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How long will it take to rank on Google?

One week, one month, one year? The question of how long it takes to rank in Google is one that I am often asked.  Sadly, it is a very difficult question to answer as there are just so many variables that impact ones’ ability to rank in Google such as the age of your domain, your competition, your niche or business area and so many more factors.

I am able to help you get seen and rise up the rankings but it will take time – this is not a short-term strategy.  The exact answer to ‘how long to rank in the top 10 of Google?’ has to be ‘it depends’ but I appreciate that this answer is not very helpful.

Thanks to a very helpful study carried out by Ahrefs, who studied petabytes of historical ranking data, I think that I can do a bit better than to simply say ‘it depends’. The below information will hopefully shed a bit more light on this subject area.

How old are the top ranking pages in Google?

Ahrefs took 2 million random keywords and pulled the data on the Top 10 ranking pages. They found that the average Top 10 ranking page is 2+ years old.  And those that rank at #1 are almost 3 years old on average. Only 22% of pages that currently rank in the Top 10 were created within 1 year.

It is pretty clear to see that the top 10 ranking pages in Google are dominated by ‘old’ pages.

How long does it take for a page to rank in Google?

They looked a random selection of 2 million pages. They tracked the position history of each page for any keyword it was ranked for.  The results showed that only 5.7% of websites ranked in the Top 10 within one year for at least one keyword. The majority of this 5.7 % managed to achieve theTop 10 in 61 to 182 days.

Only 5.7% of all newly published pages will get to Google Top 10 within a year

What does this all mean?

Did the study give a definite answer to “how long does it take to rank” question?

No.

But at least it shows that almost 95% of newly published pages don’t get to the Top 10 within a year.

And most of the “lucky” ones, which do manage to get there, do it in about 2–6 months.

Actually, I shouldn’t be framing these pages as “lucky,” because the reason they got to the Top 10 in less than a year is most likely hard work and great knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), not luck.

How can I help?

I can’t promise that I will get you to the Top 10 but I can definitely get you rising up the ranks and with my advice on Google Business listing, I can get you seen locally.  My help with social media integration and Meta Tagging will also have a huge impact on your Search Engine Rank Position (SERP).