As a digital marketing agency, one of the most common questions we get is:
“How long will it take for SEO to start working?”
It’s a fair question. You’re investing time and budget, and naturally, you want to see results. But the answer, as frustrating as it may sound, is: it depends.
And we’re not just saying that. Google’s own John Mueller, Search Advocate at Google, recently addressed this topic in a conversation with Google developer Martin Splitt. His insights confirm what we’ve been telling clients for years: SEO is a process, and the timeline for results depends entirely on what kind of work is being done and how Google responds to it.
Read the original article on Search Engine Journal
Quick Fixes vs. Strategic Overhauls
If you’ve never hired an SEO agency before or optimized it yourself and are missing basic elements like proper meta tags, internal linking, or crawlable content, you might see a noticeable improvement within just a few weeks of implementing those changes. These are what we call foundational fixes and they’re low-hanging fruit in the SEO world.
But more advanced changes, things like technical site restructuring, deep content strategy work, or high-quality backlink building can take several months before you start seeing consistent upward movement in rankings and traffic.
As John Mueller puts it:
“Some changes are easy to pick up quickly, like simple text changes on a page… But if you make bigger, more strategic changes on a website, then sometimes that just takes a long time.”
What Actually Happens After You Make SEO Changes?
Even when you implement changes, there’s a natural delay before Google reflects them in its search results. Here’s why:
- Crawling: Google needs to recrawl the updated pages.
- Indexing: It then needs to reprocess and re-index those pages.
- Re-ranking: Finally, it reevaluates where those pages belong in the search results.
Each of these steps can take time and the bigger the changes, the more patient you’ll need to be.
The Importance of Monitoring & Communication
Another key point Mueller emphasized? Good SEO doesn’t just make changes and disappear. Ongoing communication and monitoring are vital.
At Local Propeller, we’re big believers in transparency and measurable progress. We don’t just “do SEO” in the background and ask you to wait. We keep track of how Google responds to our changes. We use tools like GA4, Google Search Console, LocalFalcon, and our custom dashboards.
We report back on:
- What’s been done
- What’s changed (rankings, traffic, leads)
- What we’re monitoring
- What’s next
This gives you confidence that progress is being made, even before the big traffic spikes hit.
Realistic Expectations: The SEO Growth Curve
Mueller also noted that sites often see an initial jump, followed by slower, steady progress over time. That aligns with what we typically see:
- Month 1–2: Site audits, foundational fixes, keyword research, and tracking setup
- Month 3–4: Content optimization and initial ranking movement
- Month 5–6: Momentum starts building; you begin ranking for more competitive terms
- Month 6+: Continued growth, backlink authority, and compounding results
In other words, SEO is not a one-time task — it’s an ongoing strategy.
Key Takeaways
- SEO results depend on the complexity of changes. Simple edits may have an effect within weeks; larger changes may take months.
- Google needs time to crawl, index, and re-rank your site.
- A good SEO agency will track everything and communicate along the way. That’s part of the job.
- Ongoing work (like content creation, backlinks, and user engagement) is essential for long-term results.
- SEO requires patience, but the payoff is compounding and sustainable.
At Local Propeller, we help businesses grow their visibility through clear strategy, technical execution, and honest reporting. We won’t promise overnight success — but we will show you progress every step of the way.
Want to see what kind of improvements your site could make with SEO?
