Why does SEO take so long?

SEO has always been a slow process to bring about the desired results. However, now, at the time of writing in 2026, it now takes longer than ever. From the days of Google PageRank to now, it’s now the toughest period to get a business ranked on page one due to the level of competition within each market.

In this article, we shall explain why this is so, plus explain why it’s now more important than ever to have the right agency by your side.

 

Level of competition

As this article will serve to illustrate, how far forward and how quickly you can move up Google’s organic ranks very much depends on the level of competition. Basically, it boils down to how much SEO activity your direct competitors have been completing.

Early movement, in terms of winning search engine optimisation gains, can often occur much more rapidly when you are competing in a business sector with less competition. For example, imagine a small town, less competition, it’s in these environments that an SEO agency can often help in leap-frogging the competition in a shorter period.

However, on the other hand, a service or product that every one is competing for nationally, well that’s a whole different kettle of fish!

And that’s the heart of the matter: in 2026, well, there aren’t many business sectors which could be deemed as “low competition” any more.

Most business sectors are fiercely competitive, this is why you need to carefully select who you hire to work on your account, to make sure you get the best SEO boffins helping your brand and business.

Is SEO worth the cost then if its so hard?

When we receive a phone call from prospective clients, that’s their first question: how long will it take to get to page one of Google?

When you explain that for local search engine optimisation it generally takes around 6 months, a lot of businesses wonder is it worth it?

We encourage you to check your competitors for an unbiased answer to this question. For example, if you operate in a business sector where most or some of your competitors are highly dependent on search engine optimisation for new leads, well, you have to say, can you as a business really afford not to invest?

Because, well, if you don’t, your direct competitors will have a big fat competitive advantage handed to them if you decide to watch from the sidelines.

But break it down, why exactly does it take so long to see SEO results?

The reason for this is rather long-winded; however, it comes down to a whole lot of different reasons, which we shall elaborate on now. For example, how good the client’s web design is, their backlink profile, and the quality of their content marketing. All of these factors can fall into different “Google Ranking Factors”.

Then there’s the actual shoppers: how are they interacting with the businesses website? Does your website mean that the dwell time is high and the bounce rate is low? Have you got someone monitoring these stats in Google Analytics.

Then there’s trust: have you got an established business? One which Google has crawled and indexed for a long period; the algorithm can build trust with your business when you are for example building quality links and publishing high-quality content marketing over a long period.

 

So, much to fix right at the start

Just like when you move into a property that “needs a bit of work”- well, often there’s a lot to do before you even reach the starting line of property upgrades.

Cutting the overgrowth, removing rubbish, and ripping out, say, the outdated kitchen. Well, this is the same for a business’s search engine optimisation; often the real work can’t begin until the website is set up and designed correctly. By that we mean sometimes new pages are needed and all duplicated text removed before the real optimisation work can begin. Then sometimes there’s a ton of work to do removing and “disavowing” spam links if these have been built.

Sometimes there can also be a range of technical SEO issues; this can mean that Google is not reading pages (crawling and indexing).

Therefore, technical issues may need to be addressed, such as a misconfigured robots.txt.

 

Why do brand new websites/brand new domains take longer to optimise?

A new website is a blank canvas, which means Google doesn’t know where to rank it.

As time rolls on, you can start to improve the authority signals. Also, the best SEO boffins in the business understand that Google’s algorithm relies on “behavioural signals” as well. For example, are shoppers interested in reading the business’s content for long periods?

It’s only when a high dwell time has been received for a long period that Google’s algorithm starts to understand the content marketing is high quality. It’s when the behavioural signals, such as low bounce rates, high dwell times that Google will start to rank these pages higher.

Alternatively, are a lot of shoppers leaving the website, bouncing back into Google’s organic SERP’s and selecting another business instead?

If this happens, well, if it happens a lot of the time, it’s a sure-fire way that shoppers think they can get better advice or products elsewhere.

