One of the most commonly asked questions in the digital marketing world is, "how long does it take to rank?" And the answer to that question is a resounding, "it depends".

I know... unsatisfying, right? I wish we could give everyone an exact answer. A dated reply. It would be so much easier. But unfortunately, that's just not possible. No SEO professional in the world can tell you a definitive ranking date.

Website ranking placement relies on a combination of factors. Some of the factors are governable, and these are the ones that your marketing expert is going to work with, such as website coding, written content, etc. And then some of them are out of our control, such as; the size of the city you're in and amount of competitors in the area.

Luckily, ahrefs did a study to give us a ballpark of what to expect as a ranking timeline, and the good people at The Website Group made it into a handy, easy to read infographic!

Conclusion

So what did all that say? Well, depending on the size of your city, the number of industry competitors in your area, and the competitiveness of the keyword - it can take anywhere from 3 months to a year before you see first page ranking placement. 

All of the factors above come into play for each keyword. That means that you could be ranking #1 for multiple keywords, even if the perfect "unicorn" keyword that you're targeting isn't ranking just yet. 

The best advice that we can give you is to exercise patience and let your experience marketing agency do what they do best. You'll see the results, and the ROI, over time!