. 

So, what can you do?  

This is where it makes sense to outsource the work to a digital marketing specialist. With a managed SEO campaign, you can leave it to the professionals. They can handle everything – from backlink acquisitions and keywordKeywords are the words and phrases that potential customers might search for to find your business. rankings to on-page performance and content creation. 

A managed SEO obviously comes with numerous benefits. Firstly, you’re not having SEO eat up your valuable time; you’ll simply read the occasional report, listen to the guidance provided, and make decisions for the future based on what the SEO and digital marketing gurus tell you. 

Secondly, and most importantly, you’re receiving expert help. When working with an experienced and reputable marketing agency, you know you’re getting the best of the best. The professionals know all the strategies, have insider knowledge, are experts in everything that Google’s looking for, and constantly stay up-to-date with the latest algorithm changes.  

If you want the best chance of hitting the (search) heights, you want the best fighter in your corner – so choose yours wisely.