Therefore, the top e-commerce brands in the world, as you might expect spend colossal amounts of time and marketing budgets “split testing”. This is also commonly referred to as A/B testing, which means, basically, gradual improvements, so that shoppers get their questions answered.

Then there’s a concept that is not discussed that often by agencies: that’s “link velocity”- basically, over what timeframe have the links been earned? Have they been slowly accumulated over many years, or have they been built in a mad rush?

Google likes work to be slowly implemented. This means for example, for the backlinks to be slowly earned over a long-time frame.

 

The competition is fierce.

Just as a business on a high street that’s doing really well, earning a roaring trade is not going to put the business premises on the market suddenly. This is the same for a business that’s ranked number 1 on Google, they are not give that top spot up without a really good fight. The fact of the matter is, being ranked number 1 can be a massive competitive advantage to most businesses, this can’t be underestimated.

Therefore, even when you’ve reached first place, say in the Google organic results, businesses often want to do everything to stay there.

The point being made here is, don’t think that sailing to the top of Google is going be a piece of cake. It won’t be, and as the best SEO boffins in the world will tell you, as you climb Google’s organic SERP’s it becomes harder and harder to overtake the businesses that are closer to the top of Google.

 

Keywords

For those that don’t know, keywords are just the profitable terms that your business will want to appear higher on Google for. However, ranking for some keywords is harder than others, because more competitors are also trying to improve their websites for those terms.

Solicitors in the magic circle, for example, will have a much harder time getting to the top of Google than a locksmith in a quaint Welsh village somewhere. Therefore, keyword rankings depend on the level of competition and how savvy those businesses are at SEO. What you will normally find is that the most competitive cities and keywords employ some of the best digital marketing minds in the land, which is why the process is so slow.

 

How far ahead is the competition

Regarding search engine optimisation, think of it as a long line. Now, the businesses that have been chipping away at it for longer, well, they have more time to do all of this work:

• Backlink acquisition (Earn more quality links)
• Content (they have had more time to build topical authority)
• Web design (they have more time to split test and, for example, lower the bounce rate)

Why SEO is a slow drip process

Regarding search engine optimisation, writing one piece of content marketing or building one more link is simply a drop in the ocean in terms of the overall amount of work that is often needed.
Therefore, meaningful gains often cannot be achieved overnight. Instead, you have to monitor results over the longer term, for example after many months have passed.

 

Organic SEO shouldn’t be rushed

We believe the clue to a successful SEO campaign is in its name: “organic” which means letting something grow and evolve naturally (of course work is still needed, but don’t force it).

Regarding implementation, if work is rushed or forced in a short timeframe, it doesn’t work. Just as we mentioned earlier regarding “link velocity” why link building should be carried out over a long timeframe- the same rule should apply to all SEO work. Its better to slowly implement quality work than to rush the process.

The work should be implemented slowly, and over a long period. If you are looking for rushed and quick results, then organic search engine optimisation isn’t for you. You should therefore consider paying for Google AdWords instead.

 

What are the main variables which influence how quickly results can be obtained?

There are a huge number of variables which dictate how long it takes to see results.
Let’s dive in and have a look at some of the main factors which determine how long it takes to see results from your SEO investment.

 

Your keyword difficulty

This has to be top of the list, as getting some keywords to the top of the list will be much harder than others. I know we sound like a broken record at this point, yet it’s something that a lot of businesses don’t understand. They believe, regardless of what they pay, an SEO business should be able to get them to the top, however it doesn’t work like that.

 

Relevance and quality of your content

Content marketing that goes off topic, is duplicated or is “content thin” will have the opposite effect of moving you up. Low quality content marketing will move your business down the SERP’s.

However, really well-written content marketing, written with Google EEAT in mind, can have a positive and uplifting effect on your rankings.

 

Domain name age and authority

A website that’s been live for 10 years will be much easier to optimise than a domain name that’s just been purchased.

The reason is that even a basic website that’s been live for a long period gives Google more trust in the business.

It shows you have been in business for longer, perhaps based at the same address for a long period.

 

Technical issues

Technical issues, such as broken links, need to be fixed to improve technical SEO.

