Some individuals/businesses have a somewhat warped perception of what ‘SEO’ entails and the speed of which the results they expect should be achieved.

So let’s break down what ‘SEO’ entails, how it can be effective, the ‘speed’ in which results can be gained, and ultimately what can be achieved with SEO.

Firstly, what is ‘SEO’?

‘SEO’ stands for ‘Search Engine Optimisation’, the act of optimising a web page so that it appears in the best possible position in search results for relevant keywords.

SEO usually starts with some form of keyword research, the act of looking at what keywords your site is currently working with, what keywords your competitors are working with, and what keywords your customers are using to find the type of product/service you are offering.

The keyword research often ends up pulling out the best of the best keywords based on the number of times they are used vs. how often they convert, what company/organisation is currently ranking in the number 1 spot for each keyword, and in many cases also looking at any seasonality behind the keywords.

After this each page on the website is looked at in turn based on the information gleaned in the keyword research. Optimising areas such as…

  • menu items
  • text
  • alt tags and links
  • images, graphics and videos
  • calls to actions
  • meta information
  • social cards
  • the position of elements on pages
  • technical SEO (there is a further blog post on this coming - watch this space)
  • and any specific website specific features

Depending on the number of pages on the website, this can be a few hours of work to several months work. 

However, SEO is only a ‘simple’ case of implementation when the site in question has a good foundation.

The need for a good foundation

As mentioned, for SEO to be truly effective the site in question must have a good foundation. In fact we go as far as saying that SEO cannot see real gains without a solid foundation.

The ‘foundation’ to be concerned with include elements such as…

  • A functional website – a good web design with easy to follow navigation and working menus, links, checkout, and contact forms.
  • A decent webpage speed – ensuring that the website loads quickly across desktop and mobile devices.
  • Correct and visible information – the contact details on site need to be up to date and easily found.
  • Information required for the sale of your product/service – ensuring that your product/service descriptions, images and information are more than sufficient for website visitors to be able convert with ease.
  • A competitive product/service – ensuring that your service/product is competitive in its price, service, quality and/or customer service.

Many sites that want ‘SEO’ carried out immediately with far-fetched expectations of results instantaneously, often fail to fix their foundations first.

With a little bit of time and the provision of information/data, the foundation of many websites can be laid and steadied quite quickly.

But it’s not just ‘SEO’

The most important factor to keep in mind with SEO is that it is just one thing out of many that companies should be implementing on their website to improve their online marketing efforts.

SEO is by no means the golden bullet to achieve ultimate online marketing success.

SEO should be carried out in conjunction with many other online marketing activities, they include…

  • Content Marketing – the creation of interesting, relevant and informative graphics, videos, blogs, whitepapers etc.
  • Social Media Marketing – the creation, management, and regular postings and interaction on social media channels.
  • Appropriate and Proactive Customer Service – living up to your promise. Ensuring positive testimonials and reviews from customers are gained and recorded to highlight and reassure customers of your products/service.
  • Paid Adverts – paid ads on social media, search engines, relevant sites, and relevant offline sources.
  • Showing all the necessary trust signals for your customer - arguably the most important.

 

A slight detour: What are 'trust signals'?

The trust signals can vary depending on the industry you are in and the product/service you are asking individuals to purchase. These trust signals could be…

  • Positive reviews from existing customer base.
  • Multiple channels of communication – such as phone, email, live chat, and social media channels.
  • External certificates, awards, and recognition from industry standards/experts
  • Clear messaging surrounding warranties and/or guarantees.
  • Accurate information such as ‘Made in the UK’ or ‘Fast Delivery within x number of days’.

 

So just how fast would SEO have an impact?

The short answer is that there is no set time in which SEO work shows results.

The long answer is that the time in which SEO work shows results depends on the time/resource that has been allocated to SEO (for example: if you are only allocating a few hours a month to a 100+ page website then it’s going to be slow going). The following elements also have an impact…

  • How long it takes search engines (aka Google) to re-crawl your site to pick on the SEO improvements and then update your position in their algorithms accordingly.
  • How competitive the keyword/s your aiming for are.
  • How much time/resource your competitors have allocated to their own SEO.
  • What other online marketing efforts you are implementing in conjunction to SEO.

So what can be achieved with SEO?

Despite the often unknown factor that comes with SEO it is still a strong tool to use in conjunction with wider marketing efforts.

SEO gives you a chance to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ on your site. Looking at every page in turn to ensure that it is in the best possible shape for maximum conversions.

When SEO is carried out over a substantial time period, or a big SEO push is carried out, then you will see improvements in your ranking positions. This will be reflected in your website analytics and ultimately in improved website conversions. As to when that happens, it all depends on the elements mentioned previously.

SEO can also see better page scores within paid advertising platforms (such as Google Ads) which means lower ad bids.

However, the main benefit of SEO is that it is accumulative. If you were to suddenly stop running paid adverts the traffic you had from paid advertising would fall of a cliff. However, if you were to stop SEO you would keep your SEO gains, your organic traffic would continue and to an extent your site's SEO value would continue to grow from any SEO effort that hadn't yet been picked up by search engines.

Looking for SEO?

If you are interested in SEO for your website then speak to the team here at Digital Nachos. We can work with you to ensure your site has a strong foundation and implement white hat SEO tactics to optimise your website as part of your wider marketing plan.

To discuss further, get in touch.

Published: 7th Apr 2025

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