How Long is a piece of string ??

[expo]

I know this question has no definitive answer but here goes ....

Approximately how long does it take do get your site from launch to start ranking reasonably well with SE's for a competitive phrase?

Are we talking 6 months, years of tweaking and link building or particularly with the new MSN search do some site seem to jump to the top even quicker?

I know there is no actual answer to this but it would help us give a client an estimate of when there site might start to appear near the top on the rankings.

Cheers,

[Paul B]

I usually tell clients that it can take up to six months to get properly ranked and if it's quicker they are happy.

Though the recent 'sandbox' effect seems to have kept sites out of the ranking for up to 9 months.

That said I bought a domain this Monday, set up the hosting on Tuesday and got the framework of the site up on Wednesday. I noticed in the stats this morning (Thursday) only I and googlebot had been to the site, checked with google to find I was #90 in the keywords I wanted. I hope to do better, but that is about as fast as it gets.

Unless someone knows dîfferent...

[Faglork]

I do a lot of re-design in order to bring sites into SEs. Since this is a somewhat dynamic process, I normally contract for 12 months. This gives enough time for all of the engines/directories, including DMOZ. Plus it gives you time to tweak a bit.

Also, you do not get reliable statistics with shorter time periods. If you want to analyse the search terms your visitors used to find the site, then you need at least 9 months to get good data.

hth,
Alex

[freehits]

Twice the distance from the middle to either end.

Your question seems to be directed at google rankings, as such long timeframes described indicate the linking and 'dmoz' listing timeframes dictate the time it would take.

The new MSN is clearly on a much different schedule.
With just MSN I have had top ranking while just testing the PHP live, the test code page is still #9 on msn of 500K+.

[labeler2003]

I'm finding that Google is picking up my new sites quickly, and crawling them, but only the home page is showing up in the SERPs. The problem is that I'm seeing Google's results changing several times a day, so it's difficult to know for sure. Plus, once it's listed, changes to the home page are not showing up in the SERPs. Changes and new pages added to existing sites are showing up within a few days.

MSN is picking up new sites quickly and in depth. The only exception is that I don't see them picking up new blogs.

Yahoo lags a little behind MSN, but they are also picking up new sites and going beyond the home page.

[jimmie1_us]

Originally Posted by expo

I know this question has no definitive answer but here goes ....

Approximately how long does it take do get your site from launch to start ranking reasonably well with SE's for a competitive phrase?

Are we talking 6 months, years of tweaking and link building or particularly with the new MSN search do some site seem to jump to the top even quicker?

I know there is no actual answer to this but it would help us give a client an estimate of when there site might start to appear near the top on the rankings.

Cheers,

I tend to agree with most of the posts.
From the time you build your website
to the time you see it with actual listing
and ranking about 3 to 6 months.

In my opinion the key is your state of
mind. Don't push, rush or expect over night
results. I say this because if you have a well
built content rich , key word key phrase
meta tagged relevant body text alt tagged
to the max web site.

Your site will get picked up by many search
robot/spiders and appear on its own with good
listings.

The rest takes time.. inbound out bound links
and the rest. That is all up to the individual
and the time they have to spend on their
goals.

[writernafg]

NICOLAS A. FRIEDMAN G.
SONGWRITER,ADMINISTRATIVE ENGINEER,BIRTH 04-20-1958
IF YOU ARE NOT A WEBMASTER, BUT YOU DO EXTENSIVE RESEARCH AND THINKING ON THE TOPIC BEFORE IMPLEMENTING YOUR SITE FOR RANKING YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE MORE THAN 6 MONTHS TO BE FIRST TOP 10 RANKING. OF COURSE THIS GOES WITH THE CAPACITY OF CREATIVITY FOR WHICH THERE ARE TUTORIALS AVAILABLE AT INTERNET.

[jcopley]

Originally Posted by faglork

I normally contract for 12 months. This gives enough time for all of the engines/directories, including DMOZ

In my experience, 12 months may not be enough time for DMOZ.

Regards,

Joe

[cspelts]

Originally Posted by jcopley

In my experience, 12 months may not be enough time for DMOZ.

You can't guarantee a listing in the DMOZ, whether you give it two days or two years.

I would suggest coming up with a timeline without including the DMOZ - then if you do get a listing, it'll just pleasantly speed things up.

[cbp]

In my experience, 12 months may not be enough time for DMOZ.

This week I listed ~20 sites that were not even
suggested or were waiting for <24hrs.

It varies from a matter of minutes to several years for a review - all depends on how much priority editors give to the pool of suggested sites vs other (and better) sources of new sites.

CBP

[Xxavier]

I agree with the six month estimate, but something strange happened when I redesigned my site. My placement on Google dropped from the first page to the third, and it climbed from the fourth page to the first on MSN.

Warm regards,

[greeneagle]

There is a very difinitive answer!:

As long as you make it!

Ken