 

Site performance

The website’s performance will have a large influence on where the website ranks organically.

For example, if your e-commerce shop is extremely quick, this will give the organic rankings an uplift. On the other hand, if the websites slow, slows down even more during peak times, then this means your offering shoppers a negative user experience.

A negative U.X, because the websites super slow, so slow shoppers give up and buy from elsewhere will be observed by Google. Most SEO experts believe its AI or Google Rank Brain that spots this. Therefore, make your company website as fast as possible.

 

Website structure

Good website structure is important, make sure you have enough pages. Make the structure and navigation logical.

 

User experience
Just as businesses on the high-street go to great lengths to improve the shopping experience, so should online shops. Therefore, work on improving the U.X, that’s site speed, mobile design an offering quality advice.

 

Competitor strength

Gauge your competitor’s strength before you enter a David and Goliath situation. Ambition is all well and good, but blind ambition is just squandering time and marketing budgets.

Therefore, have a look at your competitors backlink profiles, content marketing- can you compete or has the bar been set too high?

 

Social activity

How active are your competitors on social media? How much work will you need to implement.

 

Your geographic location

As would expect some cities will simply have higher levels of competition. In every city up and down the land you will have plumbers investing in SEO. However, how many plumbers is the question?

In a large city the number of businesses investing could be 10x compared to neighbouring smaller city.

The point being made is, be realistic with your marketing spend. Don’t under invest, as often this won’t cut the mustard.

 

Search intent and audience behaviour

Again, this comes down to dwell times and bounce rates. You want retain shoppers for longer, get them visiting as many product or service pages as possible. Then bounce rates, you don’t want shoppers leaving after a very short period, you want them visiting different product pages, then using the check out to buy items. Therefore, use tools such as Google Analytics to monitor audience or shoppers’ behaviour.

 

Industry trends and algorithm updates

Don’t panic straightaway if your rankings take a tumble during a known Google algorithm update. In matter of fact, rankings violently moving around during a Google update, that’s pretty normal, it referred to as “ranking flux”.

However, if those organic rankings, then remain low, well there could be a problem. This is when an expert is needed, that’s firstly to understand what was the Google algorithm update targeting? And, then how does this relate to the company’s website, and the alterations that are now needed in order to regain visibility and higher organic rankings?

Don’t ignore the behavioural signals

• CTR
• Dwell times
• Returning visitors
• How many pages get visited?
• Is the content marketing, such as main pages and blog posts holding shoppers’ interest?

 

Why it’s super important to get the technical SEO sorted

Poor website architecture, content thin pages, a really slow website all fall under the category of technical search engine optimisation. For the lay person, basically unless you get this fixed right at the start, it’s like driving with the handbrake on.

Therefore, it’s super important to fix these issues. Actually, when you speak to an expert on the subject, such as our team, they will tell you that when such issues do get fixed, they can result in higher visibility in a short period of time. The reason being, your content marketing might be good, or you might have a really strong backlink profile. However, what’s holding it back could be something as simple as a robot.txt written incorrectly.

 

Here are some of the technical SEO issues that you may want to improve:

• Site Speed (Make your company website as fast as possible)
• Mobile responsiveness (Make your company website works seamlessly on I-phones and Android phones)
• Poor internal linking (Use internal links to spread link equity)
• Crawl budget being wasted (don’t have Googlebot crawling say the WordPress login page)
• Duplicate content

Use the backlinks that you have

Another reason why the search engine optimisation process can be slow is because the business has not got enough strong links. Another reason could be that the agency has sent the high DA backlinks to send the link equity to the right pages.

Now what this means is, in the backlink profile, it’s possible to have some really strong backlinks. Say for example, a backlink from an editorial story written in The Guardian Newspaper. Now, if you don’t use the internal links correctly, to the linked page, then the link equity wont spread to the connected pages.

For example, the link with high DA score, from the Guardian Newspaper, could be sent to an article your business has written. However, a top marketing guru, will then use some internal links to make sure that the link equity is then transmitted to the correct pages on your website.

