Many business owners and online marketers are curious about how long it takes to rank on Google. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question since ranking time can vary depending on a variety of factors. In this blog post, we’ll outline some of the things that can affect your ranking times and provide some tips to help you improve your ranking potential. So, how long does it take to rank on Google? The answer may surprise you!
How Much Time Will It Take Your Site to Rank at the Top of Google?
This is, by far, the most common question we get asked by clients. And, unfortunately, it’s also the most difficult to answer. The reason being is that there are a lot of variables that come into play when trying to rank a website on Google. Things like:
- The age of your website
- The quality of your website’s content
- The number of backlinks pointing to your website
- Your website’s loading speed
- Your website’s mobile-friendliness And more!
All of these factors (and many others) can affect how long it will take for your website to rank on Google. Additionally, the competition for certain keywords can also play a role in ranking time. If you’re trying to rank for a highly competitive keyword, it’s going to take longer than if you’re targeting a less competitive keyword.
A Comprehensive Analysis of “Time to Rank” for Page One Rankings
Ahrefs conducted a study on the average age of top-ranking pages to get an idea of how long it took those pages to achieve that ranking.
- To get more accurate results, they gathered 2 million random keywords and looked at data for the top 10 ranking search engine pages (SERPs) for each keyword.
- Most rank-one pages are nearly 950 days old—or more than 2.6 years.
- On average, rank-two results take about 850 days to achieve, with a slow but steady decline in ranking down to number 10.
- The average amount of time it took to rank in position 10 on the first page was 650 days.
Factor Diversity for Ranking first in Google
There are a lot of ranking factors that are important for ranking first in Google. Here are numbers of the most important ones:
- Content
- Links
- Mobile Friendliness
- Site Speed
- User Experience
- Schema Markup
- Social Shares
- Domain Age, Authority & Trust
- On-Page SEO
- Title & Meta Tags
- Hreflang Attribute
- AMP Pages
- Robots.txt & XML Sitemaps
- 301 Redirects, 404 Errors & Soft 404 Pages
- htaccess File & WWW Resolution
- SSL Certificate
- Domain History
- Google My Business
- Breadcrumbs
- Site Architecture
- Internal Links
- Image Optimization & Alt Text
Don’t forget to check: Ways To Rank Your Website #1 On Google
Conclusion
There’s no magic number when it comes to ranking on Google. The time it takes to rank will vary depending on several factors, including the quality of your website, the age of your domain, the competitiveness of your industry, and more. However, by understanding how Google works and what factors influence ranking, you can improve your chances of achieving a top spot on the search engine results pages.
Still, have questions about ranking on Google? We can help! Contact our SEO experts today to learn more about how we can help you improve your ranking potential.