How long does SEO take to work?

[Makedoandmend]

Hi,

I put my website online about a week ago and i've been reading up on search engine optimisation - putting links on free ads, registering with search engines, forums etc and i'm still nowhere to be found on the search engines even if I type in the web address and press search!! One of my free ads is coming up on the first page but the site itself isnt.

How long does SEO usually take to work? I've somehow managed to get over 150 hits but not too sure where they are coming from being as the site cannot be found on search engines! Also is there anything i've missed that would help me optimise the site?

Any advice much appriciated. thanks

[Makedoandmend]

Just got a blog now too. One of those things I swore i'd never do, just like signing up to Facebook(i'm now addicted!). Is it merely enough to have a blog to help with seo or do I have to get people to subscribe to it too?

[silverjewelleryworkshop]

Sorry to put a dampner on things but it can take a long time to get a site properly optimised.

Quite often it can take a few months for the search engines to pick up on your site and index it and any changes you make can take a while to be noticed. Another factor is that search engines put a lot of importance on the age of a web site as many come and go within the space of a few months.

It's a slow process unfortunately, it can several years to build a really successful site. The only advice I can give is to learn as much as you can about SEO (keywords, meta tags, one way links, etc.), constantly register with new directories and look for reciprocal links with other sites and change your content often so the engines 'bots' regularly have something new to look at.

As for your hits, have you any detailed stats? it could be you checking on the site or bots from the search engines. Having detailed stats on visitors, thier location, pages looked at, search terms and where they originated from is also important. i.e by looking at my stats I can see that I have had 27 visitors this month from the forum who have looked at 489 pages (thanks guys). With these stats I also know who has come from google, yahoo etc.

Keep at it and good luck.


Caroline

[0103media]

The rules for what works changes all the time as search engine run updates on how to rank sites.. So you can never stop, simple as that...

I could go deep into this as I am an seo and have been for many yrs even before google was around lol (god i'm old)

Just keep growing the content on your site and get as many people to write/blog about you.. use twitter, stumbleupon, blog add your items to sites like craftjuice and many others..

Hope that helps.

[Makedoandmend]

Thanks for the advice both. Looks like its going to take a lot longer than I had hoped!

How do you get the stats that tell you where your site visitors came from and what they searched to find our site etc? Do you have to pay?

[Bath-Bomb.Com]

These should come free with your web host package - log into your control panel and have a nosey around.

Jude

[PyroMaynia]

Depending on your web hosting package and whether you've used one of their free site builders or whether you've done it all yourself will determine exactly how much control you have over this.

However, if you've done it yourself then you can add Google Analytics (search for it in Google) into your site for free and you'll get loads of info such as which pages they're hitting, what the bounce rate is (this is where people go to a page and 'bounce' back out without doing anything), where they're from, how they got there etc. even down to what browser they're using.

Takes a bit of work but worth it.

[xtre25]

Hey SEO Can take months.

Some people do it themselves some people hire professionals (like me)

From experience - the following should help you get on google alot faster


Link Building

As you have already started this - you are one step ahead! keep this going

Submission

I can see you have said you have submitted your url to search engines - have you done this to google?
If not - in google search for "Add URL"

First result should be a google result - add's it to a list of sites to crawl.

Webmaster

If you sign up for a google account - join the "webmaster tools" program.

This will allow you to add your site to google, and verify it.

Also ensure your robots.txt etc is ok (can be done via google webmaster tools)

Another VERY important aspect is a sitemap.

XML sitemaps are the best - then submit to google in your account (will speed up process of links it crawls and cache's


All of the above can be done in the google webmaster tools - do this and experience says you will be looking at around 2 weeks for google to have your site in the listings max

[silverjewelleryworkshop]

As mayshandmade said it depends on your host. With mine I can access awstats (advanced web statistics) via the control panel on my host and these supply all the info I need. Otherwise, as already said, Google Analytics is a useful tool.

Caroline

[Makedoandmend]

Thank you so much all. Thats something to keep me going for the next few days. Have just spent the evening signing up to lots of directorys to get links back to my site. Got I feeling i'll be spending many more evenings like that too...

[matt.chatterley]

I could go deep into this as I am an seo and have been for many yrs even before google was around lol (god i'm old)

Do you get that odd 'involuntary shudder' if someone mentions "Mosaic" (NSCA, not tiles!)?

Still gets me - simpler times!

[llovegemstones]

Just one other way to optimise, pay! Google currently are charging £30 a month to get you as the first on the page for selected phrases. They also give a free period to start with. You get what you pay for as they say.

[Makedoandmend]

Has anyone tried paying google to be on the first page? Have you noticed a difference? Is it worth the money?

Finally, after a month or so of optimising I'm now near the top of the search engines, but had better keep at it so I don't drop down! Thanks you all for the advice, its has really helped.

p.s. I'm now hooked on google analytics!! Cant stop checking how many visitors i've had, where they came from etc. Its amazing you can get so much information

[0103media]

I manage £1000's per month in adwords.. And yes it works but the craft side can be hard.. You must make sure you make enough money....

Lets say its cost 10p per click to get a visitor to your site.
Lets say it take 25 visitors before someone buys.
Thus this will cost you £2.50 to make a sale..

The thing is finding the keywords that sell your stuff..

Its much more likely it would take 250 or even 2,500 visitor before some buy and at 10p per visitor you are talking about £25 per sale OR £250 per sale..

You need to do the maths before using pay per click.

Hope that helps

[Makedoandmend]

When you put it like that it doesnt sound like such a good idea! Think i'll give it a miss. Thanks 0103