For example, to the money pages, or the pages which basically sell products.

 

Content depth and topical authority (Google EEAT)

Now what topical authority and content depth basically mean is, what is your business an absolute authority on? Doesn’t matter if its Swiss watches or garden sheds, when you write super helpful content marketing, you build up topical authority.

Now, you might be scratching your head thinking, how do you build content depth and topical authority?

 

Well, by doing the following:

• Writing helpful content marketing
• Writing work which helps shoppers, not just written for search engine optimisation benefit
• Work that is evergreen or kept updated so that its relevant to the shopper
• Regularly published so that Googlebot can see that you’re an expert on that subject and regularly writing about it.
• Showing that you are a thought leader

Or even better, that you have a team of experts, who are an authority in their respective areas

 

Does U.X or User Experience have an impact on rankings?

The short answer to that question is a resounding yes. You could be an expert in your field, however, if you write in a super boring way or the website is boring, shoppers will leave.

You need to balance offering high quality advice, with also making website super simple to use.

To do this, and to improve the U.X you should:

• Improve page load speeds
• Improve mobile usability
• Improve how simple it is to use the main navigation
• Make the text simple to read
• Make the website less cluttered.

 

Be careful who you partner with

This is a really important point, that is, no two agencies are the same. None of the staff members will be the same between the different agencies, therefore the results generated won’t be the same.

To give you the maximum uplift, you need to partner with the best.

 

Therefore, assess the following:

• Level of experience of the consultant or agency
• Have they worked in that business sector beforef
• Are they good at link building
• Are they good at PR work?
• Are they good at content marketing
• You can therefore roughly check if they are good at this, by determining where there own agency ranks on Google.

 

It used to be much, much easier than this

If you were to teleport yourself back to the days when Google or now Alphabet was using PageRank, well it was much easier to get a business to the top of Google. So many companies actually “gamed” the system, by using spammy links, content thin pages and even cloaking!

But thankfully those “loop-holes” have been closed. Now the overall standard of SEO has improved, its much better quality. Businesses now compete on offering the best answer and offering the best advice. This is then rewarded by obtaining high DA links, and therefore this rewards good quality work.

However, as Google rolled out more core algorithm updates, such as the RankBrain, Hummingbird, Panda, BERT and Penguin, then the results became much more accurate. The low quality spammy work was weeded out of Google’s index. Therefore, the standard of SEO greatly improved, however, this now means there’s no shortcuts- the work has to be much better quality.

 

Google EEAT (read up on this)

Now that the standard of SEO is much higher, thanks to penalising and de-indexing businesses which flouted the SEO rules, this now means we compete on quality work.

Therefore, the businesses which rank the highest are the ones which show that they have the most expertise and experience in that field.

So, again whether its car tyres through to luxury aftershaves, if you show you know your stuff then make sure that the content marketing reflects your knowledge and expertise. The best SEO companies in the world refer to this as improving the Google EEAT score of the page.

Now, this basically means, showing why you are the expert on that product or service.

 

Compound the strength month on month

It may seem that SEO is a very slow process, and in most cases, and in our experience it is.

However, if your compounding strength month on month, by improving visitor numbers and customers that buy something (convert) then you are heading in the right direction.

Therefore, monitor the following, and make them stronger month on month:

– Organic traffic
– Reducing bounce rates
– Improving dwell times
– Improving conversions / sales
– Adding new content marketing
– Widening the number of keywords, you rank for
– Improving brand mentions (semantic web)

 

SEO takes time, make sure you invest in the best…

This article was written by Ryan Walsh. I have been mentioned on Search Engine Land, helped many businesses to get to the number one spot, helped businesses generate millions in revenue.

I am one of the best SEO consultants in my home city and work with a diverse range of businesses. From being the lead SEO consultant for global e-commerce businesses, to working in the most competitive of local niches. I am one of the best, if you want hire the best head on over

to the contact Walsh & Partners and we will run an SEO audit for free.