It can take as little as two hours for a single blog post to rank; two weeks for a competitive landing page to rank; six months for a series of pages to rank, or more than a year for a new site to see SEO traction. The generic answer of “4-6 months” is exactly that, generic. Even for the small range of organizations I examined here (small and medium businesses), you can see the wide range of potential time spent on an SEO campaign. In sum, it is equivalent to between 12 and 104 hours per week.
If you spend 12 hours a week, don't expect to climb to a higher position soon. At the other end of the spectrum, if you want to get the best results as soon as possible, you may need to hire employees, contractors, or an agency. At the end of the day, it usually takes 4-6 months to see organic SEO traffic. That time is measured from the beginning of the campaign.
The SEO should show the results in a period of 6 to 12 months. By results, we mean a measurable increase in traffic and associated leads or conversions. This doesn't necessarily mean that you've achieved your goal by now, but any company investing in SEO should expect to see progress within this timeframe. The continuous addition of content and technical aspects of SEO, such as link building, is important during this month to keep the SEO momentum moving.
Now that you know how long it takes SEO to work and you want to reap the benefits of SEO, including increasing website traffic, improving brand awareness, and expanding revenue, WebFX can help. Based on experience with hundreds of clients and what other SEO experts have said, SEO takes an average of four to six months before results begin. To understand the time involved in an SEO strategy, it's easier to analyze it month by month through an SEO timeline.